Am I making early wakes worse?

[WobbleHead]

My almost 6 month old always wakes between 5-5:30am and I hold him so that he sleeps a bit later. Will he stop waking at this time on his own or am I creating an expectation and making it more ingrained?

Bedtime between 6:30 and 7pm depending on how naps have gone in the day. He’s usually had a feed around 3:30-4am so isn’t hungry at 5am. If I cuddle him to sleep and put him down he wakes, but he will stay asleep if I hold him.

I tend to try and hold him so he wakes up between 6:30-7am for the day so that we can try to have a fairly consistent daily wake time and hit target nap times of 8:30/9, 11:30/12 and 3:30/4. I’m hoping the consistency will build the habit of staying asleep at these times.

He’s a day catnapper unless held also. Even in the pram he’ll only do 30 minutes with it moving and a sleep shade on.

Why do you guys think?

I always brought my children in to bed with me if they woke after 5, so we could sleep later.

I think he's unlikely to start sleeping later by himself. He's used to the wake and cuddle thing. You can train him to sleep later though. Andrea Grace has an article on her page on early waking which explains what to do.

Oh god, totally normal I'm afraid. Why do they do that?!

SnackSizeRaising this one? andreagrace.co.uk/how-to-tackle-early-waking/
Man this sounds haarrrrd. Wah.

Each to their own but I wouldn't worry about it one bit. Just enjoy the cuddles and relax x

Yes that one. It's not as bad as it seems. I did it with my 9 month old. He was waking for a feed and then initially went back to sleep fine but then started refusing to go back to sleep. So I gradually reduced the length of the feed and put him back in his cot. 2 days of crying on and off plus popping back in for half an hour (he never went back to sleep and I didn't want to leave him too long) and the 3rd day he went straight back to sleep no problem. After that either no wake or a brief stirring with no action needed. I did do all the curtain stuff that she said as well. I also made bedtime a bit later (it had crept forward to 5.30-6). It felt like a massive leap of faith waking everyone up at 5 with a crying baby but definitely worth it. My relief on day 3 was huge!
I guess your other option is just get him up for the day at 5 and try to push his first nap as late as possible and hope he gradually sleeps later? I tried that and it didn't work but yours is younger so maybe less set in his ways!

I may also try to use the clocks changing to my advantage!

Ha yes the clock change will be a help!!
My son did this but the wake and hold was usually from about 4.30am, even after I had got him getting to sleep on his own. My sleep consultant thought it could be wind or a sore tummy type issue.
It got better around 9mo
With the naps I think they will only improve if the baby is self settling to sleep.
Good luck xx