Waking Too Early

I completely agree w/ Love's advice. Get "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby," and try an earlier bedtime. I know that it sounds counterintuitive at first, but, as the doc who wrote the book says, "sleep begets sleep." An overtired child has too much adrenaline going through her to sleep well. The author runs (ran?) the sleep center at the University of Chicago Med Center. You might not want to follow every piece if his advice, but you will likely learn a ton from his book. I know I did.

Hi R.,
I HIGHLY recommend reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth for age appropriate sleep needs and schedules. You might try putting her to bed earlier, like 6:30pm. When my daughter was this age her sleep schedule was this: wake up at 6:30-7am, naps at 9am and 1pm, bedtime at 6:30pm. She started transitioning to one nap around this age though so when it happened I moved the nap to 11:30am-12pm. All times were adjustable by 30-45 mins. I started the next nap/bedtime 30-45mins earlier if she didn't sleep well at the previous nap/bedtime. Hope this makes sense. Your cues and expectations should help her adjust to the time change. I would try ignoring her early wake up and she should get the message soon. Email me if you have questions.
Sincerely,
L.

my 15 month old had also been waking up too early since the time change and my husband gets up early for work so he sets out a sippy cup of milk and a small plate of cherrios and cereal ans puts on 1 hour of seseme st, on tivo from the day before and it has been working to give me an extra hour of rest and the food my son wants when he wakes up- I realize this may not work for every toddler and may not work for us forever but it has been working well for the past 2 weeks, maybe worth a try if getting her back to sleep does not

She is getting enough sleep. Thats why she is waking up so early! Try putting her to be around 8...then in a couple of weeks try 8:30...

I am looking forward to reading the advice that you receive. I am going through the same thing. I am not sure how your night sleeping arrangements are, buy my daughter, who is 20-months sleeps with my husband and me. I work full time and nursed her, so it just worked for us. I stopped nursing her 5-months ago and she is still in bed with us. Anyway, back to my point. The last week she has had very poor sleeping habits. I am thinking about trying to put her in her own bed using the sleep lady technique. This morning my little Emilia got up at 6:10, and I did not get her to bed until 10 pm last night. However, she did take a three hour nap from 4pm to 7pm. I'm stumped on how to get her on track.

Hi, R.,

My daughter is 16 months and the same thing. Up at 5:00 or 5:15 every morning. No matter when we put her to bed. I hope this is just a phase. Meanwhile, I am watching a lot of sunrises and gettting out for a morning walk VERY EARLY>

Good luck!

H.

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I'd love to help!

I suggest putting her to sleep an hour later...
L.

Hi, Push her bedtime back by an hour. Make sure she is not napping too close to her bedtime. I don't think every child is built to sleep 10-12 hours a night. Based on napping length and #'s of naps, some kids don't sleep that long at night because they are not tired due to their sleep routine during the day.

I am in your boat. My 17mon old is doing the same thing at the same time. I have tried letting him cry it out but he wakes his older brother in the next room (even with a fan on in the hallway). I am kind of at a loss for what to do. Hopefully it wont last long....Good luck!