My Child Wakes up Too Early!!!

Put him to bed later. Try it 10 minutes at a time so it isn't too drastic and he doesnt get all grumpy. My daughter used to sleep til 9am and I was loving it. Now she gets up around 7:30am. We put her down at 9pm. She's 2. But, some kids just wake up early, it's how they are built. Also, if there is sun coming in the window, get darker shades, that may help. Good luck!

Wait till he's a teenager! Or at least school age, then you'll be wishing he still popped up bright 'n early.

Is there another area he could go to to play safely & quietly - maybe quiet toys on the floor of a bedroom.

Sounds like he's a good sleeper and wakes up happy. I'm sorry to say but I wouldnt mess with it. My little guy did the same when he was young and it was hard in the summertime because when he woke up was when the sun was coming up. It will not last all year, I promise you that! But I do hope his cheerfulness and bedtime cooperativeness will last for you.

Hi, I have the same problem with my daughter. I tried to put her to sleep later and she would wake up at the same time. I talked to my Mom about it and she said I was a realy raiser too. My daughter is now 21 months and she will sleep to 6:30 but I still put her to bed at 7:30. My daughter is super active as well.

Sorry I don't have a way to extend sleep. I found if I tried to change her sleep habits she would get up earlier. But it is such a short time they are this age it will get better.

I have a 3 year old son and a little girl on the way, due in early January.

I second the rec to get "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby," no matter what the issue is. If your son is not getting both of his naps and/or not going down early enough, he will not sleep as well. It sounds counter-intuitive, but sleep begets sleep, as the author says. Without enough sleep, a child's adrenaline kicks in, making it even harder to sleep/stay asleep. However, perhaps you are already doing all of this given that he goes to sleep at night without complaint, which generally would not be the case with an overly tired child. Does he have a mirror on the rail of his crib, or something else safe to play with so that he can play happily in bed for an extra half-hour? If he wakes up hungry, could you feed him and then put him back down?

5:00/5:30 may be too early for this, but is it possible that the light at dawn (it comes on gradually) is waking him? Would darker shades help? (I wouldn't suggest blackout shades, though, as the light helps our bodies prepare for waking up -- just a slightly thicker shade.) Your son is giving you a really great stretch of sleep. Whatever you do, do not start putting him down later to get a later wake-up time. You will likely create sleep issues that do not already exist if you try that. As sunrise gets later and later, your son might start waking later on his own. Also, and I never succeeded with this, but I know people who did: try getting up at 5:30 with your son and then going to bed much earlier yourself. My friends w/ more than one kid seem to be the ones who do this most often (perhaps they're just completely exhausted?). He will sleep later eventually (especially given that he sounds like a champion sleeper); you probably won't be waking up at 5:00/5:30 for much longer. Get the book and consider darker shades. Good luck!

Have you tried moving his bedtime to closer to 7:30 or 8:00. We put our kids down at 8:00 (since they were babies) and 90% of the time they wake up after 6:30.

I would put your son to bed an hour later, for one week,
and let him adjust to the change, he should start waking up
later in the mornings.
W.

can you put a couple crib safe toys in there so he can entertain himself? Do it either at night before you go to bed (after he is asleep) or in the morning when you get him some milk.

That's over 10 hours already. Combined with an afternoon nap, that's all the sleep he needs. I would put him to bed one hour later and he will eventually sleep until 6:00a/6:30a.

Put him to bed at 8pm, rather than 7:15.

That sounds like kind of a tough scenario! The thing that has worked best for us (our daughter has a similar sleeping disposition) is just letting her cry it out until we are ready to get her. The very earliest we will go into her room is 6:30. But she doesn't have siblings to wake up, so I can't say whether or not we would keep that up as eagerly! I think that after awhile the siblings would sleep through it.

Kids are AMAZINGLY resilient and adaptive. So my recommendation would be to just let him fuss and cry until a certain time each morning. You might be surprised to find him either go back to sleep after a couple days of this, or he'll just entertain himself a little on his own once he "knows" the rule. Also, try putting him to bed around 7:45 or so and it will most likely even out in the mornings after a few days. Be sure and talk to him and tell him why you are letting him cry in the mornings so he has a vague understanding of the new rule.

Good luck!!!

Now, if I could just figure out a way to get my 18-month-old to stop crying ALL THE TIME.

My son does the same thing. I don't know if you still nurse but it works for us. We can usually get him to go right back to sleep until about 730 am.
If you don't nurse maybe something warm to drink??
just a suggestion
jen

Hi J. -

It sounds like your son is a great sleeper-! I would suggest one of two things - put him to bed later, and he will wake later - or you go to bed earlier, so that 5:30 is a good time for you to wake up :)
My kids (who are now all teenagers) have never slept that long through the night - you are lucky!

Try putting your son to bed a little later, maybe 8pm and try having him nap earlier. Maybe before 11:30 AM. I find that it works because no matter what my babies sleep 10 to 13 hours. So therefore the later (but reasonable)time you put him to bed chances are the later he will get up in the morning. Also, a warm bath with a little lavender baby wash puts my babies right to bed and helps keep them asleep. I hope this helps! By the way I'm a proud mommy of four, ranging from 9 months to 9 years old! I have seen it and been through it all.

Be happy. I had the same problem when my 2 year old was about 20 months. I also have an 8 month old who was 4 months at the time. The advice I got was to put him to bed earlier then his 8pm bedtime. I even talked to the doctor and he had no advice. So, I did as the readers told me and he now sleeps til about 5-5:30 or 6am. When he was getting up at 4am yes 4am wide awake. So, now when he gets up early we use that as our "toon" time and coffee time. It is the only time each day that it is just "us" and I love it. This way my 8 month old does not get up as early. I also work full time with a very demanding job so I try and go to bed by 10pm.
Best of luck.

I would suggest putting him to bed later if he isn't cranky. He doesn't seem to need the sleep. At that age my kids were going to bed around 7:45-8:00pm.

I went through this with my son at the same age. My dr. told me to start putting him down later (he was going to bed at 7:00). I was reluctant with what I had read, saying that sleep begets sleep and that I should put him down earlier. But I had tried everything, and nothing worked. I finally started putting him down at 7:30 and gradually things got better. I was surprised. It did take a month or so, no quick fix. At the time my son was a good napper (3 hour nap every afternoon), but not great at night. I know that getting up that early can be wearing on you. My son shared a room with his twin sister and she would sleep until 6:30 or 7:00, so I had to get him in order not to distrub her sleep. Just remember that every child is different and what works for one may or may not work for the other. I will say things will get better. My son is now 4 and sleeps from about 8:30 to 7:00. Good luck and know it is all temporary!!!

Hi J.,

This sounds exactly like my 18 month old! We are struggling too, and are trying something we just read about-- but we don't know if it will work yet.

The idea is to switch him from waking himself to being woken up-- this way you can wake him when you know it's best for him to get up. So, go in about 15 minutes earlier than his earliest wake up time, and pick him up. Every 2-5 days, extend that time by a small increment (after 2 days maybe 5-10 minutes, etc...) until you get to the time you want him to be getting up. We've been trying it lately, and will bring his bottle with us, and rock him while feeding. There have been days when he sleeps there in my arms for 2 hours (which makes me realize that he really does need to sleep later!)

I'm not sure if it will work yet, we are in the middle of it. Best of luck-

J.

He is getting a great deal of sleep so maybe you should put him down at 8.

I would think that putting him to bed later would help. My kids went down around 8:00 - 8:30 and they slept easily until 7:30 or so. I also had a few of the crib toys atttached to the sides of the crib and he would play with those for a while before he started calling fo r us. Yep, those rings and tones of the cribs toys were my first alarm clock, but it did "buy" me some time.

I too have had this problem with my 14 month old girl. When we came back from Hawaii and we were on Hawaii time, we put her to bed later and she slept MUCH better and longer. She goes down between 9:30-10 now and sleeps at least 10-10.5 hours a night. I know the books suggest between 11-12 hours, but that has only happened once in her life, so I am happy with the 10 hours that seems to be her rhythm.

Before when I was putting her down between 7:30-8, she was waking up in the 4's and 5's and couldn't ever seem to get herself back to sleep. Many nights she would only get 8 hours of sleep! We were all exhausted. I have read all of the books and was really trying to do it the "right" way. I guess sometimes the books don't cover every child's needs. Now we all get more sleep and she is a much happier, less grumpier girl!

hi J.! the same thing happened to us so we did just have her stay up an hour later and then she slept later in the morning - we were lucky enough to start this during the spring time change which seemed to help -
anyhow, good luck AND i know that those hours when he has gone to sleep early are precious, but it's important for YOU to go to sleep early, too! around 10pm or so, my healthcare person tells me -
and YES, 5 or 5:30am is JUST TOO EARLY!!!!!!! keep that little bugger up a little later - try giving him his daily nap later and then doing his bedtime later (by 15 minute increments is good, too) -
anyhow, good luck!

This sounds like my 17 month old daughter. If she persists after about 10 minutes ( or if I think that she's loud enough to wake up her 3 year old brother) I'll get her a cup of milk. I hold her in the rocker while she drinks it, and she usually gulps it down. Then, she's back in bed for another 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Then, some days, she naturally sleeps till 7:00. I just think everyone has their own internal clock and we can "tweak" it a bit, you just have to find what works.

Good luck,
A.

We have a little dude the same age. He goes to bed at 8, wakes at 7a... try keeping him up another 45 minutes, see if it pushes out his wake up time. Is it too light in his room at 6am? Maybe shades would help?

10 hours is about the right amount of sleep at night for his age. You are lucky he sleeps through the night so well.Try putting him to bed an hour later for a week or two and see if he adjusts and wakes up more like 6-6:30am ish.

I know the majority of people have suggested putting him to bed later. I would actually suggest putting him to bed earlier to see if that helps. I know my son (sleeps 12 hours at night) will not sleep any later if he goes to bed later. He wakes up at the same time everyday no matter what time he goes to bed. You could be missing his "sleeping window" and therefore, he wakes up sooner than he may if he was put to bed earlier. My friends child had a 6:30 bedtime and he did great with it. I also agree with teaching your kid to entertain themselves until you are ready to get him. We did that with our son and he love to play with his animals in the morning until we come to get him. I think it teaches him patience too. There is my two cents. I hope something helps because that is to early!

My daughter has never really slept more than 10 hours a night. I put her to bed a little later because I cannot handle getting up at 5:30am every day. He may not need more sleep so I would try shifting his bedtime a little later until it fits best with your schedule. He may not shift his wake up time right away but give him a week or two.

Dear J.,
I'm wonering why you want your son to sleep any longer than he does? Sounds to me like he's sleeping, according to his behavior as you describe it, enough to satisfy his needs.
S. BakersfieldHypnoBirthing.com

Hi J.,
Some kids are early risers. I used to have to wake my daughter up for a nine o'clock play date. Now she gets up between 7:00 and 7:30. With my son (age 3.5), we never have to set an alarm clock. He was always up at 5:00 or 5:30, happy and ready to start his day. When the clocks "sprung forward" in the spring, he didn't adjust so he is getting up at 6:00 or 6:30. I moved my son out of his crib earlier so that he would get out of bed and come to mine in the morning without crying. Sometimes he'll cuddle for a half hour. Boy is he wiggle-ly!

I am not looking forward to our next time change.

My solution, which I don't like, is for me to go to be earlier so that I'm ready to start my day at 5:30 too. On the plus side, I do have a chance to read the papers and have a cup of tea in peace every morning.

Good luck!

My daughter is 18 months and goes to bed between 7:15-7:30. Sometimes she will sleep until 5:30 and sometimes until 6:30 with no explanation why. I wouldn't recommend putting him to bed later that always has the opposite reaction for my daughter. We have started to let our daughter fuss in the crib if she wakes up before 6:00 and after about 10 minutes or so she goes back to sleep for another 30 minutes or so. This has helped- she now is waking up between 6-6:30.

J.,
You didn't mention what his naps were like but I would try putting him down at night EARLIER, say around 6:30pm. I HIGHLY suggest reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth for understanding biological sleep rhythms. With anything, give it 1-2 weeks before expecting results. Email me and I can give you some specific things to try.
Sincerely,
L.

Hmm...are you concerned that he's not getting enough sleep or is it just too early for you to wake with him? It sounds like he's getting enough rest and best of all, sleeping through the night. Not sure there is much you can do other than trying to keep him up a bit later, but that might not work. My experience is I need to adapt around my son's sleep. Good luck to you!

Put him to bed later.

I have the exact same problem with my twin girls. Let me know if you receive any good advice.

Thanks!
T.

Seems like you have a lot of great advice. I would agree with the folks who say to put him to bed later. Clearly he only needs a certain amount of sleep, so if he goes to bed later, he should wake up later. good luck!