Toddler Waking up Earlier than Normal

I would definitely try putting her down a little earlier tonight. My son is 2 now and generally an excellent sleeper as long as we try to stick to a regular sleep schedule. He has had these lapses in sleep patterns occasionally. I usually find better success with putting him down a little earlier to get him to sleep longer and get back on his schedule. I have had the same experience of him waking up earlier when allowing him to stay up later. Sleep begets sleep! She is definitely too young to be needing less sleep already. Best of luck!

I agree that she needs that 11-13 hour a night sleep.

At that age, or there-abouts. I kept saying at bedtime. "See you in the morning when it's bright and sunny!" So if my son woke up before the sun came up, I'd say "It's not bright and sunny yet. It's not time to wake up." I'd let him fall asleep in bed with me (husband was already at work). Or I'd walk him back to his bed.

At 3.5 he still will come into my room "Hi Mom! It's bright and sunny??" This morning he woke up so early I told him he needed to go back to sleep. He didn't, but I insisted we try. He's learning that mom is a grump when he wakes up before it's "bright and sunny." You could talk to your DD about that. "Mommy is so grumpy. It's too early. Let's cuddle and close our eyes."

That's all I got for ya. Good luck!

If my kids woke up before I had had enough sleep I would have the curl up in my bed. And that way they were cozy and would go back to sleep till it was time for me to wake up. Sometimes if they would not go back to sleep I would put on a show very quietly in my room so they where not just out in the house getting into stuff they should not. And they would stay there till I got up. My kids are 12 and 9 now and they know that it's not good to wake up mommy. If she keeps doing it move the bed time to maybe 8pm and see what happens. That was a magic time for my boys till they got older.

Good luck and God Bless!

I think it's probably either a phase or you are right that you may want to try a slightly earlier bedtime. You are spot on that going to bed later actually causes kids to wake earlier! It drives me nuts when parents do this thinking they will sleep better if they are more tired. I would try a little bit earlier of bedtime and see if this helps after a few days. If not, I would stick to your normal bedtime and wait for this phase to pass. Try not to make this early morning stuff any fun for her so she doesn't get to liking her new routine. If she's not flipping out, leave her in there to play quietly until a normal time for her. If she insists on being out of the crib, make little fuss over her and make it as boring as possible. Then at 7or whenever she's supposed to be waking - open up curtains, start smiling big, etc.

We ignore him, and he usually goes back to sleep. Can you do that?

First I would try ignoring and see if she falls back asleep. If that doesn't work- you could always just encourage her for the next couple weeks until the time change. That ALWAYS screws up kids schedules (from what I know anyway).

I know a couple sets of parents whose kids wake up at 5 every morning and they are 3 and 4. It is just crazy early but just the way some are.

aw i asked this a few weeks ago. my son was sleeping too long with his naps apparently (at first, they were 3 hrs....now i wake him after 2 hrs. 1 a day) and he'd get 12 hours at night. when i let him get 2.5 hrs at naptime, he gets 8-9 hrs at night. weird how that works.. hope putting her to bed earlier worked for ya though :)

One of my 18 month old twins started doing that a week ago. She would wake up and instead of just talking quietly in her crib, she'd started crying and eventually screaming. And then I'd have two toddlers awake. The earliest she woke up was 5 (that morning I gave her the pacifier and she went back to sleep). It went on for about a week and I kept trying to figure out what to do. Then it just stopped and now they're back to sleeping until 6:45 or later. (And the experts do say that putting them to bed later, causes them to wake up earlier - and vice versa. Put them to bed earlier and they'll sleep later. That always worked for our oldest - but not the twins.)

I would definitely suggest training her that 5am is not wake up time by ignoring her if she is happily playing in her crib. If she's unhappy, then frankly, that means she needs more sleep, and I would suggest either calming her and leaving or bringing her to your bed, whichever works for your family. Both of my boys went through phases when they woke up early, but by not allowing them to get up then, they eventually started sleeping later again. Although kids do vary in how much sleep they need, most toddlers will still need 13-16 hours total (including nap).

My daughter was the same way. She's 6 now and is still an early bird. We have to put her to bed early (about 7:30pm) in order for her to sleep until about 6-6:30am. Otherwise, like you said, the later she stays up, the earlier she wakes. She was never one to go back to sleep after she awoke the first time in the morning even if we tried to ignore her, let her watch a quiet show, lay with us, whatever. We still don't need an alarm clock - she wakes us up every morning. As long as she's getting the recommended hours of sleep for her age, she may just be an early riser. Good luck!