1 year old early riser ... any tips?

[Emo76]

DD2 now waking before 5am most days, crying loudly, toys in cot / pick up- put down, milk and change, calpol, cuddles, crying it out - nothing works. I am struggling not to feel very depressed through lack of sleep. I work full time too so it is impacting my work and my relationship with DH. She is a happy tot once up but very very active, has never napped well, I am guessing she is simply a child who needs very little sleep - DD1 was much easier. I know I can't give up, actually I feel if I seperated from DH then at least I'd get a day off once in a while - that sounds awful doesn't it but it has got that bad. Anyway I appreciate life could be worse but this is killing me - anyone else had any luck or do we just have to live through it and hope that in a year or two she gets better.

[KCEHNR]

Have you tried pulling her into bed with you for a cuddle & sleep? Mine does this on occasion.

[Emo76]

My DH refuses to entertain this as an idea as he thinks it will set a precedent and mean it will be impossible to get her to sleep in own room. Hence why seperating would also help then I could do what I wanted!

[Iggly]

Early waking can be a sign of overtiredness. Try putting her to bed early (and go to bed early yourself). You need to try for at least a week to ensure consistency.

Also is it cold? Our flat gets cold after 3am which can wake DS so I set the heating to come on a bit warmer.

Also see if she'll take a little power nap in the morning - after an early waking, I'd take DS for a walk around 9.30 and he'd have a nap. As they get overtired, they fight naps more making you think they don't need it then it backfires with early wakings and disturbed nights.

[PavlovtheWitchesCat]

oh god I am so with you. I wish I could help but I am there too. 5:30am for the last week - both children, they are clearly exhausted.

I hav tried to discuss with DH the fact that we need to put them to bed early for one whole week to notice a change. We have done this several times in the course of both their lives (5yrs old and 22months), but for some reason he has now forgotten it all and wants a quick fix. So on friday he insisted on keeping them up, because the early night the night before saw them rising at 5am. So, off to bed at 9pm, two very tired children. what time did they wake? 5am.

I really do think, from experience that one week of early nights will sort it. It is so true that overtiredness will keep her waking. It is one of those odd things. I will be working on it this week myself.

[smackapacca]

Oh I feel your pain. My 2 DCs did go through this, and thankfully we're through the other side.

What worked depending on their ages was....

• Good early night time routine
  
• on early waking, treat it as night time. Stay in the dark, PJs, minimal communication.
  
• Sleep clock (when older)
  
• Supper to make sure they're not waking due to hunger/thirst
  
• Grobags/romper suits to try and make sure no cracks of chilly flesh are waking them.
  
  it used to absolutely ruin my days. Horrible torture. Luckily DH did help out.
  
  I'd say try not to buy into the 'rod for own back theory' Try and stay sane now - if that means bringing her into your bed then do it. It can always be sorted out later. After all she's got lots more phases to get through yet which will change her sleep - eg potty training.

[latrucha]

We are having this with Ds who is 15 motnhs. We had it with DD too at the same age. I think there's not much to do except wait to be honest.

My children both go to bed at 6-6.30. DS is usually up by 5.30 if not before. DD hopefully a bit longer or she's too tired.

Dh and I have a system going whereby we go to bed early, I do any night wakings, feed DS on waking and then he takes the children downstairs and lets me sleep until 7.30/8. It doesn't do wonders for our marriage but it does keep us sane.

[HecateGoddessOfTheNight]

Honestly? I'd suggest going to bed early yourself so that you can function at 5am. Because, in my - unfortunatly VAST experience - when they're awake they're awake and it's easier to leap into bed at 9pm yourself than to try to get them to sleep until 7!

My eldest woke up at 530am this morning.

He is 12.

[LCarbury]

We just get up but no breakfast or playing before 6 am. One of us goes into child's room to keep them quiet (usually by being climbed on) then after 45 mins or so we wake the other up and tage team that way until 7.30 am. We try really hard to make sure we have both gone to bed by 10.30 pm on week nights.

[LCarbury]

tage team should be tag team there in case it's not clear

[smackapacca]

YY - Our whole marriage is tag teaming at times.

[KCEHNR]

DH sounds like he's being a total ass BTW - so he'd rather end the marriage than try getting DD to rest in between you? That's total BS. I bet he will find it a lot harder to manage if you split up than you will.

[zimm]

In the same boat here. Given up trying to change it - seems to be something they all go through. DD 14 months goes to bed at around 6.45pm - wake between 5 and 6am most days. I bring her into bed for a breastfeed and this buys me an extra 30 minutes lying down if not asleep. If before 5am DP gets sent in to try and resettle her as if she sees me she will just demand a feed. We have good weeks when she will got to 6.30am most days and bad weeks when we get 4.30am. We go to bed at 10 every night so now we can function fine with the 5am wake-up. you just have to adjust your days for a while. TBH OP I want to ask why are so exhausted with 5am wake-ups if your DD otherwise sleeps through? Is there other stuff going on? Surely a ten pm bedtime would give you 7 hours of sleep which is quite a lot to anyone who has survived the newborn phase!

[InmaculadaConcepcion]

What time do you put her to bed and how much sleep does she need?

I realised over several months that my DD was consistently sleeping between 10 and 10.5 hours per night. So in order to ensure (mostly!) a post 06.00 wake-up, we have lights out at 20.00. Generally, DD will wake somewhere between 06.15 and 06.40, which is bearable.
If DD sleeps later than that, it's usually because she's been awake during the night.

On the odd occasion DD does wake before 06.00, she's usually either cold or hungry.

[ZombieWhirl]

Ds at 4 is still an early riser, with a bunny clock and Bribes we can usually get him to 6. It used to be 4.50am - 5.30am. It was torture. Two things make a difference; tag teaming in the morning or moving to their wake up time. So DH and I used to go to bed at 9pm and at 5am would make coffee and lie in bed with the lights low.

It is / was awful. Deciding on a plan with DH kept me sane. It was a joint enterprise.

Later on we got an alarm clock and set the alarm for six, that seemed to help ds1 to get in the habit of sleeping till an alarm. But nothing else worked for him.

But I really hope this is an
Aberration and your Dc will stop soon. But get DH onboard and agree a plan together. And go to bed early. 9.30pm is now bedtime at my house for adults. sad!