15 Month-old Wakes up at 5Am!

My daughter did the same thing at the same age but worse. She chose 4.30am. Only 45 mins difference but 4.30 really is the middle of the night!!

She is now 2 yrs and 3 mths and I usually have to wake her in the morning, at around 8-8.30.
Otherwise she would sleep till 9 and this would mess up the day for her little bro who wakes early.
Hang in there. It will soon be different.

You might try feeding her extra food before bed (if you can) that way her hunger will be less likely to wake her so early. I wish I could offer you more. My son is an early riser. Some kids just get up early. Good luck. I had to start going to bed earlier so I could get enough sleep. You could also maybe try makign her daytime nap shorter so she will be more tired. I guess it depends on how cranky she gets towards bedtime. Good luck.

Have you tried putting her to bed earlier? Or cutting down on nap time. Either one of these might work.

I'm afraid I don't have much advice, but can completely sympathize! My almost 16-month old just started doing the same thing in the past few weeks. Took a long time to get her to sleep through the night, and then after a couple months of good 12-hour sleep, now she wakes at 5:30 or so almost every morning. We try letting her entertain herself until 6:00 or 6:30, but she won't go back to sleep. She goes to bed around 7:30, and it doesn't seem to matter if we move the bedtime. The standard wisdom is to go to bed later, but the Healthy Sleep / Happy Child book says put them to bed earlier in order to get them sleep in later, so we've tried a little of both. She's also close to transitioning out of the 2nd nap, so we're just not sure what schedule to keep her on. Good to hear that this is common at this age. Guess we'll work through it like everything else!

M.,

Try putting up some blinds in her window. Or, tape some aluminum foil to her windows to try and darken the room. My 4 1/2 year old son is the same, as soon as the sun hits his eastern facing windows (groan) he's wide awake. Last summer I taped aluminum foil to his window to try and keep it darked in his room. It helped a little bit. Are there any toys in her crib that she could play with? That might help too. Another thought might be to cut out a nap (if she's still napping in the morning and afternoon), that should make her a little more tired and maybe get her sleeping longer.

Hope this helps,
Melissa

My 14 month old started waking up at 5 am and we got some blackout drapes and now she sleeps until 7 - 7:30. The sun is comming up earlier now and it makes a huge difference to block it out.

The best you can do is to ajust to her shcedule and just start your day at 5 am. Putting her to sleep later will mess up her wonderful rutine. May be you should be the one to go to bed earlier, so you will be ready for her when she wakes up at 5 am. Within few months her sleeping rutines will change and than will be another time for you to ajust. If she sleeps 12 hours, don't try to mess it up. Good luck!

Is the room getting to light for her? My daughter ahs been getting about earlier than normal since it is sunny and bright the last few mornings.

We put blankets over the windows under the curtains. We recently went to one nap and maybe more milk or food during the day. Plus, I put my son in an overnight diaper. When he does wake at 5:30, I change him while he's drinking milk and I remind him "daddy's still sleeping and mommy's tired so we're going back to bed now and I'll see you in the morning-night, night." I turn on his music which lasts 5 to 6 min. Even though he may talk for awhile he falls asleep within 20 min. or so but We don't talk. If he hears us, then all we can do is bring him in bed with us and maybe put it on channel 7 for a cartoon so I can lay there for a few min. before we get up.

We bring our 2 year old to bed when she wakes in the morning, she then goes back to sleep with us. Also, I would recommend a slightly later bedtime? Try even a half hour later and adjust accordingly.

My friend has the same problem with her 15-month-old son. Sometimes she takes him into bed with her and gets that extra hour of sleep. Me, I just wish my 15-month-old would sleep longer than four or five hours in a row!!

Maybe try putting a couple of safe things in the crib for her to discover and play with when she wakes (put them in after she goes to sleep), although maybe it would be too dark. Just a thought.

Get some crib toys (toys that attach to the crib)so she can entertain herself quietly and safely while you sleep.
You can also shorten her nap during the day or put her down for the night later.

Sometimes kids wake up with the sun. My friend has a niece and nephew that everyday are up with the sun no matter. so during the winter they sleep a bit longer. If she has a window in her room try and cover it at night with a dark sheet or something see if that helps. also shecould be going to bed too early for her taste now and only needs a certain amount of sleep. You could see if keeping her up a half hour longer changes things a bit.

My daughter started doing the same thing around the same age. What actually worked for us was putting her to bed a little bit *earlier*, which seems counterintuitive but it worked. On nights I could get her into bed between 7 and 7.30, she would sleep until 6 or 6.30. I told her every night that I would come and get her when it got light, not before - which obviously stopped working now that days are so long, but by (at 20 months) now she she's been "retrained" and wakes up at 6.10 a.m. pretty much every day.

Also, I give her a snack right before bed, just milk and a cracker, so that eliminates nighttime feedings and holds her tummy until a.m.

good luck!

Both of my daughters did this. In fact, my 14 month old just started doing this recently. Sun Block Shades (I think I got mine at Fred Meyer) got both of my girls sleeping in until 7-7:30am again.

M.,
Try giving her rice cereal or oatmeal in a bottle with the nipple hole cut out very big. This may help to fill her up and keep her sleeping longer. She may be waking early because she is hungry.
Good luck.

In case she's responding to the sun, make sure you have dark curtains on her room. My kids both wake to the sun, regardless of when it comes up. In the summer, that's often before 4:30 am!

Hi M.! I would stop giving her a bottle in the mornings. Mine sometimes wakes up in the 5:00 hour too. I just let her cry and usually within 15-30 minutes she falls back asleep. Things you could do are making sure she has something to soothe in her crib with her (pacifier or blankie or fovorite stuffed animal), or maybe (especially during this time of year) make sure her room is dark, so that the light of the morning isn't what is waking her up, and making sure it is warm enough in her room. Hope this all helps! Good Luck!

She's not requiring as much sleep in one stretch any longer. She's growing up and wants to interact. She's not self sufficient enough to keep herself occupied in the morning and she craves the interaction. So, if it's important that she sleep until 7 am, then adjust her body clock by keeping her up later in the evening. Depending on when you plan on going back to work and the hours you'll be working, a 5 am wake-up time may be a godsend. As you'll need to get her ready and fed before you get yourself ready for work and out the door, stopping by the daycare on your way to the office.

I can think of two suggestions. I swear by having a fan in my son's room. Babies go through REM sleep every 30 minutes compared to adults every 2-3 hours. So if the A/C or Heater kick on at that time in the morning it could wake her up. A fan blocks out all those little noises like birds chirping, toilets flushing, snoring etc... Make sure it is one that little fingers can't get into. Also another idea that a friend has done for her children's room is window darkening shades. You might also consider if your daughter is sleeping too much during the day. According to the Parent's magazine this last month, 15 months old need approx 11-14 hours of sleep. She's sleeping at least 10 at night. And probably taking a nap so that might be plenty now that she's older. I'd consider skimping a little off her nap and a little off the time you put her to bed (plus the ideas above) for about a week and seeing if it evens out. Good luck.

Personally, my children never slept that much. If you don't want to be up that early, maybe put her to bed a little later??

I'm not sure if you are still putting her to bed at 7PM, but that seems a little early to be putting her to bed and expecting her to sleep until 7AM. I would slowly push bed time back a bit, maybe in 15 minute increments until bedtime is more like 8 - 8:30ish. Because if you think about it sleeping from 7PM - 5AM, is 10 hours. That is about average for a child that age. Second, I would not let her out of bed until your designated "wake up time". This one is going to take some effort but.... If you child wakes before you want her to get up, just leave her in bed. If she fusses go in briefly and comfort, lay her back down, but leave her there. Same thing you would do at night, right?! Be persistant and eventually her internal clock will adjust and she'll get up at a more tolerable time.

We have a 6 month old that has decided to be an early riser, too. Jack goes to bed anywhere from 8 - 9 pm and gets up about 5:30 - 6:30 am, which is not bad. Fortunately, he wakes up happy and we just let him talk and play in his crib until he won't have that anymore. My only solace is that he takes a 2-3 hour nap two hours after her gets up so I do get caught up at nap time if he gets the best of me. I don't know the answer, but is it possible Mr. Sun is waking her up? Is it possible to cover the windows in her room to more effectively block out the early morning sunshine?

I'm with you, though, those last two hours are SACRED!!

Hate to say it, but get used to waking at 5 am. Kids have an internal clock and that is when hers says get up. You could try putting up the block out curtains or other item over her window. It may be the sunrise waking her.

I'm just curious about her nap schedule...how late is she sleeping in the afternoon? Is she napping once or twice per day. If she's napping twice, it may be time to move her to one nap and move her bedtime to 7 am. I've read and experienced, that children will typically continue to wake up early, even if you put them to bed later.

Also, has this been happening since it's gotten lighter in the mornings? If so, you might want to invest in some room darkening shades...that's worked for us too.

Good luck - 5am is WAY too early!

My 7 month old does the same thing, and I've read to not go to them before 6am, because at 5ish, they are awake enough and have usually gotten enough sleep by that point to "try" to make themselves fully awake to play with you, and they will keep waking earlier and earlier. You can try safe toys in the crib that they can amuse themselves with till 6. Or...just get some earplugs and let them cry till 6! Crying till 7am is probably pushing it at this point, but they'll gradually get there. 6am is the compromise for now, but commit to that. I've also read to put them to sleep even earlier in the evening, because though it sounds backwards...sleep begets sleep, so the more rested they are, the less they wake. Healthy Sleep Habits By Weissbluth is a great book that helped me a lot.

try the dark curtains and leave a bottle of water in there for when she wakes up. Good Luck

I totally feel for you. I have an 8 year old and a 4 year old, and my 8 year old will sleep till noon if you let her, but from the time he was about a year old he has been an early riser and nothing we have tried will put him back to sleep. Some kids are just morning people, and nothing will change that. I have found its just eaiser to go to bed earlier and just adapt to his schedule than to try to make him adapt to mine. During the week its not a big deal because I have to be up super early for work anyways, but on the weekends I dont even get to sleep in, however he still takes naps so I just lay with him on the weekends. Sorry I dont have any good ideas for you. Good luck.

HI-Your daughter maybe getting enough sleep, therefore doesn't need anymore. If she is still taking 2 naps a day, plus sleeping 9-10 hours at night, it might be more than she needs. My daughter was that way too. Finally we worked out a good nap schedule, one a day for 2 1/2 hours (no longer than that or I wake her up) and she now sleeps from 8pm to 630am. Some kids just don't need as much sleep as others, so you might try adjusting her nap schedule to give you more time. I feel for you because we occassionally get those 530am wake ups and they are killer and make for a long day.
Good luck.

Both my kids tend to be early risers. I think it has a bit to do with the sun rise. What has worked for my almost 2 1/2 yr old is to move her nap. She had been napping approximately 2pm-3:30pm, over the course of a week or so I moved her nap to 12:30-2pm. It has helped with bed time and sleeping until 6:30am-7am which is more reasonable for me, LOL.

HTH
E.

It sounds like she is well rested and ready to greet the day when she wakes up, so I think it's a losing battle trying to get her to sleep longer. (And yes, I'd suggest counting your blessings that she sleeps so long!) I would suggest that you continue to try putting her to bed a little later at night, maybe doing it gradually, like 10 or 15 minutes later each night, and she should eventually begin sleeping in a little later in the morning - it may take a little time for her schedule to adjust to a later sleep and wakeup time, so be patient. And you may need to adjust your going-to-bed time earlier as well (maybe even go to bed when she does), to make sure you get enough sleep. Also, on days when she wakes up before you and your husband are ready to get up, you could take turns with your husband getting up with her in the morning, so the other one could sleep in.

I also suggest making sure the room is dark in the morning. We have denim curtains on the windows that keep the room dark and it has helped with naps and sleeping in. The other thing that others have mentioned is a diaper change. I know my 8m old would wake at 5am often but if I changed her diaper and turned on her music she would usually go back to sleep for 1-2 more hours.

My son did the same thing around that age, we put up curtains to block sun. I think it's also just a phase too We tried to change his bed time to later and that only got us an extra 20 mins or so. After a few months he went back to sleeping 11 hours.