Early Morning Waking

I went through the exact same thing w/ my(now) 17 month old daughter at that same age. I had a little rule in my own head that I was not going to get her out of bed before 6:00, so I didn't. Not that it worked any magic but I refused to get her out of her crib at 5:30 a.m.! I do think it's important to not get in the habit of engaging them so early or they will keep doing it. My daughter is still very random with her wake up times. One week it's 6:00, one week it's 7:00. I can't seem to put a finger on what causes the differences. I'm very consistant with her bedtime so I know it's not that. Honestly, I think you just have to have confidence that it is nothing that you're doing or not doing to create the early waking. Unfortunately, I think it's fairly common at these ages. Their little bodies & minds are going through so many changes, not to mention the teething! Good luck, I hope it helped to at least know that you are not alone. :-)

My 18 month old did the same thing a few months back. At the time, she was taking a 2 naps a day. We decided to get rid of the morning nap. She then napped only once a day, around noon. Once she got used to this (it took about a week) she slept until 7am. There were some cranky moments with one nap, although no more so than an early wake up!

I tell my daughter that she needs to stay in bed until the sun comes up-- and if she gets up too early- I show her that its still dark and that she needs to go back to bed till its light out- hope that helps!

Kids sleep patterns vary and will change tons of times over their toddlerhood and preschool years. Do not run to him, encourage him at night if he wakes up to go back to sleep until he sees the sunshine (harder to do in summer). My son who is 3 and a half has formed a habit of waking at 5:15am every morning to pee. It is great as he is potty trained and I don't want to discourage him, however it wakes everyone up. So our new rule is, get up go potty, be very quiet, don't flush and crawl back into bed and be still until he sees the sunshine, then it is time to get up! It has worked for the past week. Believe me there were mornings of me getting him breakfast at 5:30 in the morning and his older sister getting woken up, two tired and grumpy kids and I was so sleepy! I just told him he didn't have to go back to sleep but he was to crawl back in under his covers and be quiet until everyone else got up (he falls back to sleep EVERY time!!!). It was great as this morning nobody got woken up until 7:15!!
Good luck, he will change his patterns a bunch more times with teething, growth spurts and new milestones.... you might just want to adjust his naps on these mornings he cannot go back to sleep.

He may be going through a growth spurt. Have you tried giving him some warm milk and putting him back to sleep? My son is a great sleeper, usually goes to bed at 7pm and wakes up at 8am. Latley he has been wanting to go to bed an hour earlier and waking up at 5:30 or 6am STARVING! So I keep all the lights off, stay quiet, give him some warm milk and send him back to bed. He usually then sleeps until 8 or 9am and wakes up much happier.
I hope this helps!

Funny. My 18 month old did this this morning. I laid him back down. He did sleep about another 30 minutes and was much happier. He did fuss. A lot! So much he woke his older brother. Hang in there. If you lay him back down enough, he'll get the message. Our older son would do that. We'd tell him it was not time to be awake and lay him back down. He would fuss about 10-15 minutes, play for another 10-15 minutes and then sleep anywhere from 30-90 minutes. It was a morning ritual for a while. I just laid in bed and rested even though I couldn't go back to sleep. It is just a phase if you're consistent with not letting the morning start too early. It does help to have a lovey to say that the lovey needs more sleep. That works with our 18 month old. He wants to take care of his bear, so he'll usually lay down to "help" bear. Hang in there. You'll be getting more sleep soon if you're consistent. :)

Hi, I might try to keep him up longer than his usual time. The routine has been set(so he seems ready), but you may have to adjust it. Good luck!

Don't go in for his first waking. Make it a point not to go into his room to get him until 7. He has to learn how to go back to sleep on his own. This is a skill you can't teach him, but you can help him by leaving him alone. He may cry or scream himself back to sleep, and that's okay. It is OKAY for them to cry. It might take a week or two, but have patience and it will happen. This happened with all 4 of my kids - it was just a phase, and they had to learn how to go back to sleep. You are 27 weeks along - if you let him learn how to go back to sleep now - things will be much easier when your new one comes along. I promise you.

Hi G.,

I am a sahm with an almost 1 year old. I have found that when I put my daughter to bed later, around 8 or 9, she sleeps better through the night. Not always, not last night but is helps alot of the time. Someitmes this is difficult because she is tired and wants to go to sleep earlier but I play with her to keep her awake later. Also, if your child is teething or learning a new skill sometime this disrupts their sleep pattern(I read that on babycenter.com).

Hope this helps. Congrats on the new one to come.

my 22 month daughter went through middle of night and early morning waking around the same age as your son. for her it was hunger. i gave her a snack before bed or a glass of milk. when she woke up at 0400 i would offer her a glass of water and if that didn't do the trick i'd offer milk. i kept her in bed with the lights dimmed while she drank. it worked for her and it was a temporary situation. she started sleeping through the night again after about 2 months. i think she was just hungry. good luck.

Hi G.
My daughter is 15 months old too. She wakes up almost every morning between 4 and 5. Typically she falls back to sleep within 30-45 minutes. She then sleeps until 8:00. I make sure she's got a couple soft toys to play with or cuddle in her crib if she wakes up.

If she really cries at that early time then it's usually a diaper that needs to be changed or a quick and very quiet milk feeding. If I go into her room for any reason when I think she needs more sleep then I do so very quietly and don't engage with her so she'll hopefully understand that it's still sleep time.

Another thought is that he may be getting one of the larger molars. My daughter recently cut two on the bottom and her sleep was greatly affected by the pain. I use baby motrin and/or Hyland's Teething tablets to help with that.

If he's waking before he's "ready", then there's a reason. He may have had a nightmare, some sound outside that disturbs him, some kind of discomfort, etc. I would not ignore a childs cry. I would go in...make sure he's okay, clean, and comfortable, give him a reassuring hug and kiss, and lie him back down. It's tough that you're not getting enough sleep, but welcome to motherhood! Another 17 or so years to go and you can catch up!

Great Job getting him to bed at such a good time at night! Don't put him to bed later because it will not help him sleep better. He is going threw a normal phase of waking and I would not go in for him until atleast 7. If you have to go in, don't take him out of bed or play with him or he will always want to get up at 5! 5 is way too early and you are right to not expect him to. He should be sleeping atleast 12 hours at night.