Waking up Early

I would suggest changing her bedtime to 9 p.m.; feeding her around 8:45 p.m. so that she is able to sleep longer in the mornings.

My son went through this a couple of months ago (he's now 17 months) and I agree that it doesn't sound like she's hungry. My son will sometimes wake up at 7 AM screaming and crying, but I now know that if he's doing that he's still tired. So, if he wakes up crabby, he gets put back down and tucked in and we say "it's still sleep time" or something like that and leave the room. The first time we did this he cried for about 15-20 minutes, but now he knows that it just isn't time to get up yet and he might protest a little but always goes back to sleep. When he wakes up at a reasonable hour (like 7 AM) and is happy and excited and running around his crib, I get him up... period. The difference in his behavior is night and day, just like it sounds from your daughter.

The bottom line is, (and this comes from a person working on a PhD in biology) doctors do not always know best. If you still think she might be hungry, give her dinner closer to bedtime, maybe? It may be that you're not offering her enough food at dinner. At 15 months, she is certainly biologically capable of filling her belly to sleep for a long stretch (12 hours or more) at night, so it may just be that she's amped up her needs. A larger bottle of milk with dinner may do the trick, or some whole-milk yogurt. Just remember to brush those little teeth before she goes to bed. Good luck!

By the way, the person who said don't give her a bottle... every child is different and it's best to not admonish any parent for parenting in the way they choose. My son didn't find a sippy cup he liked until a couple of weeks ago and we simply got rid of his bottles and only give him the cup, with absolutely no problem. AND, he has a baby brother (4 months) who does use a bottle, and my oldest clearly understands when we tell him that the bottle is for his little brother and he uses a cup. He was off the bottle with no effort in a single day, so I say if you want to keep giving your daughter a bottle at 15 months don't worry about the stupid cup, especially if you're still breastfeeding.

You might have to keep her up a little longer. 7:30 - 4:30 is 9 hours; If she takes afternoon, or morning and afternoon naps, she is getting enough sleep getting up at 4:30. 7am is about 2 hrs later, maybe time for her morning nap?
So, try feeding her a good solid meal and bed at 9pm. Then let her sleep through and don't get her until 5:30 or 6, whenever you want to awaken her. For the 1st few times, check her if she cries, for wet diaper, hug her while she's in the bed, talk comfortingly, give her a stuffed friend and leave; afterwards, let her learn to put herself back to sleep with her stuffed friend. Try it for at least a week before interfering - unfortunately you can TRAIN her to cry so that you will come and pick her up, if she knows that is the result, so you have to be a little mean about it at first until the training dissapates. But she's well fed, you have checked to see if this is a time when she's very wet, she has a friend, so she's really ok.

B.,

One thing you may try is to give her a bowl of oatmeal before bed. It will make her feel full longer.
Another idea is to wake yourself up before she wakes and slip a bottle to her while she is still asleep, she may take it and then go back into a deeper sleep since her tummy is full. That way she never fully wakes up and you get a bit more sleep.
Also, you may try putting her to bed 30-60 minutes later each night so that she is so tired, she just zonks out and sleeps longer.

You said when you tried to let her cry that she will cry, fall asleep, then wake up again in 10 minutes. What do you do at that point? Do you give in and go get her, or have you tried letting her cry again?? I'm not a huge fan of letting them cry... But after my son tried to pull this at 6AM, I went in and layed him back down and told him it's still time for night-night. Did he lay there happily? Of course not-- he screamed and tried to sit/stand back up. So I stood there and CALMLY layed him back down over and over again until he got frustrated and got the picture that I wasn't going to give in and pick him up-- and he was tired anyway so he eventually stopped trying to get up. He layed there--- happily?? No-- he was still crying a bit, but I said the same things I say to him during his going-down-for-the-night routine, handed him his blankie, and left the room. He seemed to have fallen asleep... but woke up 10 minutes later. SO I DID THE SAME THING (several times, actually...) I had to do this for 2 mornings in a row, then the next day he either didn't wake up or if he did he had it figured out that it was pointless to try to get mommy to pick him up while it's still dark in his room.

I recently read Tracy Hogg's book Secrets of a Baby Whisperer and she suggests twilight feeding if your baby can't make it all the way til morning before waking up from hunger. Right before YOU go to bed feed your baby while she's still sleeping to tank her up. This may head off her hunger until it IS time to wake up. I also liked the response where you make sure her needs are taken care of (diaper change/hunger) and if you're sure her needs are met then consistently lay her down and say whatever you say at bedtime until she finally lays there. There is a lot more detail in Tracy's book which helped me tremendously in helping my baby learn how to fall back asleep on his own when he woke up. (He was used to nursing to sleep and that became the only way he could fall back to sleep when he woke up at night even if he wasn't hungry) She's very respectful of baby's and made me feel good about training him without me leaving him and letting him scream his head off. Sorry this is so long. I would read the book. It will help you get her sleeping before your next one comes along and you're up all night with him. It will also help you get him sleeping through the night a lot sooner :o)

My advice is to keep her up a bit later. I know with my daughter if she goes to bed at 8pm she will wake up at 5am but if i put her to bed a hour or so later, she sleeps an hour or so longer waking up between 6 & 7. I have a baby monitor so when i hear her start to wake up I dont wait it out to see if she will go back to sleep, I have a bottle waiting in her room and I get her up (her eyes still closed) and feed her in the rocking chair. Her eyes never open and when she's done with the bottle shes right back to sleep till 8 or 9. Sometimes she wakes up because her diaper is wet, or she has gas, but its usually always because shes a bit hungry. So maybe try that. Or someone else suggested that before YOU go to bed feed her a bit. Hope this helps!

B. I suffered as well with my daughter who is almost 3 and we still dont get enough sleep. She had digestive problems because mainly she has dairy allergies (milk) formula etc. so the crying I feel is definitely for a reason, and should not be ignored as suggested and hold your baby if she wants to be held there is nothing like holding your baby -life is too short. All kids are not the same so what works for someone else's child may as well as may not work for yours. So you could try each one to see what works and look to see when she is calmer or happier and work with that.... so u may have to investigate and research trial & error. For me my daughter was part hungry and part having a digestive reaction to the milk so I took her off and tried warm ceral (oats cooked with warm water a little honey /sugar and no milk) I would wrap her in a sheet/light blanket like I am swaddling her and sing to her (instead of a cd)she was out like a light for several hours. I held her for most of the time for a couple of days and then was able to put her down. I make sure she gets a good portion of muscle work during the day and at least 1 hour nap and more muscle work but I wrap and cuddle her & sing to her wen I know she is full and no food allergens were present in a quiet room with the noise of the fan to block out any distracting noise and not much light........hopeful & prayerful that something works.........let us know how things work out God Bless

Is there something outside waking her - newspaper delivery, sprinkler system, someone next door leaving for work? I put a white noise machine in my sons room when he started waking early. It helped drowned out whatever was waking him and he sleeps 12 hours straight from 7:30 to 7:30.

Hi
I don't see where you're actually feeding her a breakfast, other than a bottle or nursing. Try getting up and sitting her down at the table and feeding her. I would also put her to bed around 9 and that may help. And she may be waking up because her diaper is wet. Try giving less fluids afgter 6 p.m. At least give all this a try. Good luck.

Maybe if you tried setting your alarm for 3 and nursing her before she wakes up cranky. She might go back to sleep and not wake up hungry at 4.

I agree with Tammy. You should let her cry. You can check her to make sure she is not crying "for a reason" but then let her cry until you are ready for "wake-up" time and then go in and get her up. Keep it consistent and get her up at the same time everyday, at whatever time you have determined you want it to be. Eventually she will learn to sleep until that time. We went through this with our son around the same age, and that is what worked. It was difficult at first becasue I have bever been a fan of "letting them cry" but it only took a few days. Even if she is hungry, she will learn to sleep through it until it is time to get up and have breakfast. Giving the bottle or nursing probably makes it worse becasue her system is being trained to eat at that time.

Does she still have an afternoon nap? It does sound as though she is overly tired. Try to put her down at 6:30 or 7 p.m. People tend to think that the later you keep a child up the longer they will sleep, but research shows that that is not the case. In children when they are placed at the correct time for bed they will actually sleep a good 12 to 14 hours.

The importance of sleep is crucial to a child and their devolopment. Happy children are children who are get the amount sleep that they need. Children who get enough sleep have less behaivor issues. Sleep is the time that children grow and rest, focus on the importance of teaching your child how to sleep.

She isn't hungry. You said that you nurse her and she is still crying within a few minutes, you also said that you give her a bottle and that doesn't work. She is just overly tired. She needs more sleep, you are very right. You might want to let her cry it out in the morning. We have a sippy cup of water in the beds with the kids and when they wake up in the morning they get the cup and sip on it and fall back to sleep. Don't give her a bottle, she's 15 months old, she is too big for a bottle, she can handle a sippy cup just perfectly. All three of my children have been on sippy cups since they were 5 and 6 months old. I never had to battle with getting them off a bottle (thankfully)!

Make sure she is getting naps (which at this age is the time that they fight their morning and/or afternoon naps). And try to get her to bed earlier.

Check out Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weisbluth (spelling of of last name might be wrong). He is not only a peditricain but he has also done sleep studies. He also has a sleep clinic in Chicago and is very well regarding in child sleep habits. It is a wonderful book and very informative regarding the importance of sleep and how to fix problems.

Good luck and I hope that this helped some.