7 month old waking at 5.30

[Liloosmum]

My 7.5 month old DD wakes at 5.30 nearly every morning, coo-ing quite happily for about half an hour and then crying to be fed. She used to go back to sleep again until 8ish, but now plays for about 15 minutes before crying and wanting to get up. We give her her last bottle at 7pm and put her to bed around half past. My DH is convinved that it is because she is hungry, but I am not because I think she would wake up crying if that is why she is waking.

She has just started having a longish (1-2 hour) sleep at 9 and then another sleep for 45-60 minutes around 2-3. She is usually really tired and crotchy from 6.30, but we make her wait until 7 when she frequently falls asleep during her last feed and we usually wake her up to put her to bed.

I am not sure if I should just accept that she will wake up at that time and it's unreasonable to expect her to be able to sleep longer, or if she would sleep longer if I changed/cut short her naps, especially the morning one. I know she already sleeps longer than a lot of babies her age, but my nephew sleeps every night from 7.30pm to 7.30-8am religiously !

Sorry for the long post, but I am new to this and wanted to make sure I put as much info as possible!

Any thoughts?

rislip - i hope that the more active theory proves correct because ds started crawling today .

[lurk]
congrats to cruisemum's ds

compo - hi and thanks . how is your lo doing? can you believe they are 9 nearly months old How did that happen???

How are all the early birds? I'm knackered big time.

have just gone through this delightful stage myself.

it's sooooo knackering but does pass

gibbon - how long did it last........... how old is your lo? is it developmental??? {she asks hopefully

cruise - DD is 9 months - can't remember exactly how long but a good few weeks - I was asking everyone 'is it a phase???'

Thankfully it seemed to have been, although I have been warned it can happen on and off

So I am making the most of DD sleeping in later

Gibbon you ho, get thee in the teashop
Didn't realise dd was 9 mths already.

DD2 did this too, still wakes at 4-5am but then feeds and goes back to sleep til 8ish now.

Am pretty sure it was her teeth actually.

oh crap! ds is already 9 mths

DD2 is 10 mths, and I'm hoping she will stop waking that early and start going thru later.

Mine is 9 months too....phase...i can live in hope.

It sounds as if I'm in the same boat as you all, thank goodness I'm not alone! Was beginning to think we were very weird. DS has always been an early riser and we had all the same problems everyone has described, early napping, over tired at bed time etc... He used to get up early everyday and I can hnestly say I tried everything to get him to sleep later and nothing worked!!! He has only recently started sleeping better (age 3.5) because he is at nursery and no longer sleeping during the day. Great I thought except DD arrived in November and after a really good start now wakes V. early (4.20am this morning) I'm exhausted and DH can't understand why I'm angry. It drives me mad when other parents complain that their kids wake at 6am... if only!

Haven't read the whole threat so sorry if going over old ground, but my DS - 6 mths- went through a phase of 5.30 am wakings.

First I tried to cut his naps in the day but this meant he was tired in the evening so went to bed really early, about 6.45pm. So then i tried giving him a short late - afternoon nap of 15-30 mins. This meant I could move his bedtime to 7.30-7.45 pm and now he sleeps till between 6.15 and 7. Not perfect but a lot better than 5.30!!! somehow after 6 am is bearable - before then is NOT!!!!!

Made is room really dark too.

oh god 5:15am today. we have his christening today and i have to cater for 40 people. . looking forward to it but feel awfully tired already andit's only 6.08am

my two dc 3 and 4yr have been up since 5.30 wonderful isn't it - not

how long till i can go to bed ....

Oh cruisemum, poor you. hope today is smashing for you and your family. we had our dd's last weekend and it was an early start. we had a 7.00am this morning, but she isn't well so i think that is why.

It will get better! For us it really was 'just a phase'. DD woke at 5.20 every morning for the whole of last summer (she was 2.5 then). Now that she has dropped her nap completely, this has now moved to 6.20ish and some glorious mornings even 6.45 . The early starts nearly killed us and we tried everything, but nothing worked except biding our time. Good luck

My DS is 3.9 and for all his very short life he has been an early riser. Up until 3 months ago he would wake (without fail) at 5.30 BUT we have now reached the dizzy heights of 6am (Woo Hoo). I faced reality a long time ago that he is an early riser and it was only stressing me out trying to get him to sleep longer. I dealt with the fact that it would NOT get better.

He never slept well as a baby, but now he will sleep from 7.30 - 5.30 (more or less)- that's 10 hours I can't complain.

Hope the christening went well, cruise
We are deep in christening prep stress ourselves -
it's this Sunday for our dd!

Not much to report on the sleep front, still 5:30-6:00am most mornings,
despite start of nursery last week, change of diet during nursery days,
some days fewer naps and now a massive cold (her first ever).

So actually we are over the moon that she has happily kept
up her 7-5:30 through all these changes!

Ah, I lie: there was a period of 3-4 nights when we re-introduced the boob at 4am.
Her first tooth (another change!) had emerged during the day so we went all soft
when she woke up that night (and the subsequent few).
She thanked us by sleeping in until 7..

Now it's back to the early nights/mornings but no complaints here.

same for us, nearly five months and awake at 5.30 today

I put a dark blanket over the window in the end and tonight I'm going to put it up when he goes
to bed and HOPEFULLY that will solve it

My ds1 is 3 and a half and still gets up at 5.30. Ds2 also gets up this early but as ds1 does it doesn't matter. Dd would sleep in but gets woken by ds1. I think they're just naturally early risers and it's thei body clock. I try and get to bed early to make up for it. Ds2 still wakes a lot in the night too.

ooh can't believe i didnt see this thread before! have been battling with this with our 7 mo too, but all i can say is that the better he sleeps in the day and the less excitment we have during the day (!) , the better he sleeps at night. Maybe someone has said this, but is there a point when they start sleep longer in the afternoon than in the morning?? I am assuming at some point we will just go to one afternoon nap but can't see that happening when big sleep happens in the morning now...
Totally agree that somehow any time AFTER 6am seems a whole lot better then before! Glad i am in good company anyway..

Hurrah, i'm not alone!!

ds has just turned one, wakes at 5.45am on the dot every morning and has done since he was @ 9 months. I used to think it was due to teeth coming through and adrenalin in his body but I'm not so sure 3 months on He goes to bed at 7pm and putting him later makes no difference other than being grumpy at bathtime.

We've had black card up at window since he was tiny so its not the lighter mornings.

At his age he should be cutting down his morning nap to @ 30 mins and have a longer after lunch nap but this is just not hapening as he is knackered by 8am and I have to wake him after an hour..

I totally agree that pre 6am is just not morning yet, even if he surprises us with a 6.05am it feels like a long lie! Pre ds if I needed to go to the loo at 6am I used to think "goody, I've another 2 hours in bed before I have to get up for work" - ah, the good old days

I'm living in hope that once he starts running around and all his teeth are in he will sleep longer... If you can't beat them, join them so we go to bed at 9pm twice a week to bank some sleep and it does make you feel better.

hi there! my lo gets up at 5.30 too. i feel unable to complain much cos he now has slept through from 7 three times, since i night weaned him a week ago, and he usually only wakes once now...sorry to boast!....but here i am wishing he would sleep til 7 like SOME babies allegedly do.
we've got black out blinds. no difference. weirdly, even on the days he sleeps til 6, i have to wake up at 5.20 needing to shit now, i think in panic that i have to get one in before i breastfeed him.
i think it might be a long faze this early waking lark....