2-Year Old Wakes Early (Between 5-6AM)

Try putting her to bed earlier. In his book Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Baby, Steven Weissbluth, suggests that children need more sleep than we think they do. Who knows. . . it might help.

Good luck.

Dear K.
Yea if I were you I would give her a snack before bedtime try a toast,or little creal, or graham crackers with milk see if she gonna sleep longer in the morning maybe she is just an early bird,
GOOD LUCK AND MAY GOD BLESS

When my oldest was 2 she had the same problem. I would leave rice cakes and a cup of water next to her bed. She would wake up eat, drink, then go back to sleep.

Otherwise, you could bring her into your bed and have her watch a video while you nap. I've had friends do that pretty successfully.

Well, your 2 year old is certainly getting enough sleep. A little on the lower end but enough. Some kids just dont need that much sleep. My 2 year old goes to bed at 8(sometimes 8:30) but doesnt usually fall asleep until 9. She wakes up at 7 or so every morning. So that is the same amount of sleep your little one gets. She takes an 1-2 hour nap on some days. Other days she doesnt nap at all.
I would try pushing bed time back to 8 or even 8:30. It might take about a week for her to get used to the time change and actually sleep past 5. I am sure her internal clock is set for 5-6am and will take some time to adjust. Also, keep the room VERY dark so that the sun doesnt wake her. When the sun rises, within 30 minutes your body will signal you to get up. If I keep my room dark I could sleep for hours longer. It is the same with kids. Again, once thier internal clock gets used to sleeping later.

Once saw on the Today show a suggestion to put a small nightlight with a timer in the child's bedroom, but to set the timer so the light switches on when it is OK to wake up and get out of bed - say 6:30am. The child who cannot tell time would supposedly wake up, look at the light, see that it is on and know that it is OK to wake up Mom. Not sure that it would work with a young two year old, and I have not tested the theory on my own child but Al Roker seemed to think it might work for his own toddler!

She may be ready to stay up alittle longer..I know that evening time is sacred too, to help unwind from the "workday. But, maybe even just a half hour longer. I total believe in the nighttime snack, like some milk and crackers. My 1.5 yrs old daughter has just decided that 7pm (went from falling right asleep to a tantrum)is to earlier for her and with alittle trial and error we are at 745p. Her brother 3.5yrs has always been a great sleeper, and has always gone to bed alittle later because of my husband and my work schedules, and always needed a bedtime snack. Definitely get some room darkening shades thay are a complete blessing, those little internal clocks wake when the sun is on the otherside of those little eyelids. They haven't master pulling the blankets over there heads yet:)

I would def recommend a snack before bed, and even a later bedtime. I did that with my daughter, and it was much nicer to spend some more quiet time at night and less tired, frustrated time in the morning. Good Luck!

Hi K.-

I put a digital clock in my sons bedroom and told him that when he sees a 7 on the clock he can come find me. It works like a charm. If he wakes early, he stays in his room until he sees a 7. If I get up early I will surprise with milk.

Another option for you is to leave a little snack of graham crackers in the room for your daughters when they wake. I will leave my son a cup of water. This eliminates all the " I want a drink of water" activity before and during the night!

i'ld give a snack befor e bedtime like cheese and crackers that will maybe sit a little heavier in the tummy and make your 2 year old sleep a little longer
have you tried putting the kids to bed a little later? and depending where the bedroom is there might be a lot of noise or light coming threw the windows
is your 2 year old a light sleeper? if so youmight need to try blackout curtains to block out the light from outside and maybe change rooms so it's more quiet my sonm wakes up from the cars going back and forth but we live in a town house and there's not much we can do about that
i hope you can get a little "me" time in the morning to wake up believe me i know how important that is

If she's going to bed at 7:30 and taking an hour nap during the day it sounds to me like she's getting up at just the right time for her body. Have you tried cutting out her nap? Maybe she's ready. You may have to adjust her bedtime a little too till she gets used to no nap during the day. If you're like I was and "nap" time was more for mommy to have a little peace and quiet:) then you could turn nap time into "quiet" time and let her know that she doesn't have to go to sleep but she can play quietly in her room for a little bit. It might be a rough adjustment for a couple of weeks but definitely worth it if you want her to sleep a little later in the morning.

I will give you some very good information here. 5:00 is not too bad. You can try to get her to lay down with you for the other 1/2 hr. 7:30 bedtime is good too. Consistency in her schedule is the key. She is probably getting enough sleep. It's not good to eat a lot just before bed. If she is eating a good dinner with protein, good fats, and fiber in each meal...that is good. She can absolutely benefit from warm "whole" milk just before bed. It will give her a good nights sleep too. Children should always have whole milk, unless their doctor claims them to be overweight. Some doctors won't tell you to have whole milk, but it is absolutely the best for them. Organic is even better too. If she doesn't like it alone, you can put a little pure maple syrup in it. No heavy food 2 hrs. before bed.
It is also OK to wake up hungry. That means her digestive system is working well. People that eat too much late at night, don't wake up hungry because their bodies spend the whole night working to digest their food, which is not good by the morning.
I am a mom of 4 children and well educated in this field.

Hi K. - I have a 2 1/2 year old son who has never been a particularly good sleeper. Lately we're lucky if he sleeps until 6, let alone 6:30! Over the weekend he was up at 5:20 and 4:45AM! He goes to bed between 7:30-8, naps once a day after lunch for roughly the same length as your's. It's hit or miss with him and we have tried all sorts of different things. Sometimes he wakes up hungry, sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes he's content to hang out in our bed, sometimes he wants to be up right away. So sorry I can't offer much for advice. But if you do figure out any successful strategies, please let me know!

I also have a 2 year old, and she used to wake up too early for me. What I do now, since I have a 6 month old, when she wakes up for her first feeding of the day (5 a.m.) I take advantage of that, and I give my toddler a bottle ( or zippy cup ) so, your baby is hungry, so a few onces of milk can make a huge difference right before she usually wakes up, and she will probably sleep a few more hours.

Hi K.!
My daughter is 2 as well and she get's up between 5:30 and 6 every morning. She also has the same bed time and nap time as your daughter :) I totally understand wanting even 15 min more of sleep in the morning. If she wakes up hungry I would def. start trying to give her a snack before bed time. What I did to try and buy some extra time in the morning was putting "Tad" and "Lily" (leapfrogs) in her crib. They both are great learning toys and they are big enough to snuggle with. Some mornings we hear her playing with them before she even calls for us.
Good Luck!

K.,

Try putting her to bed a little later around 8 ...my son sleeps from 8-8:30 until 6:30. I also had to push his nap later in the day because he wanted to go to bed at 7 and wake up at 5.