early waking 13.5 months - am I stuck with this?

[brightonmummy2]

My DD will be 14 months in a couple of weeks. She's always been a fairly early riser, which I largely don't mind as I realise that is what children do, however recently we are seeing a '5' on the clock sometimes and I'd really like to nip this in the bud if at all possible. She is a bit grizzly in the mornings and I think she could do with a little extra sleep.

She goes to bed at 6.45/7 - any later she becomes a screaming mess. She usually sleeps through the night and always used to be 6.20/6.30 wake up. She now has one nap a day (her choice to drop the morning) and this i is between 90 to two hours starting around 12.30, sometimes a little earlier.

We bought a little oil heater for her room to make sure the temp doesn't drop down too low, and she is well dressed. Her room is pitch black, and we live on a quiet road so there's no noise or light to get her up - this morning however she woke at 5.40.

We have left her to grizzle until 6.30 several times, we have tried letting her doze in her bed (she doesn't really do this she just faffs about) and we don't give her a drink of milk until 6.45. Once she's been asleep for 11 hours, I completely understand why she finds it hard to re-settle in the early hours, but if anyone has any advice I would be most grateful. I'm not looking for 8am wakeups, but no earlier than 6.30 would be ideal.

Thanks!

Erm...she sleeps almost 12 unbroken hours a night and occasionally wakes before 6am? That is bloody fantastic and most on here would kill for a sleeper as good as that.

Sorry, but I suggest you count your blessings and go to bed earlier!

I think you're already doing everything I would suggest.

Many babies go through phases of waking early. In my experience, there's not much to do but ride it out.

Take heart. My 2.5 year old has only slept through a handful of times. I would take a 5.00 start if it had been preceeded by 11 hours of unbroken sleep!

I think I made it clear that she was a good sleeper, I wasn't really looking for people to jump don't my throat I just wondered if anyone had a helpful suggestion to nip early waking before it becomes even earlier. If you read my post I haven't once complained about my own tiredness, simply that she has been a little grumpy and I was hoping she could get half an hour more sleep for her own benefit, not mine. Never mind!

Calm down OP. Nobody is jumping down your throat.

All the things I would have suggested-making sure he is nice and warm, keeping the room dark etc are things you are already doing.

The only thing I can think of is limiting daytime sleep. Or have you heard of the Baby Whisper's 'wake to sleep' technique? I was never brave enough to try it personally but I know friends who have had success with it. Lots of information out there on it if you try Google.

In my experience, most early waking is a phase that will pass. My DC2 went through a period of wanting to start the day at 4.30. I never got to the bottom of why but they normally sleep until 6ish now.

If you put a baby/child to bed early, they are likely to wake up early. Most sleep 10-12 hours a night. When DS was that age, if I'd have put him to bed at 7pm he'd have been up for the day at 5.30am latest - so, he didn't go to bed til 8.30pm.

Sorry a bit sensitive, just feel on mn sometimes that people get a bit 'my cat's blacker' and if your child doesn't wake up 10 times a night or your relationship isn't on tatters then you don't have a problem worth responding to.

Thanks lil for later bed suggestion. I have tried this but by 715 she is so tired that she goes into a meltdown and then can't settle to sleep. I guess as robber says it will be a phase, that I am sure we will manage.

If you find an answer let me know. DS is 4 and still an early waker. It has got slightly better in that it is rarely before 6 now but it is still frustrating.

You need to give a change in routine more than one night to work.

thanks lilyaldrin but I have tried a later bedtime for several nights in a row, and every night was a screamathon until I went back to just before 7pm. I will just ride it out, she does very well as people have said.

From personal experience I disagree that a later bedtime helps, never has with my. DCs. If anything an earlier bedtime helps. I've had early waking with both of mine and if you can rule out all other variables (illness, teething, heat, cold, hunger, wet nappy etc) then for me it has always boiled down to timing and length of naps. I've recently reduced DS's nap to 45 mins starting at 12.30/1pm and after a week he's responding - wake up time of 7am last two mornings following months of 4.30/5.30am wake ups. DS is 17 months. He's absolutely fine on a short nap and easily lasts till bedtime.

I did similar with DD when she was the same age and it also worked.

Thanks loveis that's interesting. I'll see how she goes over the next few days, but I was thinking of cutting her nap to 90mins rather than letting her go on to two hours or a bit more as she often does. Perhaps if it works I'll cut to 45 mins when she's closer to your DSs age. How long did his nap used to be?

Hi there , I know that this may seem obvious but does your baby do enough exercise during the day ( play , walk ) basically enough to tire out ? Plus having some fresh air ??? I went through similar at that age but she grew out of it and has only started sleeping through in the last few months . I'm not sure why plus she naturally dropped her night feed without any weaning . Not saying she s perfect but I'm getting some sleep now ( : . Again not sure if it's related to her age now that's she s older however the terrible two s have thrown a new set of problems and that's for another thread . I wanna reassure u that this will pass ....

the nap thing is interesting, we actually find the opposite! as in, DD had a three hour nap yesterday, and is still asleep now, whereas she is often up before 6. I have read that the better rested they are, the better they sleep. But of course they are all different. ..
wake to sleep worked for us, but it's pretty hard dragging yourself out of bed at 4 something.
And OP, I know what you mean, I feel like I should be grateful for 10.5 hours sleep or whatever, but it's hard when you just know it's not enough for them, and having a well rested vs overtired toddler makes all the difference. good luck.

MsSampson has a point as too little sleep can also cause problems! It's a case of working out your baby's sleep DNA. I know from trial and error that leaving mine to sleep longer never helped. And if she's already on 2 hours a day and waking naturally, I wouldn't think that she's overtired.

If you want to go with reducing naps, I'd start at 90 mins, you don't want to shock the system. We're on 45 mins but I'm not suggesting that's the magical number that works for all babies. Good luck!

Well yesterday

She

,

Sorry phone issues. Yesterday she napped 90 mins naturally and then slept till 7 so maybe that is the answer. More likely a fluke as she rarely sleeps this late anyway!

I would try and make sure her lunch nap is no earlier than 12.30, ideally 1pm. So she sleeps until 3pm. Then hopefully she will between to stay away a little later in the evening and therefore sleep until later.

However at this age mine still had a morning nap of 30-45 mins then afternoon, then went to bed 8-8am

Watching with interest! 14 month old here who has always slept through fantastically well, but also has suddenly started waking at 5.30am - 6am! Would love to see 7am again!

Maybe it's just a phase! ps. OP, did you not realise that you're supposed to have a baby that wakes 15 times a night until they're 3, or else you don't have a problem!

A phase

I think it is probably a phase purple - everything seems to be with my little one anyway. I think early waking is one of the hardest phases to put up with though; no matter how lucky you are with 10/11 hours sleep, no one really wants to get up when there's still a 5 on the clock.

at 15 times a night - it does seem that way!

Anyway, I woke her after 90 minutes today and she's gone to bed just before 7, so I'm hoping for a repeat of today's 7am wake up - will let you know purple if she wakes late again - if s you can try it with your little one?

We woke up here at 5am here with a cry...bahhh! She then went back to sleep and woke up at 6.30am (little more civilised!) Mind you, she's currently Zzzzzzz 8am - 9am.

I've tried putting her to bed later - really doesn't work. We just get majorly grumpy in the evening and she still wakes up early.

DH and I just go to bed now at 9.30pm only way to cope!

Purple - the one bit of advice we were given that really helped is not to have first nap too early, otherwise they get into the habit of waking early and then finishing their night's sleep a few hours later if that makes sense? I found it difficult to do mind you, as I was crying out for a break by 8am, but after 4 or 5 days of first nap being no earlier than 10am she started waking up later. I consider getting up before cbeebies starts at 6am to be inhumam...

Mine woke up just before 7 again, chuffed! I think I will stick to the 90 min nap after lunch and hope the last remaining teeth stay away for a while!