how long should my 8 month old nap during the day? does it affect early rising?

[nicnic01]

Hi All, My dd is 8months and was never a good sleeper at night but always needed a lot of sleep during the day. At the moment she is (I may regret saying this) doing well at night but is an early riser. She goes to bed well at 7 but wants to get up/wide awake at 5.15/6, which im struggling with (she plays in her cot for about 20 mins max before she starts shouting for us- She isnt hungry as quite happily plays in our bed for a while while we doze/play with her in a daze). She is then tired again after just a few hours often wanting to sleep again at 8, occassionally lasting till 9. She often sleep for 1.5 hours. Then she sleeps again early afternoon for another 1-1.5 hour. If she has shorter naps then she needs more naps.
SO she often has 2.5-3 hrs sleep during the day in 2 or 3 naps? Is this too much? In anyones experience, is she likely to sleep later in the morning if she has less during the day? I am just about coping with the early starts as my DH is fab and is luckily a morning person so does more than his fair share ( I am a big grump on a morning). My instinct is just to go with the flow as she really seems to need the daytime sleep. Just wondered if anyone had any pearls of wisdom as the other babies we know of similar age seem to be sleeping a lot less than my goergeous LO.
Thanks x

This sounds pretty normal to me, my dd is same age, she sleeps 7.30ish to somewhere between 5.30/6.30. Many babies do wake early, think its just luck if they sleep past 7am! She also has 2 naps between 2 and half to 3 hours in total. I don't think there is much you can do to get her to sleep later in the morning, it's just how her body clock works at the moment I think. I've tried putting my little one down later but made no difference, she still got up early just had more sleep in the day to catch up. If you try waking them from naps early so they're having less sleep in the day I think they just get grumpy coz you've woke them and then they are exhausted by the end of the day which doesn't tend to help them sleep better at night coz they're all worked up as they're overtired.
Just go with the flow and try getting to bed early yourself so the early morning doesn't feel so bad. I think my body is getting used to the early starts and I'm not usually much good in the morning either! It's actually good for your body clock if you go to bed and get up at the same sort of time each day anyway try look at the positives! Now it's summer it can be quite nice being up n about early with the sun shining, get out and enjoy the day!