Early Riser - White Plains,NY

S.:

I would not go get her at that time.

If you have tried putting her to bed later - how long did you try it? If you only did it for 3 days - it won't work because it takes at least 3 weeks of doing something the same way to make it consistent and "normal"

If she is hungry when she wakes at that time - keep everything as low key as possible and feed her a bottle and put her back in her crib. So she knows it's not time to wake up...

Does she eat when she wakes and goes back to sleep? I think that's pretty normal for that age. When she wakes up, don't go get her immediately. Let her sit there and holler or talk to herself for a bit, and make sure there are a few toys or other distractions in the crib. Wait about 20-30 minutes if you can, THEN go get her. This will eventually teach her that if she's bored, she'll fall back asleep. Try getting her on a schedule, whether she sleeps or not. Put her down for a nap around 9:30, 10am, then again after lunch, like 1:30, 2ish, then make bedtime 8pm. If you're persistent, she'll eventually get it.

Obviously, by now you know your child's hunger cry, so of course feed her if she's hungry when she wakes... other than that, what I described above worked beautifully for all 3 kids, my last being the worlds worst sleeper... but he'll sleep in until 8am some mornings!! It worked for me, hopefully it will work for you too :)

My oldest son used to do this and - I kid you not - I would feed him then put him in his swing next to my bed. Both of us would usually sleep at least another hour or two.

That's a tough phase.

P.S. That "baby" is 17 now and sleeps until 10 am if he's allowed. They DO grow out of it LOL.

when my kids did this, i would go feed them then put them back in the crib until 7. She's probably waking up because she's hungry but is just in a habit of staying awake after that. Both of my kids (2.5 and 11 months) will stay in their beds and talk to themselves or coo until we get them at 7 but it hasn't always been like that. When my son was your daughters age he would think 3:30 was a PERFECT time to start the day and would scream and cry until we left his bedroom and went downstairs. I didn't really know any better--so i let him wake the whole house up then. Finally it got too exhausting so I would go in, nurse him in the dark and quiet (if he didn't want to nurse and just wanted to scream until we went downstairs--i just put him back in his bed) then left him there until wake-up time. It took about 2 weeks (a lot longer than a lot of kids with CIO--he's stubborn!) but then he started sleeping later and subsequently started napping better. Good luck!

Have you tried putting her down for a morning & mid-afternoon nap? My oldest was a nightmare as far a sleep went - but my youngest slept thru the night from 3 mos on 8pm-5am. I also got her to take a morning & afternoon nap but then around 9 months she began sleeping almost 12 hrs a night because I was told by our pediatrician to try to keep her up btwn 10-15 mins later at night for a month to get her used to the new schedule. You do 8:15 for 1 week 8:30 next week 8:45 next week & 9 following. They fight it hard the first week or two & if it gets real bad it's okay not to do it for the whole week but to try to do it gradually - it did take us just about 3 wks to do but it was well worth it because the way it worked out w/us was just over summer vacation for my oldest daughter so there weren't many early early mornings. Best of luck to you.

Hi S.. I would suggest putting her to bed between 6pm-6:30pm. At 8 months old she should be getting about 12 hours a night, esp if she isn't napping. She's going to be overtired and therefore isn't sleeping well. The motto is "sleep begets sleep" and it's tried and true. The more she sleeps the better she will sleep - and for longer. At her current schedule, at best she's getting 10 hours a night - and virtually nothing during the day - it's not enough for her body to signal to itself - hey, it's time to sleep for a long time so we can process and grow. Trust me - earlier bedtime. My 2.5 year old goes to bed at 7:30-8:00pm every night. Your 8 month old needs much more than that. http://www.babycenter.com/0_baby-sleep-basics-6-to-9-mont...
Good luck!

My kids have always been early risers (now it's 5:30 - 7 so it's better...). However, I did learn that putting them down earlier actually made them sleep later : ). Worth a try. Good luck - and yes, it's only a stage.

You don't. Keep in mind you might have a little genius/gifted child on your hands, so monitor her well and encourage/allow her to mentally develop at her own pace. (Don't hold her back.) My son was an early riser and sleepless baby. We thought we gave birth to a farmer! He would get up at 5:30AM everyday without fail and would never nap. We basically discovered you just have to make sure you give them lots of simulation to keep them busy. I had a little baby carrier and used to carry him in the front all over the house. I'd point to various stuff and say the names, which he loved and wound up talking before he could walk. People used to think he was older than he really was, because he loved to talk and sing. I'd sit in the reliner with him on my lap and we'd watch TV together. He never put anything in his mouth including a pacifier, so I was lucky with that and could get him older toys that could hold his interest including sound books. We also country lined danced with him, which would put him to sleep if he was tired. I just don't think it's a good idea to try to force a baby/child to sleep. They will sleep when they need it. This is only the beginning. Wait until she's in full force as a toddler and ready to learn everything....Gifted kids are very different.