We recently switched our 22 month old from a crib to a bed because we are expecting our second child in a few weeks. She did really well for the first few weeks but the past week she has been waking up between 5:00 - 6:00 am and won't go back to sleep. We have been very fortunate in that she used to sleep from 9:30 pm until 8:00 or 9:00 am the next morning and take a three hour nap during the day. She has been very grumpy and is not eating as well so I know she is not getting enough sleep at night and I am worried about her health. We have tried putting her back in her bed but she climbs out. If we lay in her bed with her she does not fall back to sleep. We have also tried putting her in bed with us but she just cries until one of us gets up with her. Any suggestions on how to get her to sleep in longer would be appreciated.
Thanks!
A.
We received a lot of great advice. Thank you!! A few weeks after sending my request our daughter went back to her old sleeping schedule and we have not had a problem since. However, we did try something similar to the reverse nightlight that did work. We did not think that our daughter was old enough to comprehend the reverse nightlight but as an alternative I laid in bed with her and explained to her that she need to stay in bed with me until 7:00 am. She was very upset at first but after a few days she began sitting on the end of her bed quietly by herself until about 7:00. We also ordered some heavier blinds for her room which also seemed to help. Thanks again for all of the great advice!
Hi A.,
I didn't have this problem but a few girlfriends had the same situation. They both put a baby gate up so their son's couldn't leave the room after a few morning of yelling for mommy and daddy they relinquished and would play in there room and fall back asleep. Good luck!
I would ease up on the 3 hour nap and send her to bed earlier. I've heard and read every where that routine and consistancy works best. Of course, as a mother of a 2 year old who does not take naps and our bed time routine is nil,it's easier said than done. Good luck.
We had almost the same problem with our oldest. She would wake up at 4 and be good to go!! She had stopped taking naps and wouldn't go to bed until 10 and We couldn't figure out why she wasn't sleeping! We finally started to put her to bed earlier and that helped...she was just too tired to sleep. Even now 2 years later, if she is too tired she will wake up about 3 hours after we put her to bed crying and disoriented.
So maybe try an earlier bed time, nap time, or both.
GOOD LUCK!!
Glad to hear it worked out - my thought was the season/time change and how my daughter (3.5 yrs old) went through that "adjust" time but is back to her routine.
Hope your new arrival is safe and all is well. Glad to hear you had success with your older one's sleep issue. :)
Try laying on the floor with her...my 3 year old often wakes up at 5:30 and comes into our room. I take him back to his room, lay on the floor with him, and he usually goes back to sleep so I can leave. Or put her back in the crib and use a bassinet or Pack-n-Play for the new baby until your oldest is closer to 3--that's when I think they can handle the toddler bed. Meanwhile, how lucky are you that she sleeps 15 hours a day! That's amazing! Good luck with the new baby--how exciting.
This is a hard one, it might be a phase with the impending changes. My son was quite a bit older when we moved him from his crib to a bed. My only suggestion is to keep the room as dark as possible. Continue to take your child back to bed saying it's still bedtime. We were broken records asking James "what is the bedtime rule" Stay in bed. The other thing I considered was getting a timer for a nightlight or regular light and it was time to get up when that light went on. Never tried it but it's an idea.
Best of luck. In my experience going to bed later never meant getting up later. However, perhaps you could try going to bed earlier (she may still get up at that time but at least she may get more sleep). I have always found that to be true, I could get him down earlier but it didn't change the wake up time.
Try playing music for her and giving her some books to read. Or, stick her on the couch laying down and turn on a cartoon. Maybe you could offer her a prize for staying in her bedroom till a certain time ( you could make a mark on an analog clock so she'll understand.) She probably knows something is going on and things are changing and she's just reacting to the stress. Reassure her things are okay and you love her and make sure to prepare her for the second child. I've heard of people getting the first child a little baby doll so they'll be accustomed to the second child being around. Also, so they can take care of that baby when you're taking care of you're baby. Best of luck.
I had this problem, too, with my daughter around the same age. Actually, it's starting up again. Anyway, here's a link to the responses I got from other moms.
http://www.mamasource.com/request/18232268937549053953/69...
I think it was the sun waking her up because as soon as we switched to daylight savings, she started sleeping later. But now that the sun is coming up earlier, she's back to rising early to (about 6 am). She goes to bed around 8 pm every night and rarely misses her nap, so I think it's just something we have no control over. She does occasionally wake up around 5 - 5:30 am but I just tell her she has to stay in her crib and she does until about 6 am when she starts crying to get out again.
If you can, try curtains or blackout shades in her room if you find that it's the morning light waking her up.
Good luck, I know how exhausting it is to be up so early.
A.,
My first son when through a phase when he was around two or two and a half when he started waking at around 5 AM. Even though he was exhausted by nap time I'd keep him up, which made for a miserable day for both of us. Fortunately though, after a few days of this he started sleeping in longer just because he needed the sleep. I was VERY sad to see the naps go but, to me, was worth the trade off of not getting up at 5 AM. Once we got that normal routine established again, I started putting him down for naps again (YAY!) but would wake him if he slept more than an hour. It seemed to work for us.
Good luck to you!
My daughter did this exact thing, it was like clock work at 5 AM she was up in our room playing. On my experience she did this because she was used to the security of the crib. And now she had an open bed. So we bought a guard rail for the bed and that seemed to help. But she still had some rough nights! She has grown out of it. It took a couple of months and it slowly got better. It took my little girl 2 months to out grow it. I hope this helps!
Hi A.,
Try letting her stay up a little later, and make sure she has a full tummy! It worked for my grandson. You might also try playing a baby lullibye CD in her room at night...it might soothe her a bit.
Hope this helps!
Happy Blessings for the new baby too!
C.
First take a look at how you would adjust to a new bed, not sleeping in the bed she has known always, can cause a bit of a stir.
you may just have to get up with her, Her schdule is ging to chg alot, maybe she will take an earlier nap. It's all about surrending... maybe make up a bed time story about another little girl who got a new bed and how happy she was etc... anything she likes incorporate into your story. You must give her credit, she feels all the engery around a new arrival, my son did the same thing, except he loved our bed, we had a big family bed. good luck
