2 Year Old Waking up Too Early

Updated on February 19, 2008
T.E. asks from Kenmore, WA
21 answers

My 2 year old (almost 3 years old) is waking up between 6-6:30 am every morning, no matter what time she goes to bed. It is completely habitual, almost like she has an internal alarm clock. I can tell that she is tired most mornings and have started putting her back in bed but I cannot seem to break her of this time.

Any suggestions on how to get her to sleep in longer?

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T.P.

answers from Seattle on

Most of the families I know there children get up at 6:30 in the morning. Mine do, that seems very normal. Its all about having kids.

1 mom found this helpful
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A.S.

answers from Seattle on

My two year old also wakes up around the same time. My 4 year old did they same thing. The good morning light is a great idea. Also a clock in there room if they can read numbers. let them know when the 7 appears this means it is time to wake up. My two girls now do not get up until 7. My older one who sometimes will still wake up early now just shuts her door and plays till her clock reads 7. My younger one on the other hand is in my face at 6-6:30 so I put a gate at her door and a darkening shade on the window. That way she knows when mommy comes and takes the gate down it is time to get up. At first she would stand at the gate and call for me. Know she just waits in her bed till I come.
Good luck, Just know when they go to school there going to need to be up early and that is not a bad thing to be on the scheduel. Just doesn't always work for mom. :)

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C.P.

answers from Seattle on

Just a quick thought - at least one of the sleep books I have says that the natural waking time for children is between 6:00 and 7:00 and that you aren't going to do anything to change it. It is their natural sleep rhythm. Keeping them up later only means they get less sleep.

If she is napping particularly long, you might consider shortening her nap, but if she seems tired when she wakes up, she probably needs her nap.

Good luck! I'm sure with a 4 week old you are wishing for more sleep for yourself.

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J.J.

answers from Portland on

I only have 5 month old girls, but my friend's daughter would do the same until she turned 4.
I have heard that the book BABY WISE has great advise on sleeping schedules though I have never read it myself I have had 3 or 4 moms tell me it helped tremendously.
Hope it helps!

E.B.

answers from Seattle on

i have no advice...but good luck every once and awile my almost three year old will get into a pattern of waking up early which drives me crazy because my one year old is a night owl...has this just started since the new baby has been home becasue thats when my guy started his early rising and things got back and forth normal again after awhile...i eventually just started getting up with him and letting myself doze while played in the living room never fully falling asleep just incase he needed something or get hurt. Good luck and things will work themselves out!!

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P.E.

answers from Anchorage on

My 2 year old wakes up around 6am every day. We have given him a couple of special toys that are only for his bed (this keeps him from getting bored). These toys put on a light show when activated. Anywho, we have taught our toddler that we stay in bed until the alarm goes off. We encourage him to play in bed whenever he can't sleep, whether it is at his bedtime or when he wakes up. He even does this if something wakes him up during the night; at which point he falls back to sleep after playing for a few minutes. In the mornings, he rarely falls back asleep but that isn't the goal. The goal is to teach him to respect mom and dad's need for sleep. This has worked great! All ages seem to appreciate a signal that it is time to get up -- even I look at the time or listen for the alarm. My toddler knows to listen for the alarm. Wishing you gentle mornings!

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A.C.

answers from Portland on

Ha! Ha! This rang a bell with me! My son(2) gets up between 6-7 am and has for I don't know how long. My son won't go back to bed. He comes in saying, "Hi!" then if we aren't very welcoming, he turns on the dining room light which shines right on our bed (it's a mobile home--what can I say?) We take turns getting up with him, but mostly we have changed the house to fit him. Sometimes he sleeps til 7am if he's tired or sick. There's not much else we can do as he is too young to play by himself. Someday soon I hope he could play by himself til I'm ready to get up. Sorry that's not much help. My midwife says (after battling opposite schedules with her kids) "You can't do much about it!" At least they take a nice long nap! It's really, really hard with a baby too. Stick with it! It won't last forever; get sleep while you can!

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M.J.

answers from Seattle on

My son did this too at that age and sometimes still does it at 3 1/2. Is she still taking naps? Maybe try shortening her nap time a little. It can take a week or so for her to get used to less sleep during the day and more at night. The other thing we tried was teaching or son to turn on the light and read books or play quietly in his room until we come to get him. Hope this helps!

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D.B.

answers from Richland on

Wehave had the same problem with our son who just turned two last month. He would go through spurts of sleeping in, and other days he was up between 5:30-6. It did not matter when he was put to bed, 8, 10, 11, still 6am. We found that we would just change him if he needed changing, and then put him back in bed and there was no option for him. He either screamed until 7:30 or would go back to sleep and he would usually break after a couple mins of screaming and go back to sleep. But it still comes in spurts! I can say the harder we play with him from 7-8:30pm the later he sleeps in! I know it can be very hard, I am pregnant, and run an inhome daycare, and my husband usually works 12 hour days and we are exhuasted by 7:30 and the last thing we want to do is play hard with him, but we find the energy and do it, and it makes a big difference usually! Hope this helps!

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G.S.

answers from Seattle on

Do you live by a busy street, or is her bedroom window by street? Perhaps traffic gets louder at that time? Or maybe there are kids walking to school and their talking wakens her? Or maybe she gets up because she needs to use the bathroom. Does anyone in house get up or leave around that time? I had one kid who got up when my husband left the house because he'd have to slam door to lock. Was that the time she was born? It may be good thing you don't want to break, it may be pain now, but that's around time my kids get up for elementary school. So if their use to it now, it won't be hard to get use to in the future. Bummer for you but if you go to work you'd may get up around that time or even earlier anyway.

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H.C.

answers from Seattle on

Join the club! My little guy though put to bed at 8pm at night every night, will sometimes wake up at 5:30, 6:00, 6:30ish depending. We actually have a childproof lock on the inside of his door, so if we keep the door closed and are quiet with no lights on outside his door, he sometimes still wakes up that early, but then goes back to sleep if he doesn't think there is something going on outside his room. I am sure this will have to change when we potty train him as he will need to be able to get in and out of his door to go. I have read though that toddlers usually get 12 hours of sleep a day (not necessarily consecutive) and my guy gets 9 hours at night and then a 2-3 hour nap during the day.
Hope that helps!
H. C.

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A.C.

answers from Seattle on

My son went through this. He loved to wake up at 5:30 and it was a battle to get him to go back to bed. We tried all different things and talked to the doctor about it. She said it would be easier to adjust the time to go to bed, as it is easier than when you are up in the morning. We moved his bedtime, got rid of naps - but kept quiet time, and I put him back into his room. I have a not before 7:30 rule. We bought an alarm clock and if he wakes up before it, he can play in his room. Occassionaly when I was just too tired (I was pregnant at the time), I would put him in my bed and turn on the tv. Not the best, but it made for a happier day for all concerned. He now sleeps until about 7, but it took a while. Hang in there.

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L.R.

answers from Seattle on

Here's one idea that might sound a bit crazy, but it can work. Try putting you child to bed 1/2 hour earlier. Yes, I did say earlier. We had the same problem with our twins, but it was waking up in the middle of the night. Once we put them to bed eariler, it stopped. I know it sounds crazy, but it just might work.

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C.M.

answers from Richland on

I remember when I had my second baby my two year old did the same thing. It lasted about 8 weeks. She was exhausted by 9:00 and would take an early nap, one that she had given up entirely months ago.

My advice is to wait it out. They are seeking some time alone with you that they are not getting when the baby is awake. Don't fret, I am sure she will be back to her normal self in no time!

Blessings

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A.C.

answers from Eugene on

My son is the exact same way. He has been like this from birth. It does not matter what time he goes to bed he will wake up at 6:30 am every morning. It really sucks on the weekends because this is usually the time I get to sleep in but when my son wakes me up thats it I'm up. I havent found any way to break him of it, if you get any good ideas let me know. Now the kicker is my daughter will sleep to noon if you let her. She loves to sleep in and if you wake her up before she's ready then you will regret it....lol

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C.B.

answers from Seattle on

My 3 year old has been doing the same thing since he was 2. I've gotten used to it. I do, however, put him to bed at 7:30pm and when he was 2, gave him a nap from 1-3. If I get to go until 7am, I jump for joy. If you get him to sleep in longer, please share your secret. Good luck.

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S.B.

answers from Seattle on

My 3 year old is up at 6:45 daily no matter what time he gets to bed!!! Try putting her to bed at 8 oclock, get into a pattern so that she is in bed and asleep around 7:30-8:30 pm., and that way she will get the sleep she needs. Its just a bummer for us, because we get less sleep that way, because we aren't in bed at that time. Another option is giving books, or cocoa, and just having her lye down. And, be thankful, I have a friend who's little one wakes up at 5:45 on the dot no matter what! I find the best days are when I get up and read with him and make that just our special time before everyone else wakes up. I know it is hard when we are super tired, and just wanting to sleep... but I think that when they are older I am going to have to be waking them up to get out the door for school. Now adays he is waking me up! I am not sure how you can change it... but their sleep is important! I found it also worked that if they woke up early; to try to put my son down for a nap around 11 a.m... if it was any later there was a chance he wouldn't get to sleep at all! Tough for the moms! Hang in there!

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A.W.

answers from Portland on

I found a solution to the very same problem. When my daughter turned 2 we realized that the earlier the sun came up the earlier she woke. We now use the "good morning light". It's just a timer you can get at home depot that turns on a night light in her bedroom every morning at 7:30. It took a little while to 'train' her, but now she's 3 1/2 and when she wakes up before her good morning light she is able to stay in her bed and talk to her stuffed animals until the light comes on, then she joins me in bed for some cuddle time before we start our day. If you ask me, it's the best idea ever. (can't take credit, tho, it was on the Today show) good luck!

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D.M.

answers from Anchorage on

My middle does the same thing. About 5:30 she wakes up. Sunlight, activities, ect doesn't help. The only comfort I can offer is when she was about 5 she made her father teach her how to make the coffee so he would get up with her. Then she would wait until the coffee was done and go wake him up. They did learn how to have a great morning together! Until that point one of us would just move to the couch and drift in and out of sleep with a cartoon or something on. I think some just have a farmers alarm that skips generations! She now loves her time alone in the morning and uses it to get ready for the day. She checks the weather, gets ready for school, makes sure her siblings are up on time, spends time with her cat, ect. If you can't find a solution just know..There is goodness to it too!

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M.D.

answers from Seattle on

I wish I had a sugestion then simpathy. My 2 year old gets up around 6 and he is anything but tierd. All I can say is my other two grew out of it but it wasn't tell they were about 5. Hope u can get some sleep soon.

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L.S.

answers from Medford on

Hi T.
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In Health,
L.
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