Early waking.. helppppp

[testy1997]

Reposting here instead of 'parenting board' for traffic!

Toddler waking at 5-5.30 every morning for the last month. Previously 7-6.30/7 sleeper. Out of nowhere! Have tried everything - heating coming on earlier, shorter naps, early bed time, late bed time, additional snack before bed etc.

I don't want to co-sleep. Does controlled crying working for early starts? Any experience on how / if this will get better! Current routine at 16 months:

5.30 wake and try for an hour to resettle
6.30 wake and milk
7 breakfast
11.30 lunch
12-2 nap
5.30 dinner
7pm bed (self settles)

Am tiredddddd!

We had the same thing for a while. What happens if ignore DC? We did this and he would eventually go back to sleep and wake up at around 7am.

They will just cry, we'll go in and shush and pat and she'll settle but the minute we leave she's up walking around the cot screaming!

On the days my DS did this, one of us would change his nappy, then put him straight back to bed and ignore him until a more human wake up time. Have you tried putting putting her to bed later and see what happens?

Your nap time seems fine though so wouldn't change that.

@MDevane86 so would u just let them grumble / cry until wake up time?

I’m not a pushover with sleep but when you think about it, ten hours is a long time to go without a drink or food. When my DS does this I give him a drink of milk. Sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t.

Hey OP! My DD will be 17m next week, and we were going through exactly the same a couple of weeks ago (your routine looks very similar to ours too 😆). Then she started to wake up even earlier but tired and needed more sleep.

I tried everything and now just trying to ride it out. We have a single I'm her room, so I've decamped to that a couple of times to try and settle her on me (I don't sleep, but she does). This morning was better, though, and she only woke up at 6.

I've put it down to a developmental leap as she's learnt a lot over the past few weeks. Hoping it will pass soon!

Controlled crying does not help with early waking in my experience. My first DD was sleep trained using CC at 10 months and was an absolute dream. It took about 20 minutes one night, 5 the next then she slept through. Then around 14 months old she started waking up around 5-5:30. Nothing I did helped. She grew out of it around 2.5 years old. Sorry!

There’s often a sleep regression around 18 months, sounds like you might be getting it early. It’s all developmental, leaving them to cry won’t make them develop faster. My toddlers always been on a floor bed so when he woke early we’d go lie with him for a bit, he’d usually resettle with a cuddle. Just one to get through really. You could also try pushing bedtime back a bit. 7pm is ‘textbook’ but it’s too early for a lot of children.

Yes, if they were grumbling but if they became quite upset I would go yo them.

It was a pre 5am today!

My question is, if it's developmental then I shouldn't be creating sleep habits should I? So bringing her to bed / giving milk etc will just cause more pain eventually. But I also do not want to think she can start her day at an ungodly hour, so what do I do?

This morning I just kept going in saying 'it's night time' and leaving. This went on for hours by which time it was time to get up anyway!!!