How on earth do we get our 22 month old to sleep past 5am?! Another long day...

[icklemssunshine1]

Hi all,

DD is generally a good sleeper unless ill however the last few weeks she has been waking anywhere from 5-6 am, 6.30 if we're lucky! She always has a blackout blind & her routine hasn't changed - nap from 1-2 (or 3) & bed at 7. No problems getting her down or her falling to sleep, she'll happily go off in her own but come 5am she's wide awake! We've tried leaving a drink out, getting her milk & leaving her, giving her books, puttin in an "In the night garden" CD, bringing her into our bed but nothing works. If we leave her in her room he's bored after 20 mins & will scream, if we bring her in with us she just runs around & pulls clothes out of our drawers! Any advice? We would love a lie-in til 7!! :)

You have my sympathy DS3 is 2 and the same, however we have to older siblings who play, watch TV with him (I hate am TV but I just can't face it).

The day doesn't feel too long as we have a routine with school and activities but this was hard with DS1.

I am afraid it seems that this might just be their wake up time. I think 7pm is a really reasonable bedtime and my experience is that inless you put them to bed really very late it doesn't impact their wake up time.

Sorry I realise I am not being helpful.

You are not alone.

I think its normal for toddlers to wake early sorry- just keep repeating to yourself "it wont last forever!" And get an early night yourself

Thanks mixed. I too think 7pm is a reasonable bedtime & I'd be loathed to give up my evenings! Especially at the moment! DD doesn't seem at all tired when she wakes & I fear we may just have an early bird. I've always considered myself an early bird, favouring to get up around 6-7 even on w'ends, but 5am is pushing it!!

Oh god. I am there with you. We've had 5 AM wake ups for the past month. It's killing me. I have the black out blinds and put my 16 month old down at 7 and I am frazzled. I am falling asleep at 8 am. Going with the mantra 'This will not last forever. This will not last forever.' Also beginning to implement a 9:30 bedtime for husband and I. Otherwise, I am a zombie. Much of the literature I've read basically says 'Too bad. Some toddlers wake up early.' sigh. It's tough to stomach.

It might just be her body clock - some are naturally early wakers for many years! Or it might be that the lunchtime nap is taking the edge off her need to sleep longer at night. We had this with DD, she was on 45 mins by 19 months and had all but given up her nap by her second birthday. It was a huge bummer for us as we had no break in the middle of the day, but you get used to it - and more importantly we got our 7am wakings back again!

Can't believe at the age of 3.5 she has reverted back to 5.30am wakings!

Oh, the point you made about her not being tired when she wakes at 5am is indicative of her having had enough rest overall. If she were grouchy, that would suggest she was waking earlier than her body really needed her to.

Thanks for responding - least I'm not alone! I don't feel the tiredness as much as DH as I go to bed at 10 but it would be nice to wake up by my alarm not a toddler kicking the end of the cot that the while house vibrates! DD goes to nursery & they tell me she only naps for around 1 hr so she's not having too much & I can't extend her bedtime as by 6.30 she's sucking her thumb & cuddling up to the cushions on the sofa! May have to face facts that she's had enough sleep by 5!! Roll on the teenagers years where she'll sleep til 12!!

We have v similar situation here, ds is 21m and likes an early start, has been up as early as 4am, he will stay in his room but keeps us awake by kicking the walls, my latest idea, after installing blackout blinds a couple of weeks ago is to assume after checking if he is thirsty or too wet is that it might be his teeth, so tonight (or rather early tomorrow morning) if he wakes around 4, i will be gliving him teething gel and powders and maybe calpol. He has been poking his teeth a lot so i think maybe i am missing something obvious. Will watch thread with interest!

ickle I don't think you can say she's not having too much daytime sleep because she only has 1 hour. All children have different needs. It's true that it's rarer for a child aged 2 or under to have no daytime sleep but it does happen - I know of several from another forum. The reason she's tired by 6.30pm is because of the early start which in turn is possibly caused by retaining the lunchtime nap. It's not everyone's way of thinking but since I saw it solve my early morning problems, I do believe it can be the case for some children.

Thanks loveis. I may ask the nursery to try & keep her awake during the day & see if there's any change in her pattern. It's def not teething as she has all her teeth, do teeth still cause problems once they're all through? I just can't understand how her pattern has changed drastically - one day she was sleeping til 7.30 & we'd have to wake her for nursery the next she's up with the birds!

I feel your pain

17mo DS is waking at 5am. This morning it was 4am :(

We;ve tried everything you have tried but nothing works

Sorry I've no advice :(

24mo DS is the same. We are shortening his day time nap in order to try to reduce the early wakening. If you think she has a requirement for a total number of hours sleep in each 24 hour period. If she's happy most of the time she's getting enough sleep. The problem (for you, and us) is that you'd rather she had the hours overnight.

We had the same problem earlier this year when DS started waking at 5am. We were bringing him into our room for cuddles which was not going well. Came to a crux when he flung himself at the end of the bed and gave himself a huge lump on his forehead.

I really disagree with everyone who says this is just their normal waking time or to keep them awake during the day. I always found more sleep = more sleep. There's a limit, obviously but this has always been our general rule.

Someone suggested a Gro-Clock (£20 Amazon Gro-Clock) so we got that and it really works! He now sleeps, or at the very least, wakes and stays in his room reading, until the sun comes up. I can't recommend it highly enough.

I'm currently up working, he's fast asleep in his bed. in 50 minutes he will burst into his Dad shouting "sunshiiiiine!!!!! sunshiiiiine!"

We had this with DS2.

As it happened, DS1 was already receiving sleep counselling for parasomnias, so we asked his doctor if she had any advice about DS2.

She recommended reintroducing milk before bedtime. I was sceptical - like you, we'd tried giving him milk at 5am when he woke. The doctor pointed out that there was no point expecting milk at 5am to keep him asleep if his body's hunger cues had been sufficient to wake him already.

Anyway - transformation! Sleeping until 6:15 within a week. Not as good as 7, but so much more manageable than 5.

Obviously it doesn't work for all, but it's such an easy trick to try.

Sophie, how old is your DS? At 24m ours doesn't yet grasp the gro clock.

DD was never an early riser. She had medical issues that meant we had to be with her 24/7, so she would go to bed later. It did mean that she woke later as well.

I know you relish your evenings, but would even a half hour later bedtime make any difference?

Hi,
This isn't quite the same but my 12 month DS has started waking at six again. Nothing changed in his routine and blackout blinds in place. Milk before bedtime too.

I am wondering if its too much daytime sleep. going to try and cut out his morning nap and see if that makes a difference. We cut it out briefly but he seemed more tired last week so I started putting him down again. Either a growth spurt or he's in that in between stage of sometimes needing less sleep.

Jolly he was 24mo when we started using it. One false start when I put the wake up time too late! We just moved it forward every day or so to get to a reasonable time and made a really big deal out of saying goodnight to the sun, hello to the stars every night. Stick with it!

Ds1 was like this as a toddler, awake at 5/5.30 ready for the day. It nearly destroyed me as I was up all night with baby ds2. It was just his body clock. He is 15 now and is still the first up every morning. At least he can look after himself now

I know the Groclocks work really well for some people. My friend just bought a cheapy digital clock but her 3 year old was old enough to read numbers. Our groclock is a pretty ornament but nothing else - DD totally ignores it.

Totes how many naps is your DS having? If he's still on 2, he may be ready to go down to one long one around lunchtime.

Thanks everyone. DD still has a bottle before bedtime so if she is waking as she's hungry I'm not sure what else I can do prior to this. The idea of the gro clock is a good one & have looked into them, my only concern is that she's too young to understand it. This morning she slept til 6.00 & then fell back to sleep just before 6.45 when she has to get up for nursery - bloody typical!

No advice OP but feel your pain - I have 2 early risers. 6am is a bloody rare luxury here. We've tried lots of things, nothing works. I think they just want to start the day early. I keep thinking of the teenage years and at least we all have plenty of time to get ready before piling out of the house. Of course, by about 9am I am ready for lunch, but hey-ho.

My youngest has always been an early riser (5 - 5.30) and not much we did made a difference. He is now nearly 3 and we have finally got him sleeping until 6.15 with his group clock and dropping his nap a few months ago.

What has made a difference recently is feeding him something before bed. He has always had milk but now a give him toast/crumpet and he is sleeping longer. Worth a try!

Try cutting out the daytime naps, if that fails put her to bed later.

Try cutting out the daytime naps, if that fails put her to bed later.