My little girl has been waking up at 5:30 on the dot every morning for the last 2 weeks. She would normally sleep till 8. I've tried putting her to bed later in the evening, keeping her in her crib hoping she would fall back to sleep, and nothing seems to be working. She wakes up cranky and stays that way until she takes her nap later in the day. Any suggestions on how to get her to sleep longer in the morning?
Hey Everyone! Just wanted to let y'all know I put my little one to bed an hour earlier and she's back on track! Thanks to everyone for all the good advice and tips! Lovin the extra sleep in the morning! Thanks again!
She is probably waking up because she is hungry. If you are still bottle-feeding, i assume at least before bed she takes a bottle anyway, try using one of those feeding type bottles that you can mix dry cereal in with her formula...
or maybe just feeding her a little later than usual..
Just a suggestion...but it seemed to work for my boys :D
This is going to sound crazy but it worked for my son, When he started this we put him to bed 30 min. earlier and for some reason he slept later.
Putting her to bed later wont make her sleep in. I agree with everyone. Put her to bed earlier. Her sleep patterns are just changing, but it will smooth out when she is ready. Just keep on keepin' on until it changes.
if you can change her diaper while she is asleep, that might help. awareness of bodily functions has always affected my children's sleep. really though, it sounds like it is related to moving around for the age. to go from a lump to walking at a year means the instinct to move is extremely strong. my children never slept much - and i agree with the earlier bedtime. if you want to just address the cranky issue, a morning quiet time/nap might help. also try a fan or sound machine in the room, and windows dark.
most important is to take care of yourself as you go through this transition - cranky baby means more rest for the mamma. keeping your confidence and head up is the crucial part - there will many changes to come. try what you can with what energy you have, and have faith that everything is relatively fine.
I know this seems crazy, however, I find that when I put my son to sleep earlier, he wakes up later. A child your daughters age needs 10-12 hours of sleep every night. Just try it. It works for me.
Everyone sounds right to me when they say put her bed a little earlier and they sleep later. Get the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" it's GREAT!!!! It really helped me out.
Does she wake up hungry? Maybe you should try feeding her larger portions of food at dinner time? And don't feed her too late in the evening either as that will make it hard for her to sleep. If she's waking up early because her diaper is wet maybe try to eliminate her evening juice or water and be sure to change her right before bed. Chances are that this is a phase and you may just have to wait it out. I can always tell when my daughter is having a growth spurt because she eats A LOT and she will sleep 10-12 hours at night but when she's not she picks at her meals and I'm lucky if she gets 8-9 hours of sleep. As they get older they sleep a little less every day....(which is no fun since as WE get old we seem to need more and more sleep!! ha!) you may even want to try shortening her afternoon nap a bit... Good luck!!
you should try putting her to bed earlier, this has helped ours who did the same thing. try a little earlier every night til you hit an hour earlier or til she sleeps longer. if that doesn't work then she may just be changing patterns which is hard when you finally get used to the one that they are on...!!! Best of success!!
Hi R.! :)
Kids go through a lot of different sleep phases as they grow and each child is different. My 1 year old little girl is in a similar phase to your little girls right now ;) She goes to bed at 7-7:30 and sleeps til 5:30-6am, then takes a 2 hour nap around 10-11am. My son's sleep phases were pretty similar to my daughter's actually except that with him, you could make him go to bed earlier or get up later by shortening his naps from 3-4 hours to 2. That might be an option for you--but I don't guarantee it will work. Just keep playing with the bedime and naptime schedules and hope for the best. But take comfort in the fact that this is a phase for her and will change soon one way or another ;) My son is now 4 and has stopped taking naps, but I've been enjoying it because I now get one on one time with him while my daughter naps and then time with my hubby when my son and daughter go to bed at 7pm! ;)
Best of Luck to You!,
M.
My daughter's sleep patterns always changed when she was either about to hit a growth spurt or was getting a new tooth.
