Two-year Old Waking WAY Early

My son who is twelve now went though the same phase... he was and is an early riser. I think it is just how some children are. He now wakes up between 5 and 6 o'clock. When i realized that he was happiest in the mornings, I realized that I needed to adapt. When he was old enough I would let him watch sesame street in the mornings and I would sleep on the couch next to him. It was difficult. My other two children are very different, one is grumpy if woken before 9 (he doesn't go to school yet) and the other wakes around 8. Anyways all children are different. Good luck!!

hi A., this is L., I kinda know what you mean about getting wore out (without being prego), little Kayla wakes up at 2:00am every morning and wont sleep until 4:00 or so. Usually she is really good about sleeping through the night so I'm assuming it is just a phase as well, not one of my favs. But if maya is not onry or does not show signs of being tired then she should be fine as far as getting enough sleep. I'm glad to hear eveything is going good with the soon to be new addition, hang in there and hopefully this will pass.

It sounds like you are doing everything right. Have you tired using room darkening curtains. I have noticed my little one wakes up earlier in the summer than she does in the winter when the sun comes out later. Also if she is in a safe spot, can you put a sippy cip of water and a few books by her bed for when she wakes up. It might buy you a few minutes more sleep and maybe she would realize she is still tired and try to go back to sleep. Good luck with everything!

I know this may sound weird, but try putting her to bed a little earlier. Sounds like she may be getting so much exercise now that summer is here, she may actually be overtired. I have found that in those cases, when I put my kids to bed a little earlier (20-30min)they will sleep a little later. Don't ask me why, but it's true. Otherwise you are in a tough spot. I think it's hard to make a 2 yr old stay in bed in the am, especially because they don't understand the concept of time. I do expect it will pass one way or another. A good resource for me has been the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weisbluth. He covers all sorts of sleep problems and, so far, all his strategies have worked for us. Good luck!
A.

I used the back to bed technique. It was a rough couple of mornings for about a wek but now mine gets up at 6:30. My line was 6 am. I just said: It is before 6 am and you have to go back to bed now. She often slept than until 8. i have heard of some drawing a 6:00 and posting it near a digital clock. thn once the number match, they can get up. but i kept it simple and just put her back to bed...of course, the sun wasn't up as it was winter...so that helped...no out of bed until the sun is up.

My son gets up at 6 am most days, and I thought THAT was early! If it were me, I wouldn't let your daughter get up. I know you can't force her back to sleep, but you can tell her it isn't morning yet, and she needs to stay in her room and do quiet things. Have you tried room darkening shades? The light may be waking her early. Good luck, and I feel for you!!!!

May be it is time to put her to bed a hour later. Then hopefully she will get up 1 hour later in the morning. At age 2 my children refused to take naps any longer so feel lucky. My children go to bed at 8:30pm and wake up at 6:00am every day. I have a 9 and 7 year old and they have been doing this for years.

I'm dealing with the same thing- sometimes she wakes up really early and other times she wakes up in the middle of the night (like 2 am) and is just awake... We have good nights and bad- We have tried relating it to tv viewing, but that doesn't really seem to effect it. The only thing that we can think of is that she has started drooling again, so part of it is teething her 2 year molars.

Maybe you should try putting her to bed a little later. It doesn't sound like she is acting tired throughout the day. If you want her to sleep a little later, put her to bed a little later. Ten hours of sleep is plenty for night time sleep, especially if she is taking an afternoon nap as well. Good luck with the baby!

Does she seem wide awake when she gets up that early, or is she still groggy? My 23 month old has begun coming in frequently at about the same times in the morning, but usually just tries to climb in bed with us. I bring him back to bed and he usually sleeps again until 7am. I think part of it may have to do with the sun coming up earlier (its pretty bright at 6, isn't it?), so when he does wake up he thinks it must be time to get up. If the sun isn't up I always just think he is so used to coming in our room to wake us up that he doesn't realize it is still so early and sort of does it automatically. Whatever the reason, I think it is pretty normal as my older daughter (now almost 4) also did that.

I guess I would just say to explain to her that it isn't time to be up yet and then bring her back to bed. She doesn't have to sleep, but she has to stay in her room until you come get her. I have a friend who actually got a digital clock with large numbers to put in her daughter's room and taught her daughter that she could come and get mommy if the clock said '7' in the hour slot (or '6' in your case) and that seemed to work okay too. Good luck!

Put in black out shades in her room to keep the room very dark. Make sure her room is cool as kids/babies sleep better and longer if it is cooler in their room (68 degrees is perfect). With the time change, the sun rising at 5:30 it is hard for kids as sun is a signal to them it is time to get up. Try keeping her room cool. The bedtime is perfect for her age and a routine is great, I just think this time of year it is about the sun rising so early. I keep a fan on in my kids room and that has seemed to help them sleep longer in the morning, I think the sound helps drowned out other noises and keeps their room cooler.
Hang in there, she will change waking times a lot over the next few years, my now almost 7 year old daughter is a sleeper now and would sleep to 9am if I let her!! Now if I can get my almost 4 year old son to do the same I would be in HEAVEN! Rest and congrats on the soon to be new arrival

Hi
I have a 23 month old little girl and she went through this very recently. She would come in and wake me up at about 4:30am it was killing me but I just put her in bed with me and she would fall back asleep till her normal wake up at 7:30. My best advise is to try to get her back to sleep and hopefully it will not las too long. My girl was back to her normal schedual after about 3-4 weeks of this. All I can say is that is just a phase.

My 2 1/2 year old is doing the same thing. I think it is the sun waking her up. She only has blinds in her room so a lot of light filters through. I have put some cardboard up in her window the last two nights to see if that helps and she has woken up at 6:15 and 5:45 the last two mornings vs 4:30 or 5:00. I am now trying to find black out blinds to put up.

Good luck!

I would try putting her to bed later. My 18-month old goes to bed around 8-8:30 and sleeps til 6:30-7. She still takes about a 2-3 hour nap during the day, but probably needs more sleep than your daughter who is 6 months older than her. Ask her doctor what the range is for how much sleep a 2 year old should be getting (that should ease your anxiety). As far as her getting up so early, again, I would try getting her to bed 30 minutes to an hour later and see if that helps. Or maybe it is just a phase with the daylight savings time. The sun is up earlier so this may be having an impact.

some people need less sleep than others. my advise is to tell her that she has to play in her room until time for mommy to get up. you might want to try teaching her about time and have a clock in her room. also, get your husband to take care of early mornings when he can.

Please listen to me carefully. She is getting too much sleep for her age. Now that she is two, she doesn't need 11 hours of sleep anymore. Usually that is what an infant needs. It doesn't matter that she plays outside all day. The fact that she is two means her body is getting older and doesn't require that much sleep anymore. I have never put my children to bed at 7:30 before. Please try putting her to bed later, like around 9:00. This way she will sleep until the 6:30 she used to. I know it will be hard for you to put her to bed at 9:00 but it's the only way if you want her to sleep until atleast 6:30. It will work. The reason she wakes up at 4 or 5 is because she got enough sleep and her body's time clock woke her up. Children usually don't over sleep anyways. Also my baby started waking up early because it's the summer time so the sun comes up earlier and she was gettin up at 6:00 so I put a blanket over the window and she sleeps until 8:00 but she doesn't go to bed until 9:30 or so. Try the going to bed at nine FIRST. Hope this helps.It's an obvious solution to me when I read your problem.
Rose :o)

I have an 18month old, and I have noticed that with the summer light hours he has been wanting to go to bed later and wake up earlier. I think that it might be a natural response to the long days, because I naturally have that response to. I have had to put him to bed just a little bit later like 8:00 or 8:30 and he will wake up now about 6:00, but he was on a similar schedule to your daughter. Have you played with bed times recently to see how she responds?

I have no advice because I am going through the same thing! I too am very pregnant, due July 18th. I want you to know I feel your pain and will be looking back to see if anyone has given the advice that I so despratley need too! I keep telling my husband that when our son is a teenager, I am going to remember this and NEVER let him sleep in!!! :) You know, as pay back! ;) Good luck to you though. It's hard to think of dealing with a newborn and the older ones being up so early.

Hi A.. I read some of the other responses and don't think putting her to bed later is the right answer. I'm not an expert of course, but I live and die by the book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, and it wouldn't recommend less sleep. My daughter who is 21 months went through this and we just made it clear that she wasn't going to get up and play. Sometimes we held her until she fell asleep and sometimes we ignored her until she fell back to sleep. We put a blanket over the window shades since it's getting light so early now.

Good luck!

my first guess would also be the sunlight and birds. but my kids have done this at different times of the year for various reasons, such as a neighbor leaving for work earlier, needing to pee, thirst because of changes in the air, the sound of the heater or air conditioner coming on, etc. along with curtains, you can try taking her to the bathroom, giving her something musical she can turn on herself or something with white noise. for a while my 2 yr old was just hungry all the time and even though he was eating a full dinner and having a snack before bed, he'd wake up in the middle of the night/early morning hungry. this might sound strange, but when i figured out the cause of his early waking, i put some pretzels in the kitchen where he could reach them himself so i didn't have to get out of bed. he'd eat some and go back to sleep. eventually the phase passed. good luck! 2 yr olds can be funny about things, especially when they want to be in charge.

shorten and or take away the naps. think of s different activity to do at that time ? go for a walk ,play playdough,paint do new things that way her interests are high and not sleepy.

if that don't work then you could move her nap times
try putting her down earlier and or putting her down later.

I've never understood why people put their kids to bed so stinking early, and then complain that they don't sleep later....well, put her to bed a little later, I mean, 7:30 to 5 is 9 1/2 hours, right? That's plenty, so if your wanting more sleep in the morning, don't put her to bed until 8:30 or 9