For the past 5 mos, our daughter has been an excellent sleeper. To bed around 7:30pm, sleeping through until 6:30/7am.
However, in the past month, she is getting up earlier and earlier. First it was 6:15, then 6:00, then 5:45....today it was 5:30. She takes mostly takes two 1-2 hr naps a day...one at 9am, the other at 1pm. On daycare days, she doesn't nap as long (40min nap; 1 hr nap), so she sometimes takes a cat nap in the car ride home around 4:30-5pm for 30-40min.
I can't think of any significant changes to her routine. She is a good eater (nursing + solids). She is starting to teethe, but hasn't really complained very much about it.
It sounds like she's getting up with the sun! Try putting up blackout shades in her room to keep it dark so she knows it's still time to sleep
My son did this too but I refuse to let him up before 6am. However, I do different things based on the time...if he's up at 4:30 to 5:30, I go in, change him (he's usually really wet), don't interact other than to renuk and tell him it's still sleepy time. I used to nurse him and he'd go back to sleep when he was a baby, but we don't do that now. If it's close to 6 or even 6:30 when we're tired, we just let him hang out for a bit then when it's after 6am and he's starting to fuss, my husband changes him, and I nurse him in bed. But he doesn't fall asleep anymore...he just wants to play with the phone.
His bedtime is around 7pm. I follow the "Happy Child Healthy Sleep Habit" book - sleep begets sleep. Temperature also affect him since he can't really cover up, so I'm always trying to figure out how to keep his room comfortable, and not warm. In the end, just leave her until 6am and she'll learn that you don't come in just b/c she's awake.
My 8mo.old usually sleeps til 7-8am but..wakes up for her bottle periodically throughout the night.
If she wakes up to early I give her a bottle or bring her in bed with me and rub her head or back and kinda make her go back to sleep. I trained my older daughter the same way I could never handle a child that woke up at 5 or 6am unless we had to go somewhere. I turn cartoons on, give a bottle, rub their back, take them in bed with me whatever just find a way to get her back to sleep. I know the quicker I react to her being awake and the faster I try and get her back to sleep the more likely she is to sleep again. If I wait to long then she's WIDE awake and it doesn't work. I know somewhat selfish of me but if mommy gets good sleep mommy is a better happier mommy throughout the day.
I trained my first kid like this and she's now 7years old and on the weekends she'll easily sleep til 10am-noonish no problem. I love it!
You can always try and push their bedtime back too. My 8mo.old goes to bed anywhere from 7-9 typically
my son went through that at 9 months maybe teething who knows. i just made sure he didnt leave his room until 6:30 or 7. i would change him, get him a drink of water, and rock him then lay him back down. sometimes he just sit for a while then fuss, i would check on him and lay him back down. lasted a few weeks then back to normal, then he started again, then back to normal. As soon as he sees light he thinks we are ready to rock. Some kids are just early risers though, just like adults. Good luck
Our twins are the same way, except they also want to go to bed later. We are pretty sure it is from the long summer hours. Sounds like she just wants to get up with the birds. Good Luck!
You definitely don't have to just deal with it! Check out the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child." Whenever I have had this problem with my son, who is now 19 months old, I put him to be earlier. If he wakes up from his afternoon nap before 3:00, he is ready to go down between 6 and 6:30. This is described more in detail in the book. Overtired children have a harder time falling asleep and staying asleep, thus causing an earlier wake-up time Childrens body clocks are not affected like adults when it comes to daylight. It will be hard to do if she is napping in the car. That may be affecting her sleep as well. Best of luck!
my boys go through this from time to time too. Usually after going to visit great grandma. To get them back to normal i do what a previous mom suggested and do what i can to put them back to sleep until i'm ready for them to be up. I will rock them back to bed or if they are happy i leave them in there until it's time to really get up. Then after a few days they get the hint and start sleepin later. I guess it's not worth it to get up early if you aren't going to get out of bed anyway!
So I read a book called "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" and this exact senario is in there and my daughter did the same thing. The book says because she was not getting to bed early enough, and they were right! Sounds crazy I know, you prob. think she will get up even earlier...NOT TRUE! Give it a try. But slowly in 15 min. intervals work back to 6:30. So, for the next 3-4 nights put her down at 7:15, then the following 3-4 nights 7:00 and so on until you get to 6:30...I swear this will do the trick!
It's just that she is not getting enough sleep. Also, they say to not respond to the baby until 6:30...I know it's hard, but it does work :) Good Luck! oh, and if she is falling asleep in the car, that is a tell tale sign that she is overtired!
I had the same issue when my daughter was around that age. Some days she would get up at 6:45,other days it would be 5:00, then 5:45. We tried putting her to bed later, putting her to bed earlier. Nothing worked. So we stoped trying things and she eventually started waking up around the same time every morning (6:15). You just have to deal with it now. My daughter is now 14 months old and ocassionally she will get up at random times but nothing like before.
C.,
It could be any number of things that are causing this...could be the teething, light in her room, time change, etc. You don't mention that is waking throughout the night, so that is one good thing!
If problems with sleep continue, or you notice it becoming a bigger problem as time goes on, rule out any medical issues. After that, I highly recommend "The Sleepeasy Solution" by Jill Sivack and Jennifer Waldburger. You can find them at http://www.sleepyplanet.com. As an Early Head Start mental health consultant, I can tell you that sleep is an oft requested area for help from parents. I think the DVD mentioned above can be a saving grace!
Best wishes!
W. Young, LMSW, BCD
Hi C.,
USUALLY, when a child takes shorter naps, they do get up early. If they take longer naps they will usually sleep later in the morning....sleeping is a habit....the more they sleep, the more they want to sleep. Sounds stange, but so true.
Try letting your daughter put herself back to sleep...once she learns to do this it makes life a whole lot simpler all the way around. She will learn to do this during naps, also, and then she will take a longer nap in the morning and afternoon.
My little ones usually take a 1 1/2 to 2 hour nap in the morning, and at least a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. As they grow older, I shorten the morning nap, but they all take, at least, a two hour nap in the afternoon.
Good Luck!
C.
It could be the sun. As the days get longer I find that my sons wake up earlier. It makes life really difficult. I was up feeding our infant this morning at 4:30 and realized that the birds were already chirping. No wonder the kids are up earlier. As much as I love our long summer days, it easier to get them to sleep in the dead of winter. Good luck!
remember always that sleep is never a constant. my son would wake up at 5 a lot too, and he would usually go back to sleep if we got him into bed with us and snuggle. :D
She's probably going through a phase where she needs less sleep I'd put her to bed later -- I think your best bet is to either change her bed time to later so she sleeps later or change your bed time to earlier so you don't mind gwtting up early. You could try cutting back her afternnon nap, but you'd probably just have a GRUMPY baby then....
I'd consider yourself lucky that you got to have her sleep until 7am for so long. Our girls have always gotten up for the day by 5:30-6:00. It's just part of parenting!
