18mo 5am wakes - is this the new normal?

[ThisNewDreamer]

My 18mo has recently starting waking up between 4.30-5.30am every morning. She goes to bed at 6.30-7pm and from about 14mo was sleeping through til 6.30-7am.

I've read a bunch of similar threads on here and there's lots of advice on earlier / later bedtimes, checking room temp and black-outs, testing later tea time... but also lots of advice suggests this wake-up might be normal and here to stay.

How long did it last for you? Is there anything you did that helped? Either shift wake-up later, or just help you cope with the earlier starts.

I mean, she's had 10-11 hours' sleep by that point, so it could just be that that's enough sleep for her, in which case a later bedtime would be in order. (Sleep needs vary quite a lot from child to child for that age group.)

And if she doesn't need a later bedtime... the method that worked perfectly every single time for me with both my children if they awoke too early was this:
Get them in your bed, lay them down, with an arm across them (to simultaneously comfort and restrain them), and just keep repeating like a broken record "sssshhh, it's still night time, it's still sleepy time", while you keep your eyes closed and try to go back to sleep yourself. If they get out of bed, just grab them, lay them back down and repeat "ssshhh, it's still night time, go to sleep", whilst you have your head on your pillow and your eyes closed. It's as if sleep is contagious, and the strength of your sleep eventually drags them back to sleep. Sometimes it took 2 minutes, sometimes 20, but it almost always worked. Mine did have a later bedtime at that age though.

Thank you @Greengage1983 , I think you're right. Going to try shifting bedtime a bit later. I tried bringing her into bed this morning but she was having none of it!

My 22mo started waking at this time recently, I added another layer of PJs and a higher tog sleepsack, and he's back to 7am wake. We are holding off putting the heating on and I think temperature combined with that part of the night/morning having the lightest sleep pressure meant the cold was pulling him awake.

That's helpful - thanks. I think she's warm enough, but light sleep pressure + teething pain is keeping her from falling back asleep.

My DS was always an early waker. By the time he was about 4 or 5 he would just go quietly downstairs and get his own breakfast (I used to leave a little jug of milk for him in the fridge and a bowl of cereal, covered with clingfilm, on the table) and then play with his toys until the rest of us got up.
At 13, he got a job doing an early morning paper round, used to be up before 6.00 every morning and back for breakfast by 7.30. He did that until he left 6th form college and went to university. Then, suddenly everything changed and when he came back during the uni holidays it was a struggle to get him out of bed! He suddenly became a teenager at 18! 😂

Try a later bedtime and drop her nap if she still has one, my eldest DD didn’t nap from about 18m which was annoying but at least she slept well at night then!

counting down the days til she can make her own breakfast 😂

That day will come before you know it! My "little boy" is now in his late 40s and his children are teenagers. Time flies by so fast. 😊

If you're putting her to bed at 6.30 then what are you expecting?

A solid 10 hour sleep at night is great.

We did have a few happy months of ~12 hour sleep...but now this has ended I can see 10 hrs is still a good result, and we're shifting bedtime later.

Totally normal, sleep needs are always reducing as they grow. You need later bedtime, 10 -11 hours is average overnight at that age, you might get longer overnight once she stops napping. Mine is just turned 2, she does 10-10.5 hours overnight, with a 45 min nap, but on days she doesn't nap, she will do 11.5-12 hours overnight.