Suggestions to Get 32 Mo Old and 15 Mo Old to Sleep past 5:30Am?

Similar issue with my 3 yo lately. We have decided to put the baby gate up (again), with access to the bathroom, for a little while to teach her that it's not getting up time until momma or papa takes down the gate. This is until she really starts recognizing numbers well and we get her a clock, then it's not getting up time until you see the hand at the 7. I've given her options too, keep books next to the bed, quiet toys, that way if she does awake before us, she'll have something to do until we get up.
Good job mommin'!

I went through a simalar phase with my daughter who is now 5, when she was 13 months. My husband works nights so I had to find a different solution of getting them to sleep until 9:00 am. It was tough, but now that I have two, what I did worked. I made their rooms dark enough so they would think it was still night time. Then everytime they woke up, I put them back. I would only say one or two words so that they went back to sleep. I also would turn on their music to help sooth them back to sleep. It has worked wonders, we still occasionally get one or both waking up to early, but we still use the same technique, although I know I will have to change everything by fall, because my 5 year old enters kindergarten and has to be at school by 8:15am. So I will have to put my children to bed earlier and figure out the whole process with a child in school. Good luck. M.

We've been dealing with this with our 22 months old lately and putting him to sleep earlier did seem to help. Another thing you might try with the 32 month old (not sure if the 15 month old would be ready for it - I know my son isn't) is plug a nightlight into a timer (like they sell for Christmas lights or when you go on vacation) and set it to go off in the morning at the time you want them to leave their rooms. Then you can tell them that before the light goes off they need to play quietly in their rooms and after the light is off they can come get you or go downstairs, etc. I read this tip in Parenting (I think) and will probably try it if this problem resurfaces when my son is older and old enough to understand what it means!

Good luck!

Really dark curtains to block the light. I'm guessing this has started now that the sun is rising earlier.
That's the only thing that worked when my son was younger (like your 15 month old). Now that he's almost 4, we explained that the sun has different bed times and wake up times than he does. So if he wakes up and it's not really, really light outside it's not his wake up time yet.

Just remember, if you are successful with any approach to get them to sleep longer in the morning you may be losing napping time during the day. Your kids only need so much sleep throughout the day and night -- so it's a trade off of when you want them to be getting that sleep.

I agree with the majority of the mom's who've posted- Your Little ones are getting 10 hours or so of sleep by the time they wake up. Gradually shift their bed times to later. I had to do this with mine when daddy started working nights. She used to go to bed at 8:30 and be up at 6 or so- worked fine when daddy was home, he was up. I, however, am NOT an early riser. Now she goes to bed at 10:30 and sleeps till almost nine :) Make sure you adjust their nap times accordingly as well, we moved ours from 11 am to 1 pm

Here's something to try - wake up 15 minutes before they usually get up and gently stir them - not fully awake, but enough to start waking up. Get them back to full sleep.

Supposedly this will get them to have another full sleep cycle. After a few times of you doing it, they should start doing it on their own.

Good luck!

honestly, some kids just wake up early - my youngest still does at age 10 - he's up by 6 nearly everyday, 6:30 at the latest, no matter how late he stays up.
So I agree with the others that you can try a later bedtime, but you just might have early rising kids!

this may sound crazy, but it works. They need an earlier bedtime. Sleep begets sleep. If you have a child that is waking up too early (and before 6:30 is generally considered to be too early) it is a problem with not being rested enough. Being too tired makes it hard to kids to get enough sleep (counter intuitive, I know!). Try an earlier bedtime for a while, and give it a chance to work. We had problems with my almost 2 year old waking up too early (around 5:45) so we moved her bedtime from between 7 and 7:30 to betwen 6:30 and 6:45. She does much better, although with it being summer, she still have some trouble (the extra light outside tends to mean that she stays awake talking to herself in her crib longer).

I would strongly suggest you pick up "Health Sleep Habit, Happy Child." its an amazing sleep book that you will use until your kids are adolescents. Good luck!

Dena,
I have a 20mo. When she was 15mo old, she started waking up in the 4am hour -- we put her to bed earlier (5:45-6pm rather than 6:30-7pm) to get her to sleep longer in the morning (to 6am) -- it worked for a few months...now we put her to bed an hour later (7pm) and she's back to waking up after 6am which is when we get up. She takes a 2hr nap b/w 12-2pm every day.

It's trial and error for some children. Sometimes an earlier bedtime works well for the younger ones -- I agree with the other mother, sleep begets sleep. And when they get older (2-3yo), they just might be getting enough or too much sleep at night and a later bedtime works. You may have to have different bedtimes for each child.
Good luck.

I would agree with the other mom that commented. Try putting them to bed by later 8:30ish. You can also try going for a walk before bed, or maybe just have an extra long bath with the both of them. Good luck getting more sleep!

Do your early birds have shades on their bedroom windows, so they don't literally wake up because of the dawn's early light? If not, you may want to fix that. Otherwise, you may have to go with the flow. It's a phase.

My older son (now grown) did that for a while, and I finally told him that if he woke up that early, he needed to stay in bed and read until somebody came to get him up. Of course, he always had a variety of books by his bed that he could "read." I'd hear his voice reading softly to the teddy bear, but he would stay in bed. Now one of his daughters is the same way, and her parents do just about the same thing.

Why do these babies who just love to wake up so early turn into teenagers who can't be removed from their beds except with crowbars??

That's funny cause my kids are the same age and doing the same thing right now. I keep hoping it's just a phase:) They are really good sleepers but they are in the same room and we had to recently put our 15 mo old in a toddler bed so I'm hoping it's just him getting used to the new bed. He seems to fall out of it at 4am no matter how small the gap is. I hope that you get some good responses to your question.
A.

I think you are putting them down to early. especially with nap time in the day. Try putting your little one down at about 8 - 8:30. Maybe shorter nap times in the day. If you think about it they are sleeping about 10 hours each night from what you have said. My kids have never slept that long whn they where little. I have a 2 year old and she normally goes down about 9:00 and she is usually up by 7.
Hope this helps...

You might try putting them to bed a bit later or cutting down on their nap time. It could work, but it also could give you kids that wake up at the same time and are grumpy through the day. Some kids are just early risers. My boys still wake up between 6 and 7 most mornings (they're 6 and 8) and it makes it a lot easier getting them ready for school.
You may also want to try going to bed a bit earlier yourself. It's easier for adults to adjust their sleep schedule than for kids, and that way you won't be so tired when they get up and want to play.

Good luck!

Is it possible to lay them down a little later at night? That may cause them to sleep in a little longer in the morning.

I have the same problem with my boys, who wake up any time from 5:30 - 7:30, but usually around 6:45. Good luck!

Make it a GREAT day!

S.