18 month old up 4-5am every day! HELP!

lolomoon · 2025-09-30T02:18:53+00:00

it’s destroying me. My DD is waking between 4:30-5 every day for the past 2 months. Putting her back down when she’s up is impossible as she just whimpers and cries in the cot and doesn’t give in to going back to sleep. Her room is pitch black, temperature controlled, etc so the sleep environment is perfect. Shes so tired when she wakes up she naps by around 9:30 and I leave her for as long as she wants because she will only nap once a day now so has to get the hours somewhere. Wakes around 12pm from nap. Bedtime is 7pm and she’s absolutely exhausted by then. Anyone have ANY suggestions? I went through this for a whole year with my son too (what am I doing wrong?!) and can’t bare the thought of it for that long again.

flea101 · 30/09/2025 07:32

No advice but I can sympathise! 10 year old with additional needs is up at 3am every morning I go to bed early to make sure I get enough sleep. It is still hard getting up stupidly early but I have had my quota of sleep just the wrong hours if that makes sense!!!

SpottyDottie98 · 30/09/2025 07:37

Oh, that's early! You have my sympathy. I am not expert, just a mum who has had a bad sleeping/early waking child. If it was me, I'd be trying to shift that nap to the middle of the day. If she's wanting to nap at 09:30, you could start pushing it back- she's not going to suddenly be able to stay awake until 12:30, but I would see if you can push her back in 20mins/30mins increments over a couple of weeks until she's going down after lunch and see if that makes a difference to the early waking. At that age, mine went to sleep around 12:30, and I got them up for 2/2:30pm then they were ready for bed around 7:30pm.

Original poster

lolomoon · 30/09/2025 08:28

flea101 · 30/09/2025 07:32

No advice but I can sympathise! 10 year old with additional needs is up at 3am every morning I go to bed early to make sure I get enough sleep. It is still hard getting up stupidly early but I have had my quota of sleep just the wrong hours if that makes sense!!!

Oo you poor thing. Late nights are certainly a thing of the past. I am managing on the sleep I get but it’s no end of worrying about her sleep needs not being met… I’m sure you know exactly what I mean. Hope it can improve for you soon!

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Original poster

lolomoon · 30/09/2025 08:29

SpottyDottie98 · 30/09/2025 07:37

Oh, that's early! You have my sympathy. I am not expert, just a mum who has had a bad sleeping/early waking child. If it was me, I'd be trying to shift that nap to the middle of the day. If she's wanting to nap at 09:30, you could start pushing it back- she's not going to suddenly be able to stay awake until 12:30, but I would see if you can push her back in 20mins/30mins increments over a couple of weeks until she's going down after lunch and see if that makes a difference to the early waking. At that age, mine went to sleep around 12:30, and I got them up for 2/2:30pm then they were ready for bed around 7:30pm.

Thank you! I think this is the goal. It’s just being able to keep it consistent for as long as possible until it becomes her new routine. Fingers crossed!

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Neurodiversitydoctor · 30/09/2025 08:34

That nap is too early and too long you are effectively ' stealing" sleep time from the night. There are 2 ways to tackle this, either push that nap on by 10 minutes a day until it is at 11/11:30 am and I would personally limit it to 1.5 hrs at 18m or encourage that early nap to be on the go in the buggy or car seat and wake them up after 30-45 minutes. For me I would probably favour the first strategy as the 2nd risks an unrousable child at 4/5 pm.

Neurodiversitydoctor · 30/09/2025 08:35

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Original poster

lolomoon · 02/10/2025 08:05

Neurodiversitydoctor · 30/09/2025 08:34

That nap is too early and too long you are effectively ' stealing" sleep time from the night. There are 2 ways to tackle this, either push that nap on by 10 minutes a day until it is at 11/11:30 am and I would personally limit it to 1.5 hrs at 18m or encourage that early nap to be on the go in the buggy or car seat and wake them up after 30-45 minutes. For me I would probably favour the first strategy as the 2nd risks an unrousable child at 4/5 pm.

I agree. Yesterday she woke up at 5am, and managed till 11:30am before she napped. Napped 2 hours, bed at 7pm but this morning woke at 4:30. I think I just need to stick at it for a while. Can’t cup the naps too much as she’s so tired and wouldn’t survive on an hour without another nap or earlier bedtime.

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