Early Wake up Call

I think at 17 months she's ready for 1 nap a day. How long did you try it for? It can take a couple of weeks for her to finally settle down for a longer nap. It'll be a crummy 2 weeks for you, but I think in the long brun it'll pay off.

I would make sure there's no "real" reason for waking...teething can be a major cause of messed up schedules and she may be getting her molars. My daughter woke up nightly for about 2 or 3 months and we never really found a cause, but it eventually just stopped. Unfortunately it meant we were very tired parents in the meantime (esp. also having a newborn and an older son who wakes early). If there's no apparent reason, perhaps it's just as she cycles through sleep or dreams and needs reassurance that you're around. I would keep waking "rewards" to a minimum, but give her a hug, tug her back in, and maybe she'll just settle back down...it worked for us and eventually she outgrew it.
Good luck.

My son was the same way. He just out of the blue started waking at 5am for the day. I let him stay in his crib and play with crib toys for awhile. We had the piano that attached to the crib that they kick, and we would switch out other crib toys that were safe. I think my son was much younger than your daughter though. It was a phase and thankfully it didn't last too long. I thought it had something to do with time changes and setting the clocks ahead and back. We also tried to fiddle with his bedtime in 15min increments. We would put him to bed a few minutes earlier each night to see if that helped. If we put him to bed later he got up earlier so we thought maybe if we try earlier that would help and it did a little. I guess he was getting overtired or something. Unfortunately this is the only advice I have except that I didn't feed him breakfast until it was the usual time because I didn't want him to think it was okay to get up that early. Obviously I didn't starve him if it was time to nurse but I didn't give him his cereal or anything else. Also, when he was older we made sure his room was childproof and put up a gate at the door. We let him play in his room quietly. Of course, I was never really fully asleep but at least I could lay in bed and listen to him on the monitor. I hope this helps.

My son is 18 months old & we are expecting #2 in 2 weeks. From about 14 months to 16 months he would wake up around 3 or 4 in the am as well. At the time he seemed inconsolable. I would try rocking him & laying him back down, but he would still cry. He still seemed very tired, but I could not get him back to sleep. (At the time I believed he was having nightmares & needed the cuddling). I was really tired too, so I just wound up bringing him to bed with us. He would cuddle up & sleep until 8 am then. During this time he changed to taking only one, one hour nap. This worked ok for about 2 months. Then he woke up at midnight. Then the next day at 10pm. My husband & I refused to have him in our bed all night. We did the CIO method. We had 2 really upsetting & sleepless nights. Then he started sleeping through the night again. Though now his wake up time is between 5:30 - 6:30am.
I don't think I've been very helpful, but at least you know someone else has gone through this.
Some other possibilities: is she teething? (My son is currently getting his canines) Its possible that she "senses" that something is different with mommy & wants to spend more time with you. She may be getting hungry (often an issue with my son) try a snack before bed. Finally, I've found that the more sleep my son gets the better he sleeps. Try getting her to nap longer (rides in a car or stroller work well for us). Even napping while watching tv helps.
Good luck.

When I think back to when my son was doing that, I remember getting him out of his crib, changing his diaper, returning him to his crib and putting some soft music on for him to listen to. Keep communication to a minimum and the room as dark as possible.
Also, weird as it sounds, it IS true that an earlier bedtime can lead to more sleep.

I feel your pain. One of my 21 month old twins does this off and on. What I've found works best is to make rules and stick to them. Our rule is "no one out of bed before 6:00". I put them to bed at 8:30 and one twins almost always sleeps until 6:30 or 7 and I know they need this much sleep. So, when the other twin wakes at and ungodly hour and has decided he wants to get up I let him cry for around 10 minutes. If he doesn't go back to sleep, I go in and check on him to make sure he hasn't pooped or isn't sick or something else isn't wrong. I continue this until 6:00. I NEVER let him out of bed before 6:00 unless something is wrong. It seems to have worked and he seems to have gotten the message though I find I have to repeat the process after he's been sick (and I've had to get him out of bed several nights in a row). Good luck - I hope you find a solution!

Hi J.

Our youngest never slept thru the night -- at least, not until age 4 or 5. (a real bummer). However, I would suggest that you keep your daughter up until 9:00 and 10:00 so her bedtimne more closely mirrors yours. Then you aren't wasting time being awake while she's sleeping only to have her wake you up when she's done sleeping and you aren't.

Next idea: a bedtime snack. Some people can't sleep thru the night because their blood sugar doesn't carry them through. Try something that is slow to digest, and won't spike the sugar content, then do the bedtime routine. If it helps, great. If it doesn't, you at least tried something.

When our daughter used to wake up at 4:00 a.m., we just brought her into bed with us, and cuddled, because she was awake and we didn't want to be. She usually fell back asleep cuz it was dark and boring (and comfy) and at least one of the two of us got some sleep. The other got squished over to the edge by a child who wanted to sleep REALLY close, so that person didn't get much sleep. But at least SOMEONE did ! LOL

J.,

First, congrats on your upcoming arrival. I have a 3 yr old, 19 mo old and an expecting #3 in 4 weeks. So, I can understand how important it is to get the sleep situated before the next comes along.

Neither of my kids took 2 naps after about 9 months, so I don't have advice on that, but my daughter takes a nap for about 2 hours around noon every day and then goes to bed from about 7:30/8 to about 6:30/7:30 the next morning. I did start to notice that her wake up time was being affected by the heater kicking on in the morning. Do you think that something could be happening around 4 am that is waking her up (a neighbor, light, heater, etc...)? Also, when she wakes, what is your reaction? I've learned NEVER to talk to or look my kids in the eyes until I'm ready for them to wake up. If I do, they think I'm awake and ready to interact with them. So, if you go in to console her after 5 -10 min of crying, just pick her up, pat her back, lay her back down, cover her up and leave. Then, go back to bed for twice the amount of time, do the same if she is still crying, etc... It may take 4 or 5 nights, but it will work. Believe me, I've done it with both my kids. The hardest part is sticking to it. Its just so much easier to go in and pick them up, talk to them, lay them in your bed while you try to get some extra zzz's, especially when your husband is saying, "can you quiet her down, I have to work in the morning." Suffer through it and you'll be rewarded with a few weeks of sleep for both of you until your next one arrives.
I hope this helps. Good luck with both of your girls!
K.

My youngest daughter has always had crazy sleep patterns. She begain doing this same thing, only she got up around midnight, at around 6 months old. It took a while and alot of sleepless nights but eventually she worked herself out. I started giving her a warm bath with soothing baby stuff in it and would turn off all the tv and keep the lights low and would whisper to her and it put her into a sleepy mood and it helped her sleep all night. You could try to put her to bed later and see what that does. Or let her play in her crib all night, unless she is crying. Sometimes my daughter would wake up and after eating and feeding she would go back to her bed and sit in there and I would go back to sleep. Other times I would put her in her bouncy seat and put on her favorite baby einstein video and go back to sleep on the couch while she watched her show. I had to get up for work at 4 am so I had to go back to bed. I hope I helped and good luck with the new baby!

It sounds to me like your daughter probably IS ready for the one nap transition, and like she needs help sleeping longer for her naps. Every child is different, so every child's sleep needs are different. But these sort of rough nights often come because the child is OVERtired going to bed. I would suggest allowing her to continue on a two-nap schedule, BUT start pushing the morning nap back in 15 to 30 minute increments over the course of a week or so, and see if you can't push that nap back to around noon time, so that she's taking a nap right after lunch (and then eliminate the afternoon nap once you've gotten her early nap time to around 11:30 or 12). If she continues to wake after just 30 minutes, find a way to help her return to sleep. If you can avoid actually picking her, up, then do so. Just lay her down in her bed again. As many times as you need to. Over and over again. Try to stick to the same plan at night. No picking up, no talking, no eye contact. Just lay her down over and over. She'll get it eventually. And in time, you'll be rewarded with a good solid 1.5 to 3 hour nap (depending on your kid) after lunch every day. Then a sensible bedtime. Most people aim for 7:30 - 8, I think. My DD stays up until 8:30 and then sleeps until 7 (she's never been able to sleep for longer than about 10 hours overnight, unless she's sick). Also - as a previous mama mentioned, routine really helps. Incorporating routine for bedtime and naptime (they could even be the same routine, if you needed/wanted), helps your daughter to know what's coming. And tell her in advance that it's time to get ready for nap time now. It's time to get ready for bedtime now, etc... If you can, draw the curtains or blinds and make the house darker as you prepare for nap time (especially if you also do this at bedtime -- it helps get kids in a sleepy frame of mind). Do you have a white noise option? My daughter has always slept great with her humidifier running full blast and it drowns out the noises from outside. Also - make sure she's eating enough and has a reasonable snack within an hour of bedtime. If she's not sick or teething (and man, teething always took its toll on sleep at our house), then a grumbly tummy might be waking her, too. And remember that she could also just be feeling stressed out -- especially if there is any tension or stress in your house over your impending new arrival. I don't know if any of this was helpful to you, but I certainly hope it was. Either way, I wish you luck in getting your daughter to return to a more predictable (and restful) sleep pattern.