9 month old 5.15am wake ups 😩

[LCF2021]

Hello!

my just turned 9mo DD has decided 5.15am is a fine hour to wake. Sometimes I can get her to doze back off if I cuddle her and place her back into bed with military precision. At the moment she’s only getting about 10 hours kip a night which doesn’t seem quite enough to me. Having said that she isn’t wake crying at 5.15am, just lies in bed awake.
Her current routine (based on 6.45am wake as she was previously doing and will do on a good day):
Up 6.45am
Nap 9.15am-10.45am
Nap 2pm-3.30pm
Bed 7pm

Does she possibly need less than 3hrs napping a day? Maybe 2.5? Or do I just ride this out and hope for the best? I also have a toddler so it’s hard when she needs a super early night from waking with the birds to try and keep him from disturbing her while we’re getting him sorted for bed.

Personally I wouldn't reduce her naps just yet. You could try it ring her down a little later, move it by 25 minutes every few nights until she's in bed an hour later.

She might also be hungry. Is she eating a decent amount of solids?

If you want some proper tips on early waking then the No Cry Sleep Solution has a section on early waking

@PritiPatelsMaker Yep, she loves her food! She’s on 3 meals a day, 4 BFs, and usually 1 night feed.

Thanks for the info on the No Cry Solution, I’ll take a look!

I would push everything later. Later bedtime usually means later wake up. Can take few weeks to take effect and reset lo internal clock.

Also I would potentially add a supper.

I would reduce napping time.

Starting with the morning nap. 1.5 hrs is a lot when she’s only just woken up.

I'm no expert but honestly I'd be tempted to reduce that second nap and get her up at 3pm. However, 5am wake up phases are very common / normal with babies so I'd give it another week to see if she goes back to her normal routine by herself first, since it sounds as though it can and does work really well for her usually.

@MargaritasOnMe I’m hoping it’s a phase as she’s just cracked pulling herself to standing and crawling so maybe all this development might be too much for her!

I’m hoping it’s a phase as she’s just cracked pulling herself to standing and crawling so maybe all this development might be too much for her!

Definitely sounds as though this may be what's going on.

There's also a huge sleep regression at 9 months so it may just settle down quickly anyway

If she's awake but not crying then definitely don't go in there. Just leave her until getting up time and say a big good morning. If you go in at 5 and cuddle her back to sleep you are just going to make a habit. If you ignore she will most likely get through the phase and start sleeping later again.

Your timings and nap lengths look good to me. I wouldn't change them to compensate for the early waking though. Making the first nap earlier or bedtime earlier will encourage an early wake.

Thanks @SnackSizeRaisin. Last night she was awake from 4.20am-5.30am but was upset. I went into her a few times as I couldn’t leave her but it definitely upsets her more to have me go in and leave. Today she’s decided 2 x 1hour naps are all she needs so I’m interested to see how tonight goes although she will need an earlier bed having been awake since 3.15pm.

Just a wonder, because of timings lo is awake. Mayve overtired. Are you waking lo from nap?

@ChittyBang1987 I usually have to wake her from her morning nap but the afternoon one she’ll often wake from herself after 1.5 hours. I did wonder if she’s overtired but equally when I reduce her awake windows throughout the day she’ll either fight the nap or take a shorter one. Maybe 3.5 hours before bed is too long for her?

Yep, chop those naps

Is it because dawn is getting earlier with the lighter days? Everyone in my house seems to be woken up early by the sun/birds singing at the mo!

@catsnore I thought this but she has blackout blinds, proper ones too. There’s light that comes in from our front door and it does make the landing light but not sure how I can stop that really! She has white noise on all night too so I don’t think she can hear the birds thankfully!

@BoredYummyMummy What would you recommend capping them to? This is all new to me, I never had the cap my eldest’s naps until he was about 2 and I didn’t want him sleeping more than 2 hours. As a baby he was a serial cat napper!

Every child is different so try chopping an hour off between the two, see if it changes anything.

we paid a sleep consultant in the end, lots of helpful advice, imo deffo worth the money, first thing she looked at was sleep over a 24 hour period and routine

I'd halve the morning nap, have her up by 10am, then bring afternoon nap forward to 12:30, let her sleep til 2:30pm latest.

As your getting early mornings. Personally I would chop that first nap to 1 hour initially then decrease it again if early waking happening after a couple weeks.

The theory behind early waking is they wake early because the morning nap is allowing them to catch up from their missed sleep.

Then i would allow lo to sleep within reason as long as they like in afternoon. Until 4pm isn't unreasonable with bed 730pm. Asleep by 8pm. Which should encourage later mornings.

So something like
9ish till 10ish even 930am till 1030am
1pm ish till when they wake. I would do 3 hours to 3.5hours after first nap waking. Almost following the 234 but the first window will be longer initially.

I would also give a big lunch (lots of protein and favourite foods) with a big feed before they go down to make sure it's not hunger. So 12pm lunch. 1 to 115pm milk. Put down straight after milk.
Let them sleep as long as they like at this one. No later then 4pm. Then I would aim for 730pm bed. Asleep by 8pm.

When lo wakes at 530am I would do everything you can to get them to sleep. The usual no eye contact talking etc.

With the light, as my lo is sensitive to that I put blackout blinds in hallway, shut doors etc. Front door. Maybe tack a thick sheet or something over to see if it makes a difference?

Just remember any changes to routine can take up to 2 weeks to make a difference and reset internal clock.

If lo isn't fussing at 530am leave them! If she can self settle I would certainly leave her x x

Some brilliant suggestions here! Thanks @BoredYummyMummy @ChittyBang1987 @Hohofortherobbers

Let us know how it goes x