Anonymous wrote:Does she nap still? If not, she needs 12 hours of night sleep. Earlier bedtime.

A 5 yr old does not need 12 hrs a night. Very few do. 10.5-11hrs is the norm.

Does she nap still? If not, she needs 12 hours of night sleep. Earlier bedtime.

Is there morning light in her room? Room-darkening shades or something might help her sleep longer.

Also, it might just be a phase. Our daughter had a period of early waking, which was brutal, but we just did our best to make sure she went to bed on time, and got lots of exercise during the day so she was physically tired. And one day it just stopped.

Anonymous wrote:DD 5, who has always been generally a good sleeper but not a long sleeper and an early bird, has been waking up at 5am lately. She goes to bed lights out at 8:30, often more like 8:40 but seldom later than that. I hesitate to push her bedtime any later because it already seems late and is later than her classmates. I thought about earlier in the sleep begets sleep notion but that’s basically what happened with spring forward. She generally doesn’t nap. Should I just let it go and focus on not waking us? She often crawls in our bed and snuggles from 5-6, which is sweet but it’s killing me. Her dad started letting her in bed because it doesn’t wake him but now she crawls on top of me and I’ll have to be the bad guy.

For a toddler I'd use that idea to make bedtime earlier, not later and it would lead to longer sleeping. I don't know if that would work for a 5 year old. How dark is the bedroom?

DD 5, who has always been generally a good sleeper but not a long sleeper and an early bird, has been waking up at 5am lately. She goes to bed lights out at 8:30, often more like 8:40 but seldom later than that. I hesitate to push her bedtime any later because it already seems late and is later than her classmates. I thought about earlier in the sleep begets sleep notion but that’s basically what happened with spring forward. She generally doesn’t nap. Should I just let it go and focus on not waking us? She often crawls in our bed and snuggles from 5-6, which is sweet but it’s killing me. Her dad started letting her in bed because it doesn’t wake him but now she crawls on top of me and I’ll have to be the bad guy.