Early Wake-up Time

My daughter is an early morning girl too. It has been my experience, that if you put them to bed later, they still wake at the same time (sometimes earlier) and are even crabbier because they're overtired. What has worked for us is putting her to bed a half hour earlier. It sounds illogical, but works. If she goes to bed earlier, she'll sleep longer.

You might want to read "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. He's a pediatrician who specializes in infant/child sleep with over 30 years of experience and research.

If she's tired at 6:30, put her to bed earlier. By putting her to bed later you might be exacerbating the problem. Try putting her to bed when she is actually tired, so that when she actually goes to bed she isn't overtired.

When she wakes up at 5:30, try delaying going to her. It's quite possible that she jolts herself awake at 5:30, cries out for you, you go to her, and she learns that this is how she will get your attention in the morning (because, hey, you're mom, you're cool, you're fun and I want to play with you!).

Our son was doing this exact thing. We were putting him to bed at 7:00 then he'd wake up at 5:30, then 5:15, then 4:45. We followed the information in the book and put him to bed earlier when he first showed signs of being tired (around 6:15 - 6:30), and then let him soothe back to sleep when he awoke around 4:45/5:00. It took only a few days. On occasion, he will still wake up around 5:15 and give us a little shout out and fall back asleep within 5 minutes, then get up for the day around 7:00.

Good luck to you!

try massage.It helps them sleep for longer along with many other great things!!! I have classes starting all the time if you are interested.I also will come to you if you want to put a group together.Just message me.
Kris

I have found with my kids that usually when they are waking up that early it's because they are tired. I used to feed my kids a banana in the dark and then put them back to bed. I didn't always fall asleep, but at least I was able to rest before someone else woke up. When is she napping for the first time? If it's pretty soon after she wakes up and eats, maybe feeding her something quick will help tide her over for a little while longer. On the other hand, if she's getting enough sleep between her nighttime sleep and naps, she might she be waking that early because she doesn't need anymore sleep.

Good luck!

My daughter was an earily riser also. I stretch her bed time until 7:30. At first (about a week or so) she did wake at the same time, but after that she slept later and later. Now she wakes up at 7:30, when her older brother wakes up for school. It was really hard. She was craby, and sleepy, it was one difficult week. So decide what's more important for you. Sleeping later,or a week of h_ _ _. Sorry for the language, but it wasn't easy. Good luck with what ever you chose.

Hi E. S,

I have a totally different perspective from the other suggestions.

Your daughter is sleeping 11 hours overnight... she is waking at 530 because she has had enough sleep, whether you are ready or not :)

So, she's not willing to conform - maybe it means she will be ambitious and a real go getter when she's ready to go to school :) Instead of trying to change her, why don't you try changing YOUR schedule. I know it sounds simplistic, but if you need more sleep, go to bed earlier.

My two older kids are polar opposites of eachother. the 12 yr old is up with the sun,... and always has been. the 10 yr old could stay in bed forever! my new baby has leveled out a bit and is starting her day by 530 as well, like yours. My son (almost 1-1/2) is rising lately between 630 and 700 (he goes to bed at 715 pm. I have found that when you try to keep them up in an effort to make them sleep late, it fails and you're left with one cranky child... her sleep patterns may change naturally in the future, like when she drops one of those daytime naps - my son dropped his around his first birthday and now only takes one nap.

So anyway, to acoomodate these staggered wake up times, I go to bed at 9 pm - I NEED my sleep... minimum of 8 hours or I am a cranky monster. I really hate being rushed in the morning with a crying baby... scurrying around to get a bottle ready and then not being able to brush my teeth for 20 minutes. I get up before the baby does (at 5 am) - get my teeth brushed, turn the coffee pot on,.. get her bottle ready and then she's up.

My husband leaves the house at 6 am, and when I was working I had to be out the door by 715 (with the two older kids).

I couldn't do it without my morning coffee :) Thank you Juan Valdez! LOL!

Good luck to you...