5.55am wake up

My baby is 6 months old. Wake windows between 2 - 3 hours. About 2 - 3 naps at the moment around 45 minutes to an hour. I do have a 3 year old son and we all go to bed between 8 and 9pm - sometimes her latest nap is in the evening 6 - 7 depending on how she feels, but yes, she wakes up between 7 and 8am, sometimes later if it's a weekend, holiday or both kids are home so no drop-offs in the morning.

I only have a 4 month old so I know different but have you tried to dream feed before you go to bed? I’ve only just started it but my LO goes to bed 7. Then I dream feed at 10pm. Wakes up once in night for feed between 2-4 and then up for the day at 0645/7. I know they are all so different. Before I was putting LO to bed at 9 but she was tried at 7 and just slept on us and moving it earlier hasn’t made a difference to wake ups so far. Feel a dream feed may help?

He’s overtired, bed earlier and cap the last nap at 20mins

I had a similar issue with my 7 month old that went on for weeks. I started putting him to bed at 8/8:15 (instead of 7ish). It didn’t make a difference until I’d stuck to it for a few days and then I feel his body clock adjusted and he started sleeping until 7am.

I had the same issue when my baby was 7 months old! She wakes up at 5:50am every single morning. This has changed when she transitioned to 2 naps. Also, what we did was we didnt pick her up til 6:30am. And we were consistent when we were doing this. So since she wasnt getting picked up, she falls asleep til 6:30am and now she is used to waking up around this time.

My baby is 7 months, she takes 2-3 naps during the day that vary from 20 mins-2 hrs( the length of her naps determine how many naps she gets.) Her last nap is anywhere between 2:30 to 4. Nothing pass 5 (yes I will wake her if she is not up on her own) She stays up until bedtime at 8:30. And wakes up at 8:30am majority of the time 9am. During the day we do tummy time, outside time, baby workouts( baby crunches, bicycle legs, butterfly twists,etc), reading anything that will tire her. After 5 her dad is usually home,so he is playing with her tiring her out. By 7- 7:30 she starts getting tired which is perfect bedtime routine, bottle, book. She can’t even make it through the book where she tired and ready to sleep. It’s been like this since 4 1/2 months. We co slept before than started transitioning to her bed at 3 months.

Wake time isn't dictated by sleep pressure or lack thereof, it's almost entirely circadian rhythm. In adults, sleep pressure keeps us asleep until around 2-3 am, when circadian rhythm takes over and keeps us asleep until our usual wake time in the morning. It takes at least 3 days to change circadian rhythm. To change wake time, you need to change the habit.

Decide on what you consider an acceptable wake time (you may have to start in 15 minute increments, so 6:15, then 6:30, etc, and work up to it), and treat everything before that as a normal night waking. Don't get up for the day, don't turn on lights. Soft voices, change and feed if necessary, but nothing to indicate playtime or activity. After your acceptable wake time is passed, then get up for the day. Make sure to include lots of sunlight exposure and, if possible, fresh air in the morning. After a few days of this we were able to push our normal wake time back to after 7, 7:30 am.

that’s really helpful thank you! He is wide awake though at this time so it is also based on how much sleep he’s getting and he doesn’t need anymore from 6am?

6 am can be a pretty normal wake time for babies, true. If you're comfortable with it then that's fine, but if you want to stretch the wake time to later, you can work on that. How awake he is after sleeping overnight isn't really a good indicator as most babies are pretty wide awake after a good sleep. If he were waking in the middle of the night often and for long periods, that would indicate he's getting too much sleep (this is also a problem adults have, it's why we sometimes wake up at 3 am and can't get back to sleep). But wake time in the morning is typically dictated by when you actually start your day - activity, light, physical movement. The more you get up at a certain time each day the more you are inclined to wake up at that same time.

ahh okay thanks again! So last night he actually slept through which was great but then woke up at 6am again. we actually left him for a bit and he started to self settle back to sleep. I am not sure he fully went back to sleep but was then up and starting crying around 6:45am so then we went in opened the blinds etc and fed him. I guess if we consistently do this for 3 days, he might know to stretch his wake up?

That's more or less how I've done it! You can give him a chance to settle, certainly. He may, he may not. If mine was crying, then obviously I'd go in, but if not, I'd let her wake on her own time. If I had to go in we would just sit and rock quietly, maybe sing. No lights, no noise, no play. Sometimes a bottle but no solid breakfast until after we get up.

3 days is an average but yes, essentially if you are consistent about your wake time (and keep it reasonable; obviously you wouldn't expect him to sleep until 9:30 if he's normally an early riser), then the habit should set in. It can still be disrupted by teething, illness, regression, etc, but at least now we are consistently waking up between 7 and 8 most mornings.

Also, dropping the third nap around 9 months helped. With 3 naps it was just kind of an awkward period where we still needed them all, but they also stretched the day just enough to make mornings on the early side. 😅

that’s amazing thank you!!!