Waking up Too Early!

I wouldn't touch the nap - sacred at my house! Also, overtired kids just don't sleep well.

I would put up a gate on the door to her room and tell her that if she wakes up early she can play quietly. Tell her when it's morning, you will take the gate down so that she knows when she can come get you, etc. Then get a new toy and put it in her room after she is asleep and where she will see it on her way to the door. Mr Potato Head was what we used. My almost 4 year old still asks if it's morning yet.

Is there any kind of lights waking her up ie neighbors taking dog out, cars pulling in/out of driveway? Try putting heavy curtains on her windows. My MIL found some towels that had a car print on them and we turned those into curtains. They were so thick and didnt let any light in! (My son rises with the sun in the summer=HUGE problem!) Does she "read" books? You can tell her that until mom or dad wake up read some books. If she has a small light (night light) it will make her eyes tired faster and therefor close them and sleep. We use that for when our daughter is "not tired". She is usually back to sleep within 20 minutes! No its not good for her eyes but your trying to get her to sleep, not study!
Good luck
SZ

I know we all parent differently and do what we feel is right for our child since we know them best, however, I have read many articles that say change should not happen all at once. THe new big girl bed is one thing and then taking away the security of her pacifier is another change. I would try one thing at a time. Give her back her pacifier and then at christmas time tell her that she should leave them out for santa so he can give them to the other baby boys and girls. Perhaps with the safety of one her items she will go back to sleeping better. What is a couple more months anyways?

My daughter is 3. Until a few months ago, we kept a baby gate in the doorway to her room and told her if she got up early, she could play in her room until Mommy or Daddy came to get her. We also put books in her room to encourage her to play quietly. We recently stopped using the baby gate and have been fortunate that she's only awakened once in the "wee" hours (i.e. still dark outside!) of the morning. That night when I put her down for bed, I said she needed to wait until the sun woke up the next morning before getting up. That has worked so far! Good luck! You'll find something that works well for you! (By the way, she still takes 2 hour nap.)

Moving her has NO bearing on whether she needs a nap or not. It's adjustment to the change. In addition, you need to pay attention to whether specific nutrients..calcim, magnesium, potassium and adequate amounts of hydration are being met. THESE DO make a difference in sleep w/ children AND adults. If you pay attention to what the child has eaten & when, levels of hydration, etc. I'd bet you'll see a pattern. Obviously, there's inconsistency in WHEN she's waking up anyway. Make sure there is PLENTY and I mean PLENY of physical activity, as well. THIS helps tremendously, too.

Time to shorten that afternoon nap by at least an hour. You didn't mention what time she goes to bed at night. You may need to back up that bedtime by half and hour or so. She will adjust to the new schedule. Do you leave a light on for her? Does she have soft music playing in her room?
If she throws a temper trantrum when put back in her room then tell her it is unacceptable, walk out of the room and firmly close the door behind you. Tell her she needs to stay in her room until you or daddy come to get her in the morning. It is all right to be awake and to play but not to have a temper trantrum.

I would say just keep doing what you are doing. I WOULD NOT give the pacefier back, why fight that battle more than once? Eventually she is going to realize that no matter how much she wakes up you are going to put her back to bed.
Good luck
~J.

Give her back her crib and pacifier and try again when she asks. Don't make her give up both at the same time.

I read somewhere that the earlier you put them to bed the longer they sleep. I have done that and it seems to work somewhat. My oldest wakes early no matter what. If it is too early I take her back to bed and tell her it is not time to get up yet. If she yells I tell her firmly that it is not time to get up yet and not to yell anymore. I give her one of her stuffed animals and tell her to turn over and go back to sleep. It works most of the time. On the weekends she will wake at 7 or 7:30 if it is that late I let her lay in our bed and watch tv while we sleep a little longer. I keep their rooms dark with black out drapes, they have a nite lite and sleep with music on. Both of our girls take some little toy(s) to bed with them every night, our youngest sleeps a little later most of the time and when she wakes she plays with her toys until we come and get her. We had a lot of trouble getting our oldest to sleep because she was our first and very "spoiled". Consistency is what has worked best for us. Good Luck!

Reduce/eliminate day time nap until she gets her internal clock re-set. She may not need the nap for now, but will in a week more or less. Don't bring her to your bed to encourage her to sleep longer. Good luck.

Benedryl!! Just kidding. Try limiting her afternoon nap to only 1 hour, or keeping her up just a little bit later in the evening.

Are you sure she wasn't waking up at those times before but wasn't able to get out of bed so just layed there and fell back to sleep? Now she knows there are things to do when she wakes up and no crib bars stopping her! She thinks, what fun! Our youngest son has always been an early riser, 6 am being his usual time. We made sure his room was as safe as it could possibly be and had safe toys and lots of books for him. We put a baby gate on his door and let him stay in his room, he never got hurt that i can remember. Of course, when we started potty training, we had to get up with him and let him go potty but even now that he is 6 he will play quietly and work on reading his books on weekend mornings, allowing us to sleep till 8. Our girls will do the same thing, only occasionally we have to play referee because of bickering but that isn't often.