Too Early Wakeup

Maybe a good (big) snack before bed with protein and complex carbs (peanut butter on whole wheat bread, cheese and whole wheat crackers, etc.).

Hi L.,

My daughter went through a period of doing this and I know how you feel! Here is what I did....

I figured something was waking her super early and to find out what I sat outside her door around the time she had been waking up to hear what goes on right before she wakes...turns out it was the newspaper delivery car stopping and going at 5am. I put a fan in her room (pointing away from her as it was not summertime)this made a noise distraction and the first night I did this she slept til 9am!!! I hope you find the source and get some sleep soon! Good luck!!

Hi, L.:

Honey, Get up and stay up with her. This is her biological clock ticking.

It will change again as she get older. It is difficult to cope, I know. Her biological clock will evolve in time into an emotional response to the way you and others respond to her. Her need is to have comfort and safety knowing that you will be there for her.

Good luck. D.

Since there seems to be no other reason for her getting up other than her just being awake, this may just be her schedule right now. Based on the times you listed, she is getting approximately 10 hours of sleep with is about right for her age. There may not be anything you can do to change her schedule right now. If possible, try to go to bed earlier so that you can get an adequate amount of sleep.

Good Luck!

my daughter is an early riser, too. But I've gotten for her to wake up at 6 rather than 5.

The book I love best is by the Sleep Lady (sleeplady.com). One of her key pieces of advice is "Sleep begets sleep". Like one of the other mom's suggested, I think your daughter is actually getting too little sleep. At 18 months old (and even now at 24 months old) my daughter has the following schedule:

6:00 wake up
12:00 nap
2:00-2:30 wake up from nap
7:00 bed time

So she sleeps for about 11 hours at night and a 2 - 2 1/2 hour nap during the day. The book goes into more detail about how to set up a schedule and a routine and to get your kid on the schedule.

Good Luck!

Unfortunatley, you may just have an early riser. I myself am NOT a morning person and I have one child that is and one that isn't. My daughther rises before the sun EVERYDAY (sometimes as early as 4am!!!) and has since she was one and my son sleeps until you wake him up. My daugther will be two this month and we have tried everything to get her to sleep later (everything you tried and more) and nothing has worked. We finally came to the conclusion that she's just an early riser. Her pediatrician said as long as she's getting 12 hours asleep a day (whcih she is - 10 at night and 2 during her daily nap) there's nothing to do. I'm just hoping that when she gives up her nap she'll sleep longer at night and sleep later into the day. GOOD LUCK!!
T. C.

Some kids don't need as much sleep as others. My son is an early riser too. And by 18 months he was rarely napping. He is now a little over two, he very rarely naps (usually just if he falls asleep in the car). Yesterday, he napped, so today he got up at 5am. On days he doesn't nap he sleeps until 6:30am. If I were you I would be happy that she is sleeping solidly through the night and still taking a nap. I would not mess with her sleep schedule. Instead I would start going to bed earlier. Actually, that's what I do. I used to go to bed at 11pm. Now I usually go to bed at 10pm, somedays as early as 9pm. Good luck.

My two cents--I don't think that's enough sleep for a 18 mo old. Make sure her room is DARK, use a nightlight. Play soft music on a CD player on repeat ALL night. Have you tried white noise in her room? That could help if outside noises are stirring her....just a thought. Good luck. I know it's frustrating. The best thing you can do is make sure YOU'RE getting enough rest in order to deal with an early bird!

You are living in my world!!! My daughter started the same thing when she was 18 months old except she was getting up at 4:15 or earlier! We also tried moving her bed time back which made it worse and finally moved it to 7am from 730 where she still got up at 4 but at least got that extra 1/2 hour in earlier. 8 1/2 months later with no relief, we took her to CHOP and are now undergoing sleep behavior training with a psychologist. First we got a night light on a timer from goodnitelite.com. It looks like a sun. You program the timer when you want the "moon" to come on (the circle part of the sun lights up blue). We set ours to turn on 20 min before bed at 6:40 pm during our bedtime routine and book reading so she knows she will be going in her crib soon. You also program it when you want the "sun" to turn on (the blue moon turns orange and the rays around the sun also light up at this time yellow). THe first time you program it you set the timer for when you KNOW she will wake up (in your case maybe 4:45am. That way she knows the moon WILL turn into the sun. You tell her she will NOT come out of her crib until her sun is out. (We told our daughter when her sun comes out she can say nicely and calmly "Mommy my sun is out come get me please.") She will probably still wake up crying the first night or two but you remind her to look at her sun and praise her for waiting till her sun came up and remind her to ask for you nicely and you will come. After 4 successful nights you set the sun timer back by 15 min and so forth. If she wakes before her sun you become robot mom/dad. You walk into her room say calmly, "I love you, it is time to sleep. I will see you when your sun comes up." And immediately walk out of her room. No touching her, nothing! You can go in and do this as often as you like...we did it after 5 min or so. She will eventually get it. You can also give her a reward for waiting for her sun like stickers or a stamp. My daughter is STUBBORN and after almost 2 months we are still working it out but she now goes to bed nicely (still at 7 but we are working to push it back to 730 in the future) and her sun is coming up at 5:30 am. We are still waiting on 4 successfull nights at that time after a week (possible set back due to a cold) but I will take 5:30 any day of the week over 4 am!!!!! Feel free to e-mail me personally, I can give you my number if you would like to talk over more details. Good luck!

Hi L., My suggestion is to change your routine. Since you are blessed with a morning child that won't change her wake-up time you should consider changing your routine to fit hers. Go to bed earlier yourself....so that you are rested and ready to go when she is. The crying in the morning may be because her room is dark...a nice night light on her dresser may solve some of that problem for you. A clock is a great idea...if she were old enough to understand the concept of time, remember she is still a baby! Best wishes

I agree with the other moms that you are going to have to get your self to bed earlier, certainly by 10, but 9:30 would be better. However, I'm going to disagree with some of the other moms on one issue-- I don't think she's getting enough sleep. At 18 months they need between 12-13 hours. I would DEFINITELY move her bedtime back in 15 minute increments every 3-4 days to at least 7, maybe even 6:45. Doing that will buy you some time in the evening to get done what you need to get done so you can go to bed at a reasonable hour.

There are a number of good sleep books out there (I like Ferber) but, for now at least, you have a lark. However, that does not mean that you need to be in there at 5:15. She can learn that you are not available until some reasonable hour (like 6). She is welcome to wake up and play in her crib (or in her room, if she's out of the crib), but that you won't be coming to get her until 6 (or 5:45 or whatever you decide.) Make sure she has something to do in her crib like one of those toys that hangs on the side of the crib and stick to your guns. She's going to protest in the beginning, but you may even find that she gives up and goes back to sleep.

My son was a super early riser at that age too. It seemed to me that as soon as he'd open his eyes and see daylight, that he'd want to get up. Out of desperation for my own sleep, I put a dark colored throw blanked over the bedroom window, thinking that if it stayed dark in the room, that he'd sleep longer. And he did exactly that. Certainly, this won't be the solution for every too early riser, but it worked for us.

Fast forward to the present, my son is now almost 4, and we are beginning to have to deal with early waking to go to preschool, and before we know it, kindergarten. In retrospect, I wish I'd allowed him to continue his natural pattern of early waking. It would have made these upcoming school mornings much easier. I now feel bad for what I did to him. :(

I would just really think about how big a problem this is for both her and you before you try to change her natural tendency.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

L.,
I think you should try a snack before bed, but I would also have to say that you should try a later bedtime. You might also want to make sure there is not to much light in her bedroom and that the tempeture is room temperature. Don't over dress her or put to much blankets on. Make sure she is not drinking to much before bed, she could be waking up when she needs changed.
I hope mamasource has helped you out and you start getting some sleep.

Is she getting teeth? Sometimes this is a factor of them waking up. Some kids just wake up early. Make sure you and your husband are going to bed earlier so you get enough sleep. on the weekend when you are not working take her out somewhere where she can run around. May be she will sleep better through the night.