2 Year Old Daughter Wakes up TOO EARLY No Matter What

I know it sounds counter-intuitive but I've had success by putting my kids to bed EARLIER. I can't explain it but it seems to work.

J. married mother of 8 year daughter and 6 y.o. son.

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Same with my daughter... we tried shortening her naps, which helped a little and we also now let her go to bed later at night. It took a while for the new routine to "kick" in and then she finally starting sleeping in a little later in the mornings... give it some time :)

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M.:

We also have a two year old daughter and she does the same thing and it doesn't matter if she goes to bed later. My family kept saying oh put her to bed later and she will wake up later..NOT! We have now decided to put her to bed early and she goes down between 7 to 7:30 pm every night (that is the key every night on schedule like clockwork) and we have seen some results now with her waking up at 7:00am FINALLY instead of 6:00am or earlier. GOOD LUCK

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my daughter was similar. She was a MONSTER in the morning. it got to a point where I would giver her a cup of milk and let her watch cartoons for an hour before I would even try to get her to do anything.
It turns out that her toncills/adnoids were huge. we had them removed and now she sleeps so much better. they wern't causing her to wake in the night, she was not getting a restfull sleep. never hurts to have the pediatritian look down her throat.

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I agree with all the comments of putting her to bed earlier. Even if she doesn't get up later in the morning, she will at least be more rested, which is so important for our little ones...as I am sure you know! A couple other suggestions would be to make sure she is warm enough, and to put some books in her room and a digital clock. Block out the minute numbers with some tape so only the hour shows, and tell her she may not come out of her room until she sees the number 7. Or if she is still too little to understand numbers, you can tell her to stay in her room unitl you come and get her. Tell her she can turn on the lights and look at her books. We did the digital clock with our daughter when she was 3. Because she was up at 6:00 every morning too. It worked really well. Good luck and God bless!

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hi M.,
Have you tried to put her to bed earlier? I know this sounds ridiculous when you want her to sleep in later, but I have three kids and it's always seemed to work for us when they were around that age. My oldest now 7, will get up every day at 5 or 6 and we've had to really work on him not waking up the rest of the family, but we put him to bed earlier so at least he is getting the amount of rest he needs.
I hope this helps. take care:)

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I would put her to bed EARLIER at least for a while until she's caught up on sleep. I highly recommend the book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth in case you haven't read it already. Also, I have used an online sleep consultants with some tricky sleep questions pertaining to my twin two-year-olds. It's $25 per consult. It's been helpful and worth it for us every time. Her website is http://www.familysleep.com/ Good luck!
B.

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From what I have read on the subject, you may want to put your daughter to bed earlier. This will help her sleep later. The other idea is make sure she take a nap if she needs one. Children who are more well rested sleep longer at night. Also you could put a baby gate in her room so she can play there safely while you sleep in a little more.

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If moving her bed time later didn't help, try moving it forward. You can also try structuring her naps differently, and giving her a cup of milk and putting her back to bed when she wakes up the first time.

I think you have to give each approach a week or so to see if it is working.

Moving bed times earlier sounds crazy, but it is strongly advocated by the guy who wrote Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, and i know its worked for some people. I think the book is decent and may give you a sense if there are general schedule changes that you can make that work with your family and child.

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I say not to worry! It'll pass. It did with mine. Now 3, I can't get her to wake up earlier than 10:00 am!! That really throws off nap time!

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I have the same situation. The later I put my son to sleep the early he rises. I second the person that said try and get a nap in. That is the only thing that helps with my son. Make sure it's dark and I don't know if this helps at this age- but a full tummy. I know it helps me when I can't sleep.

I read another response similar to this and she would have a clock in the room and tell her little one when this clock says 6 or 7am that is when we get out of bed-- and say she can play in her room etc until then?? I don't know how that could work - but I'm an new mom.
Lynelle

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I remember those days. My daughter did that too. Some of us have that innate body clock. I think it is called circadian rythmn. If she is taking naps, stop them. That is what I did. Put her in either gymnastic or swim lessons to take care of her physical output needs. And then I adapted... until she went to school then it helped alot that she was up and ready to go.

Good luck.

Some kids just have an internal clock. My son wakes ulp at 6 or 6:30 no matter what I do. My nephew always woke up at 6 and still does, despite being 17. Just make sure she gets to bed early enough. My husband and I rotate who gets to sleep in.

Hey there M.,

Sounds like her Pineal is a little out of balance. The Pineal is responsible for production of Seretonin. I am a registered counselor in Anacortes and use a technique called Esogetic Colorpuncture. It uses light and the frequency of the colors to send impulses to parts of the body that are out of balance and harmony. There are a few practitioners around the country that have been trained to work with children, myself included. Check out your area to see if there is someone close to you. You can go to www.colorpuncture.com and find a practitioner. Children respond almost immediately. I have 10 years of experience and will have my Diploma at the end of the year. Using vibration methods to correct the imbalances in the body and brain is a much healthier alternative to chemicals often prescribed. There is much more I could talk to you about this subject, if you are interested. Blessings for a happier daughter and calmer days.

The trick I use with my son who is 25 mos. is to change him in the dark while he's drinking a bottle of milk while softly saying "it's still nigh-night". Then rock and walk to put him to sleep. He will still talk a little but he has stuffed animals in there and will fall asleep (sometimes for 45 min. to 1 hr.) If that doesn't work I sometimes let him in bed w/ me w/ PBS on so I can wake slowly. UGH, I know. Oh well, for some kids. My son sleeps from 9p to 7a on a lucky day. I also have tried more exercise for him and making sure he's not overly tired and at times I wake him early from his nap. Good luck.

This was my daughter (as a baby) and it still is almost 4 years later. She just wakes up early. I think that is just her little body - an early bird. My father was the same way - up way before the sun.

It hurts doesnt it. Everyone needs precious sleep and not getting it.

We tried everything and found that nothing really kept her from waking up early until recently. She is starting to outgrow her afternoon nap and on the days she doesnt nap she sleep later in the morning. I know at 2 thats not an option - she needs her nap.

One thing we did do - is put her to bed earlier - instead of a 8pm bed time - she had a 7pm bed time. Then at least she would get the rest her little body needed.

Good luck and hang in there. They will be teenagers soon and we will be saying - 'get out of bed - its noon!!!!' :)

Children this age need a daytime nap to regulate their nighttime sleep pattern. The nap should last about 1.5-2.5 hours, and it should end at least three hours before bedtime. 2 year olds should be getting 10.5-11.5 hours of nighttime sleep to be fully rested for the next day. I read this and used this from "Teach Your Child to Sleep", by the Doctors at the Millpond Sleep Clinic. It works for my daughter.

In some of the material I have come across, doctors suggest that kids wake up at a "programmed" time - which makes daylight savings difficult, travel difficult...It doesn't matter if you put them to bed an hour later - if they wake up between 6-6:30, they will still wake up at that time. Have you tried the opposite, putting her to bed earlier? If she needs more sleep, and will wake up early regardless (while I understand it doesn't solve the sleep in issue), she will at least be getting the sleep (11-12 hours) that she needs.

M....

Is her room dark? She might be waking up with the sun. If possible I would try a heavier curtain...you could always drape a blanket over her window one night to see if in fact this might help before running out and buying new window coverings:) I understand where you are coming from...I am a morning person but there is a big difference between 6am and 7am....7am is waaay better. Good Luck!

K.

Hi there. I can totally sympathize with where you are coming from. My son is 16 months old and we have had this problem in the past. As someone else mentioned, I would highly recommend the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. It has been a phenomenal source of info for me and it seems to work. My son has always been a rooster. No matter what time we put him to bed he was up between 5:30 and 6am. At Dr. Weissbluth's suggestion, I tried putting him to bed earlier. Now, my son was already going to bed around 6:45 or 7pm. However, I figured we would give it a go. Anyway, he now goes to bed around 6pm or 6:15pm and he is sleeping in until 6:30am or 7am. I know it sounds funny, but putting them to bed earlier really does help. Most people say that they worry if they put them to bed earlier then they will just wake up earlier, but it does NOT happen this way. When children get tired, it disrupts their sleep patterns and they tend to sleep shorter and more fractured. Try putting you daughter to bed earlier for a week and see what happens. It may take a few days for her to catch up on the sleep she needs and to really see improvement.
The other thing I would suggest is to make sure she is not napping too late in the day. We always make sure my son is up by 4pm so that he will still go down at his early bedtime.

Good luck!

Hi M. -
You could try letting her sleep with you. I've co-slept with all of my kids and, generally, they sleep much later/better when they're with me than when they're alone. If she doesn't currently do this (sleep with you), it may take a week or two for you and her to get used to it, but it might help her sleep longer. Studies have been done that show that sleeping next to someone else actually helps stablize breathing rhythms and people generally get a better night's sleep when sharing sleep with others.

Some kids are like this for a while, but then they grow out of it. I hope you find a solution that works well for both you and your daughter, even if that just means that you adjust your expectations :).

Blessings,
J. (mom of 5)

I had to laugh when I read your post - I so feel your pain. Darkening her room may do the trick - but you may have an early bird on your hands. My first was this way and my second would sleep till 10 every morning if I let her. Some children are simply built this way and there's not much you can do about it. I love to sleep - my younger sister was up at 6 every morning ever since I could remember and it made me crazy. Make sure you get her down at a regular time and just stick to it - my kids go to bed at 8 (I have tried the moving bedtimes but it actually seems to worsen the problem), but I have learned that he just isn't going to sleep later. If she doesn't get enough sleep make sure she has a nap (nap too if need be!). As soon as she starts having a meltdown do naptime (probably around 11 or 12) - and let her sleep. My kids actually sleep way better if they have had naps during the day, and that way I know my son is getting enough sleep. Not the coolest solution for parents. However, if it becomes a big problem then do see her peditrician - they may recommend melatonin which is a non-addictive and natural sleeping pill and safe for even children to take (about a quarter of the pill). I hope all goes well!