Hello All, I have a couple questions, my daughter recently started potty training and does perfect during the day and wears a diaper at night, she is now all of a sudden getting up at 4-530 in the morning and wants to get up. She gets on her bed and turns on the light. So here is the first question, does anyone know if they make a light switch cover so they can't turn the light on and off. Also, we have a 5 month old and I think she hears her in the middle of the night. Any suggestions on what to put in her room to distract the noise? She did get up last night at 415am and cried for 5 min wanting me to come to her door and then after 5 min got back in bed for a short time. She will not go back to sleep in our bed, she want to get up and go!! Any suggestions??
everytime she wakes up in the night take her potty and then put her back to bed and let her know that it isn't time to wake up for the day yet. Don't put her in bed with you or you will get that habit started. continue to put her back in her bed. How early is she going to bed??? How long is her nap? she may not require as much sleep as she did so you may cut her nap shorter or send her to bed a little later.
Does your 2 yr old know how to work the TV/DVD player? When mine pulls this at OMG it's too freakin' early in the morning I tell her to go watch TV...usually means that she'll be taking a nice afternoon nap (b/c she'll get really cranky). Now the flip side to actually resolving this so she sleeps another 2 hours is to get her more active...take them to the park, for afternoon walks, sign her up for dance lessons, swiming lessons...anything to get her moving and more active and you'll find her going down much faster and longer! ;)
We have one of these for each of our kids' rooms.
http://www.amazon.com/Marpac-SleepMate-980A-Electro-Mecha...
I know it is expensive, but it is FABULOUS! We don't have carpet (hardwood floors) and our house is loud. This device has given us many hours of much needed sleep.
My son started playing with the light switch around 15 months and we searched for light switch covers with no success. We ended up taking the light bulbs out of his overhead light (we have had a lamp and night light in his room since he was born, so this was a good option for us). Number two is due in 6 weeks, and we have positioned the crib AWAY from the light switch this time!
As for why she is waking so early, I agree with the other responses--check how much sleep she is getting and perhaps adjust her bedtime or naptime. I wake my 2-year old after 2 1/2 hours of napping otherwise he won't fall asleep in the evenings. As an FYI, he sleeps about 11 hours overnight and naps 2 - 2 1/2 hours at naptime. Not sure if that's average or typical, but at least gives you an idea. Best of luck!
About what to put in your 5-month-old's room so she'll sleep through older sister's noise...
We went the industrial fan route. We had to go to a hardware store because most fans say "whisper soft", which totally defeated our purpose! We also have an air filter that does a nice job. Other moms I know have found great success using a white noise machine that can also be a radio, so it has lots of functions. I think they found them at Target.
Good luck!
2 year olds need 11-12 hours of sleep a night, and one afternoon nap lasting 1-2 hours. Could she possibly be getting more sleep than she needs, causing her to be ready to get up between 4 and 5:30 in the morning? Have you tried putting her to bed later at night? Just a couple of suggestions...
Hi. She could be going through a stage of separation anxiety? I have a fan blowing (not directly onto his bed but just onto a corner in his room) for white noise - it drains out noise from outside, when someone is mowing the lawn or even drowns out when my husband is working with his tools outside. You can try and burn a cd for her with songs you sing and play that in her room, or tell her instead of turning on the light she can play with the cd player, it will keep her busy (if she knows how to use it) and she will hear your voice as you sing to her or read a story.
Just a suggestion. But the fan works wonders. The humming drowns noise, but im not sure if it will drown out baby crying...
I also recently purchased a nightlight Twilight turtle (http://www.cloudb.com/ssandf/turtle.html), it changes colors and projects moons and stars on my son's walls, so he stares at that instead of crying for me to pick him up. It seems to calm him down. Some come with an MP3 Player, so you can even record your voice on that perhaps and show her how to use it.
Its not sound sensitive, but im sure you can find something that turns on with sound that can project soft light for her. She might be scared of the dark too?
Good luck!
Good Morning Sara & Carl, Little folks sleep patterns change just like ours. Last night I tossed and turned so much, I thought I was gonna get whip lash. ;)
Re-Arrange her room to get her away from the light switch.
Put her back each time she gets up only speaking to her the first time. No honey it's still sleepy time. Next time say nothing just put her back. Like was stated already Don't put her in bed with you!!
As for your littlest princess play a soothing CD for white noise. Baby Einstein Classical Lullabies are great, have it on random repeat play.
God Bless all of you with a resolution very soon.
K. Nana of 5
the other moms are right....adjust that naptime/bedtime to accommodate this stage of development. Your big girl is growing!
As for the potty training, she may be waking because she feels the need to go potty. Eliminate most drinks in the evening (making sure she gets enough thru the day) & you may see a difference in that waking time. Good luck!
