Please please sort my DD out!

[MissHonkover]

Her morning waking time is getting earlier and earlier. For the past week we've been putting her to bed later in an effort to make her sleep later (and combat the hour change, grrr ).

Any ideas? She's 16 months, and last night slept 8pm to 5.30am. She won't co-sleep, and if we leave her she becomes increasingly furious until she's shrieking the place down.

Nap wise, she's totally knackered by mid morning, but we've been trying to keep her awake til 12.30 as I read here that a morning sleep can encourage early waking. Her nap is anything from 1.5 to 2 hours.

Absolutely hate the early mornings, I wake up furious with DD, facing another day of being totally knackered.

IME putting them to bed later rarely gets them to sleep later because they go to bed overtired!! I would try putting her to bed earlier (say 7pm) and see if this helps.

I would also let her have a morning nap if she needs it, but limit it to about 45 mins so she will still have her afternoon nap.

I know that this is completely opposite to what you're doing atm but I really think that she sounds like she might be overtired!

Hth

yes what the poster above says and unfortunately its a very common phase for toddlers to go through, all of mine have done it and they do come out the other side eventually xx

Thanks. It's hellish, isn't it? Tonight will bundle her into bed at 7 and see what happens.

Any tips for what to do when she wakes? I can't help feeling every time we get up with her we're reinforcing that it's fine to get up at some ungodly hour, but I don't know what else to do!

All I can suggest is being as dull and boring as possible so she doesn't think there's anything exciting to get up for.

Anyway best of luck for a slight sleep in tomorrow - let us know how you get on :)

Fucking hell, it's now half past midnight and DP has had to take her out in the car in an effort to get her back to sleep. I put her in bed at 7, and she's been awake since 10, having also woken at 8.

CC, which worked fantastically with very little crying at 7 months was a disaster tonight, and we just couldn't get her back to sleep. We live in a terraced house so late night wailing is not an option.

Hope to god we can get her out of the car without waking her. I wonder most days why I had a baby, and at times like this I absolutely hate being a mother.

Up at 5.40. Am shaking with tiredness.

Sorry for the moan, you did ask me to report back.

So sorry MissHonkover, nights like that are just the worse! We've done the late night drives with DD too when absolutely nothing else worked!!
Are you sure that there's not something else going on, like teething, or some developmental?
Make sure you get some sleep when she.does!! :)

DD nesrly 15 months here and 5.30am waking is a good day. TBH Op I don't think there is much that can be done about early waking other than making sure they are tired but not overtired and fresh air and exercise. it's horrible though especially at weekends. At least your DD normally sleeps through. I cope by going to bed at 9.30pm and comfort myself with the fact it's not forever. I have heard late afternoon daylight can help with early waking - maybe take her to the park around 4ish?

Know what you mean about the whole thing - love my baby, sometimes not motherhood though!

crappy nights here as well, ds2 has been poorly and so up, then ds4 has had croup and also is just excited as he is now sharing a bedroom with ds3 and so up at an ungodly hour and dd has a cold so nights are crap and she was up early again today, she will need a nap soon as she is shattered.

repeats mantra 'this too shall pass'

Hello everyone. Am now shaking with Diet Coke and Lucozade overdose in an effort to stay awake!

Fingers crossed tonight is better (for all of us with early morning bandits). I do feel this is probably all our fault, she's always self-settled really well, and in an effort to push her early mornings later we've obviously knocked something out of whack. No, not teething, was happy as larry once we went in to the room. She's late in learning to walk, so maybe she's on the brink of that.

Yes, I heard the late afternoon daylight thing too (think it was on here!), but it's tricky now it goes dark so early.

Onwards and upwards.

Sorry to hear you're going through this as well. We have the same pattern of either early morning waking (preferred tbh) or a couple of hours screaming at around midnight. Some nights we get both which it sounds like you had last night.

We have tried everything, including crying it out, but that just disturbs her older sibling - and then I have two overtired under-4s to deal with. This started for us around the 15 month mark and is still going on at nearly 18 months (sorry...). Nothing but sympathy here and I guess I have started to accept it and just try and develop coping strategies for myself such as going to bed at 9pm most nights.

What is clear in our case is that she is desperately overtired through the day so today's strategy is to let her sleep in the morning - in the car and limited to 45 mins - and then make sure she gets her afternoon sleep even if it means a later bedtime.

An improvement last night, into bed at 7, up and crying at 9 but after milk (and Calpol ) she then slept til 5.30am.

5.30 is obviously still awful but we're so traumatised from having tried to change it that we may just have to accept it! Please tell me that she will grow out of it, and we're not just reinforcing the message that early mornings are fine.

What time do you go to bed?

Really early, 9.30 usually.

Even though I'm then getting 8 hours (assuming there are no night time wake ups) I still feel like I've been hit with a brick when she wakes me at 5.30. I've somehow never get used to it.

So you're getting 8 hours sleep but you're totally knackered? Sorry if this seems a stupid question- but why?

Not a stupid question at all. I know that provided I go to bed early enough I should feel fine even if we're up at 5.30, presuming there aren't night wakings.

All I know is that no matter what time I go to bed I never wake up before DD. Maybe it's a body clock thing. Before I had a baby I slept 9 hours a night, getting up about 7.30, and for some reason I'm still struggling to adjust.

Having said which, surely 5.30am isn't really ideal no matter what time I go to bed? Unless I'm thinking of a career as a postman.

"All I know is that no matter what time I go to bed I never wake up before DD. Maybe it's a body clock thing. Before I had a baby I slept 9 hours a night, getting up about 7.30, and for some reason I'm still struggling to adjust."

Ah. But before you had a baby, you probably used to go to the cinema and the theatre, drink cocktails and eat meals using both hands to wield your cutlery. Believe me, in the great scheme of things, 5.30 waking is small change. And what tv was invented for. Move from bed to sofa via the kettle and doze in front of cbeebies.

I often see the advice of (when kids are sick or up early) 'stick on the TV' - where can I get a child that will sit and watch TV please? DD 14 months will watch 15 mins max. Seriously...where are all these non moving toddlers....I know I'll have to drag her away from it when she's older - but I'm still confused by the advice.

Ho hum. 5am here for us. Brutal.

Sorry seeker, it doesn't feel like small change, I bloody hate it. Pah.

Yep, cbeebies should re-run the bedtime hour on a loop through the night so maybe the nippers would get the hint that it's bed time.

zimm, I feel less guilty that DD loves watching telly, you've shown me that it's a useful life skill.