Early rising one year old - help?

[MrsBriteSide]

DD is 12 months and has started waking up early (for her) at 6am and she’s clearly still tired. She won’t go back to sleep though.

She goes to bed between 7 and half past. She has 1 or 2 naps in the day depending if she’s with me (2 naps) or at nursery (1 long nap).

She’s happy if she wakes up after 7am so I’d like to stop the 6am wake ups if at all possible.

Should I put her to bed earlier/later? Be more consistent with a nap schedule? I generally go with the flow but have stopped her napping past 4pm as she won’t go to bed. Any advice on how to get her to sleep in later?

what's the morning light situation like? we have been battling with our 17 month old for the last 2 weeks with wakes getting earlier (4.30!!!) Last night we closed all upstairs doors, and masking taped his black out blind down and he slept till 6.45. the latest he has slept in weeks! He is so much happier this morning because I think he has been so tired the last few weeks!

for us I really think it was the light rather than anything we were doing different with bedtime or naps.

fingers crossed for tonight!

Sometimes it doesn’t matter what you do, they wake early and it can go on for years! It is hard but acceptance maybe easier and less stressful in the long term!

@twinkydink I thought it could be the light so last night I hung the Gro Blind up over her window on top of her roller blind. It looked loads darker but I didn’t fix it properly so still light coming in around the sides. She was up at 5.50am today. I’m going to properly stick it on the window tonight.

@broadwsybabe I’m mentally preparing myself! Must start going to bed earlier. I’m not naturally an early riser. Anyone who asks me what the hardest thing about being a parent is - I always reply that it’s the sleep thing! I can take everything else relatively in my stride I think.

just taping down the sides of our black out blind made a huge difference because it stopped the tiny little slither of light coming through! Not saying it will definitely work but worth a try. I found the gro blind let in lots of light around the edges when we used it.

Ladies - it was 5.30am morning! It’s getting worse. She’s clearly overtired now after a day at nursery and not having a nap until 11.30am. She had 1hr 45 mins but I don’t think that’s enough after such an early start.

So I’ve put her to bed early tonight in the hope that will make her sleep in longer. She’s asleep already. I’ve taped the blackout blind down and I’m praying to the sleep gods she gives me till after 7am tomorrow. I’ve also put some stuffed toys and a twiddle blanket thing in her cot in case she wakes up early, thinking that might keep her entertained so I can carry on snoozing.

Any other tips?? It’s just a phase right?

Mine does this but then he goes back to sleep at 7:30, ie just when we’re trying to get him out of the house for nursery

They do it on purpose, I’m sure of it

@sashkin do you just leave him in his cot til he goes off again? I’ve done that in the past when she’s work up happy babbling to herself and she’s dozed off again. She’s waking up upset at the moment though so I leave her whinging for a bit and then have to go in get her up as she gets more distressed.

I feel your pain! I have a feeling it is slightly linked to teething as well as the light. it was 6.30 this morning and I can live with that!

my one has been completely knackered today and I think it's because of the 2 weeks of early starts! He went down much earlier than normal and refused a bath. he has also barely eaten today so I'm wondering if there is something more goinf on.

wouldn't it be helpful if they could just tell us!

also we can't ever just leave in the cot, it's full on meltdown in we do. we have never been able to leave him chatting to himself as soon as he is awake he wants to be with us!

OP no he won’t stay in his cot! Stands up and wails until we get him out.

Then he plays downstairs perfectly happily, has his breakfast and a nappy change, then falls back asleep just as we are trying to get him dressed and out of the house. Sleeps in the buggy, we have to wake him up to take him in. It is infuriating when we then have to do a ten hour day at work and he is snoozing happily!

Mine did this, woke at 5am for about 8 weeks. It doesn't sound long but it was utter hell as it coincided with me being pregnant and exhausted. We couldn't ever really figure out why he started and why he stopped of his own accord. You might just have to accept it and ride it out.

If you find the answer, please let me know. My very nearly 10 year old is up before 6 most days and I’ve never trained him out of it, despite blackout blinds, complete silence in the house and years of trying to tire him out. Once he is awake, that’s it, if he hasn’t had enough sleep, he will be tired and grumpy all day. Sorry I can’t give better news. At least now he entertains himself for a couple/few hours before disturbing me! Apparently his dad was also a very early riser, he has grown out of this now though

After putting DD to bed early (6.45pm) she slept til just gone 7am - yay! So maybe an early bed time was the ticket to re-setting her. Who knows!

7.30am today so I’m hoping it was just a phase and we are back on track. Please!!

My DD is now a teen and much better. We had many, many years of 5.30 am starts. Bringing back memories reading your posts of black out blinds and taping the curtains down. We also discovered that although we cured the light issue it was the morning chorus of birds singing from 04.30am that disturbed her!! You may have to just go through this phase OP it gets better - eventually.

glad it sounds like you had a better night! fingers crossed it stays that way!

My 5 1/2 year old still gets up at this time, OP

Following with interest.....my 12 month old started this about a week ago. Have blacked out the window, playing white noise, played around with earlier and later bedtimes, nothing seems to work. I'm now limiting his morning nap as he is using that to catch up on night sleep!
It's also full on meltdown here if I don't get him up! I'm starting to resign myself to the fact that they all seem to go through this at some stage but I'm getting very fed up of it already. Please God let it be a phase!!!!