16 Month Old Waking at 4:45Am!

my son also likes to wake early.. but he goes to bed most nights like clockwork at 730. if i keep him up a little later, he will sleep a little bit later. hes a very good sleeper..

i guess what i would consider is looking for any new molars or teeth coming in. this can disrupt sleep. otherwise, you might just have to get used to the early riser. maybe try to take a nap with her during the day, or going to bed earlier. i find it refreshing to wake up earlier, even when its dark, because my day seems longer and more productive.

another thing is to try to get that nap more of a routine. im sure you do it after lunch? sometimes my son is hungry at 11, he eats then otherwise its at 12. he usually sleeps 1.5 hrs - 2 hrs. its VERY predictable. i do child care in my home, so its very routine for him to nap after lunch. if we do have to go someplace in the afternoon, i make sure that i do lunch at 11 or so to make sure he can get the nap in before we leave, or while we are leaving in the car.

the more predictible you make it the easier it should be. although, it sounds like maybe it is already predictible

i also want to say KUDOS for nursing and occasionally cosleeping! :D :D :D i think that this is a great thing to do - keeps you connected to your kid, and you are very in tune to her needs! :D this is awesome! good going mom! you wont regret it!
as far as letting her cry, yes she is beginning to understand the difference between urgent needs and simple ones... but letting her cry is not a good idea on any level. kids that age are very self centered, and they dont understand others needs. they dont understand that you want to sleep longer! theres nothing wrong with that either.. but theres nothing wrong with teaching her that you have needs. i would let her whine in bed or something, but never crying on and on.

one thing that ive done with my son is to let him have a couple books in his bed. often before he falls to sleep for nap and bedtime, he will look at his books. he loves it. i think it gives him something quiet to do alone in his bed, and he really really seems to like it! you could try that, especially in the morning, maybe let her read some books.
another thing we always do is put a cup in bed with our son. that way if he is thirsty, instead of getting upset and asking for a drink, he just gets up and gets one, puts the cup back in the corner of his crib, and goes back to sleep. :D

good luck.

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Well,I'm not much help on this one, but wanted to tell you that I have went thru this and still am. I have 2 kids a 3 year old and a 2 year old and my 3 year old son has always woke around 5am....a baby til now still 3 years later. If he sleeps in til 6 we consider ourselves lucky. I tried putting him to bed later but that never worked for us. I hope someone out there has something that works for you, especially with another on the way. Best of luck.

When my little one started waking up really early we covered his window so that the light would not come in and it worked right away. We also put some books in his bed which he would look at and fall back to sleep. He is now in a big boy bed and has learned to pull his window coverings down and he is now getting up with the sun again! Best of luck and I hope that you will be getting a little more sleep in NEAR future.

Not sure this is what you want to hear, but some kids are just EARLY risers -- we have one in our house.

We don't, however, allow him to get out of his crib (we have 2 yr old) until AT LEAST 5:30am. If that means he is crying, it doesn't matter.

We also tried the bed later and the bed earlier trick -- and still up around 5am.

Good luck! And know you are not the only house up at 5 in the morning.

:)

I'm guessing it's a sleep regression related to development. My little guy (now 19 months) went through the same thing. Sleep begets sleep, so if you're giving her plenty of opportunities to sleep (early bedtimes, chances to nap, and a consistent sleep routine), it's likely things will improve in a few weeks. Ours took about 3. Good luck!!

This may not sound like much help but...I had/have the same issues with my children. Nothing I did seemed to matter. Everyone told me to put them to bed later but that never seemed to help. I finally started putting them to bed earlier. They still got up at the same time but I got more free time and they were happier. Sometimes I even had them in bed at 5pm!

I absolutely agree that you should get the "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child book." I just recently had to refer to it again because my 1 year old was waking between 5:30 and 6:00. He was going to bed at 7:00 and he was already overtired. The first night I followed the book by putting him to be earlier (6:00) and he slept until 7:45 the next morning. People who tell you to put kids to bed later because they sleep later are seriously mistaken. Best of Luck!

Whenever we get into the getting up to early or not going to bed on time with our kids, we try adjusting the nap. We put them down around 1 pm, and make sure they do not sleep past 3:30. We wake them up if necessary. This equalizes the sleep time a bit. We try to put them to bed at the same time each night. We had the early waking problem with my son, but at the time, he was still taking two naps. We just cut one out, and over the course of a couple weeks, it evened out. It may take some time for your son to adjust to the new schedule. Good luck!

I do have an idea that may help. it worked with my son. Still give her the afternoon nap but never let her sleep past 3 in the afternoon. we found that if we let our son sleep after 3, he went to bed fine but got up rediculously early. also put darker curtains in her room. with my daughter she was getting up with the sun. it was shining into her window and she believed it was "good morning time". also, I see that you are breastfeeding. try supplimenting her bedtime feed with cereal mixed with applesauce. she may just be waking up hungry. it worked with my youngest.

UGH!! been there. I dont really have any advice on anything you can do. My daughter used to wake up like that and then one day she just started to sleep longer. I dont think it sounds like she is sleeping too much otherwise or not enough, the bedtime seems appropriate and all. Hopefully it's just a phase that will pass. My daughter will still go through about a week where she likes to wake up early and then the next few weeks she will get up aroun 7-8 a.m. So just hope it passes soon. Maybe someone else has some advice what you can do. I just thought I'd send some of my support along and to let you know that I'm sure we have all been there. good luck, hope you get some sleep soon.

Some people find that adjusting meal times helps. It takes awhile to make it a routine, but it may work to gradually push breakfast back to a later and later time so the hunger cues are different. That way, she may sleep longer in the morning. It also helps to make the night time routine really consistent. If you can do it, set a specific time for bed and try to stick to it within 15-30 minutes. Possibly make the early awakening time really less active, too (low lights or no lights, not a lot of attention--you can put a basket of quiet "awake toys" by her bed or in her crib and try to get her to meet those needs in the morning without needing your help as much.) My daughter is 10 now and was an early riser (5-5:30) for years. The benefit is that as they get into that routine it is easier to get going in the morning. Good luck:)

She's sleeping 8 1/2-10 hrs. at night plus taking a nap that's normal. If you want her to sleep in later your going to have to try keeping her up later at night.

I would try a more consistant bedtime. 7-9 is a pretty big range. Try putting her to bed by 7pm every night. Do you have room darking shades in her room? Maybe it is getting light in the morning and waking her. Also, maybe there is noise from outside around that time of day. You could try putting a fan in her room for background noise. A book we found very helpful was "Healthy Sleep habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth. It helps to create a good sleeping schedule and tells how much sleep kids need at different ages. Hope this helps!

Let me tell you, I have a 10 month old who does the same. He is on formula feeding now but I feel your pain. If you find something that works, let me know. You may want to try switching to formula and adding lots of rice in the bottle. That was the advise I was given but it did not work for me. They had suggested getting something from Health Hut that was a natural relaxer but I do not believe in that. I am willing to ride the storm. Be happy she sleeps through the night. Mine, wakes up and decides to talk (which is actually pretty cute). On top of no sleep during the day and he wakes up three/four times at night. So, if you figure something out, let me know. They suggest leaving them cry. I also am against that.