My 3 year old daughter goes to bed about 8:00 pm every evening and gets up about 5:30am. The last two night she has gotten up at 4:30 am and will not come into our room - she does know how to open the door. She will just cry in the living room until we come get her. At this time, since I have to up by 5:15am anyways she just crawls onto the couch and watches a show until I'm showed and dressed. She doesn't seem overly tired in the mornings and the fact she is getting up 30 minutes before I need to really doesn't bother me. I'm just afraid something she is dreaming, hearing, is waking her up and I would hate to think she is having nightmaires. She tells me she isn't. The only thing different is that she is potte training heavnily which is something new with in the last 3 months especially with nighttime potty training. I'm wondering if she needs to go to the potty and can't wake me. By the time I get to her she has wet her pullup. Anyone else have a similar story? What do you thinkg about this?
Sorry, clarification needed: I am not waking her during the night, so I worded "nighttime" training wrong. I really meant that she has been staying dry during the night several times a week so we are moving along. I'm thinking that she is doing well with the staying dry during the night and the urge to go potty is waking her up early.
It's very common for kids to wake up when they are night training. Both of my kids work up around 4-5 am for a few weeks before they finally night trained. My 2 year old still gets me up occasionally to go potty. I usually just quickly potty him and put him back to bed.
My daughter is 3, is an early riser, and OFTEN wakes too early. In our home that's before 6:00... I do think it has to do with having to pee and/or having a wet pullup. I usually just let her get in our bed and she generally goes back to sleep.
Is opening your door an option so she can come in? Sharing my bed with a 3 year old is not my favorite thing, but I do prefer it to getting an hour less sleep than I need.
You could try waking her when you go to bed and taking her to the bathroom. I did that with my boys when they were starting to sleep without a pullup. Wake them up (sort of awake anyway), walk them to the bathroom then snuggle them right back to bed after they pee. They almost always peed, and then were dry all night.
I haven't done this yet with my daughter, but I'm thinking about trying it.
J.
You can put a potty in her room and have a nightlight on to help her see to use it if you think she is waking up with the urge to go.
Also consider getting blinds or a shade to darken her room. And it doesn't sound as if she's having nightmares : )
Maybe going to bed too LATE. I know it sounds crazy, but early to bed, late to rise. Night Terrors are a result of going to bed too late. Read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child for more info on this. It has been my blessing :)
I don't understand what you are talking about when you say night time training since there isn't anything like that. When their brain turns on the chemical response to stop making urine when the child falls asleep that is when the stay dry all night, nothing a person does to them changes that. They will continue to make urine and wet until the brain changes it's chemistry. Kids do not normally wake up to go pee, they normally sleep the entire night.
Other than that, maybe she doesn't need that many hours of sleep. 8pm to 4:30 with no interruptions during the night is not as much as I would expect her to need. But if you are waking her to go to the bathroom during the night you are messing up her biorhythm. She is probably switched now to wake up at the end of each sleep cycle and is not able to go back to sleep.
Stop waking her up to go to the bathroom and let her sleep if that is what you are doing.
That's not all that much sleep for a three year old. At three, my girls were sleeping from 7 - 7 and taking a one hour nap. But if you think she's not overtired it must be working for her. Is it possible that she's stressed about peeing in her pull up? You mention night time potty training... and I agree with the previous poster... there's no way to "train" a child not to pee at night. Their bodies just have to be ready to concentrate the urine and hold it in while sleeping. So perhaps she's waking at 4:30 because she has peed in her pull up and she's worried that you'll be upset so she doesn't come get you? You may not mean it, but you could be making her feel like she's doing something wrong by not being able to hold it during the night or early morning... like if you're telling her how exciting it would be if she woke up dry, or how happy mommy would be if she pees in the potty at night... it may be causing stress.
I'd try not talking at all about peeing or potty at night. Just let her know that if she wants to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, she can. If not, she can use her pull up. Then when she wakes up dry 10 times in a row, you'll know she's ready.
I know you are worried about making sure she is getting quality sleep more than her getting up too early. I like some of the ideas you've gotten so far...including the blinds, going to bed a tad earlier (yep), going the bathroom beforehand, etc.
Don't forget the time change is coming next weekend. You're kid is already ready for it. :) We have to start moving our bedtime up a little this week. Otherwise it will make it hard for my oldest to be up in time for preschool. She sleeps until 7:30 now, and that will be 8:30 next week.
I was thinking maybe she is going to bed too early.
Make sure she is active during the day and
push her bedtime back to 8:30 pm.
Hopefully then she will wake later in the morning.
Make sure she pees before you put her to ped.
Keep her in her pull up.
The changing seasons are messing with all of us in my house. Hard to sleep, early to rise.
My DD is 3.5 and when she started waking at 6:30 (way early for us), I said, "DD, you don't have to go back to sleep. But it's still dark out and the little hand isn't on the 7 yet. Can you play quietly in your room til the hand is on the 7?" This morning she was singing to herself when DH went to get breakfast, and he said good morning, they had a good chat and everybody got up.
Maybe give your DD suggestions for what to do instead. There's also a Calliou book about "bad dreams" that may help her if it's bad dreams. My DD will sometimes cry in her sleep - they have VERY vivid imaginations at this age. If she's crying hard, I go in and whisper, "Momma's here. It's okay." and pat her back. I talk to DD about how pictures in her head are not real and Mommy and Daddy will always take care of her.
If you think the urge to potty is waking her, can she go to the bathroom solo yet? If not, put a potty in an accessible place for her and tell her she can use it. We like the kandoo (or generic) wipes. I taught DD that she can use a clean one to wipe her hands, too.
