Any advice please, 20mo keeps waking around 4am

[sunshineonarainyday6]

Hi all, my dd has never been a brilliant sleeper although on the whole it has improved and she will now sometimes sleep through but often at the moment she keeps waking around 4/4:30am and despite us trying to leave her to get her back to sleep, often we are unsuccessful and we end up giving up and one of us getting up with her by 5/5:30. Does anyone have any advice please on how to get her to sleep until Atleast 6am? I am heavily pregnant so would really like to get her to sleep until a more decent time if possible. She tends to have around a 1.5 hour nap in the middle of the day. Is it possible she just doesn't need that much sleep? (I hope not as we really need a better nights sleep). Thanks

Honestly at that age my son woke at that time no matter the bedtime so I just put him to bed at 6 so he got enough sleep and I went to bed early too! He's now 4 and still an early riser I'm afraid but will start waking at 6 if I do consistently later bedtimes... But I'm not always motivated to do that as I like my evenings... At least now at 5 he will go down and watch TV until I get up at 6!

What time does she go to bed?

I don't personally have experience with this but I was just reading some sleep tips for my baby and noticed this on the website. Hope it helps

The early riser is a common concern and it can be challenging to change this. It often improves with age and as the day naps lessen. It helps to consider how your child settles to sleep and support them to learn self settling skills. Also this is a time of the morning when the basal body temperature is at its lowest so ensure they are warm enough. It can take time for children to sleep longer in the morning so set realistic goals and be consistent with self settling methods.

https://www.tresillian.org.au/advice-tips/settling/1-3-years/

She tends to have around a 1.5 hour nap in the middle of the day. Is it possible she just doesn't need that much sleep? (I hope not as we really need a better nights sleep). Thanks

Impossible to say without more information including bedtime. The solution maybe to cut the nap right down to 45 minutes, I did this with DS at the same age. He gave up his nap completely by 2.5 when his sister was born sadly.

Thanks so much all, I really appreciate the replies. We do bath at 6:30 with a story and quick cuddle with Daddy and then bed around 7ish although it can take her 20/25 mins to fall asleep but she wasn't letting me put her down (lots of screaming etc) so for the past couple of months my hubby has been doing it and managing to get her to fall asleep in her cot as long as he sits in the room discretely or keeps popping in. Occasionally we do get a full night but recently not so much again and I'm concerned it will only get worse when we add a new baby to the mix and panicking about how we will cope. I'm wondering if we should try and cut down her lunchtime nap to 45/60 mins to see if that helps even though she's only 20 months. Thanks again all.

Sorry meant to say she was only falling asleep in my arms and wasn't letting me put her down in her cot (constantly standing up, crying for me and arms out) but she is better with my hubby which works well as I'm getting quite uncomfortable being so pregnant.

Thanks all. We'll keep persevering and perhaps try to reduce her lunchtime nap.