Why is she waking early?

[KeepSmiling83]

Hi

DD2 is 2.5 years old and for a little while has been having an afternoon nap from 1 - 3pm. She would go up to bed at 7.30pm and sleep until around 7am.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed it was taking her longer to fall asleep at night as she was chattering away to herself and she was also singing before naptime. So for the past 2 weeks I have been letting her sleep in the afternoon from 1.30 - 2.45pm. This seemed better as she went straight to sleep at nap time and bedtime. I do have to wake her up at 2.45pm and she is usually quite grumpy for a little while after as she still seems tired.

The last few days she has been waking earlier and earlier in the morning. Today it was 6am. I realise for some that is normal wake up time but she has never got up that early - it used to be closer to 8am!

Does anyone have any ideas? Is it because I need to cut her nap again? I’m not sure what she would be like if I did that as she is already grumpy in the afternoon from a shorter nap and is tired by bedtime. I would just leave her to lie in her cot but she starts shouting and I’m worried she will wake her older sister who has to go to school.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

I think it could be over tired. You could either try occassional longer lunch time naps.

It might be that on days she wakes up early, that she needs a 1-3pm nap. But on nights she slept well and gets up at a reasonable time, limit the nap only on those days.

The transition when changing naps is usually a gradual thing rather than a straight swap. So while she might sometimes want/need a shorter nap, other times she may not.

Thank you very much.

I didn’t see your reply until I had woken her up so she has only had a short nap today despite being up early. I will try putting her to bed a bit earlier tonight and see if that helps.

Thanks again!

Hi,

So I’ve been letting her have a longer nap (around 1.5 hrs) each day however she is still waking up early. I have put a gro clock in her room so she knows to stay quiet until it turns yellow (set to 6.30am) but she is up before this.

I take her up to bed at 7.30pm and she is asleep shortly after. I am scared to put her to bed any earlier in case she wakes even earlier. She used to sleep approx 12 hours each night plus her nap but now it seems more like 10.5 hours at night. It’s been quite a sudden change - last week it was 11.5/12 hours each night and now much less.

Is there anything else I can do or just persevere? It’s half term at the moment so next week she will be in bed earlier because I need to get her sister to bed. Should I keep the longer nap? An average day starts at 6am, nap time from 1.30-3pm then asleep by 7.30/7.45pm. She has got a cold but I thought that would make her more sleepy not less.

Any advice appreciated!