2 Year Old Waking Very Early

Updated on January 28, 2008
L.B. asks from Sacramento, CA
22 answers

My son is 23 months and what I thought was a phase has now been going on for some time. He goes to sleep at 7:45 pm in his crib and sleeps soundly until 4:00 am when he starts crying and saying "get out". We started going in and telling him Mr. Sunshine is not up and it's too early. This would get us another 10 minutes of sleep. We don't go in now and he'll cry for 6-10 mintues and then go back to sleep for another 10 minutes. Needless to say, the mornings are restless and we get him out at 6:00 am and he's tired by 9:00am. Oh, we do our best to entertain him abd keep him going until his one nap at 11:00 - 1:00. Should he go to bed earlier/later? How can we get him to sleep soundly until 6:00am?

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So What Happened?

We have gotten past the ugly-phase of early waking and screaming throughout the night. Here are the changes we made: 1. We got him to nap after lunch (12:30-1:00 naptime). 2. We put a soft light on a digital timer (it doesn't click when it turns on) and made it very clear we will not come in to get him until the light is on. This seems to work well. In fact we have already moved it from 6:00 am to 6:15am. Needless to say we are all much happier and better rested. Thanks for all the great advice and good luck to others that are in the same boat!

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L.H.

answers from San Francisco on

Hi. That was a problem with both of my girls for a while. I put a couple of books and one or two toys in their cribs after they fell asleep so that they had something to do when they woke up that early. I also used nightlights so they could see in the AM. After a couple of weeks, this definitely seemed to help. I would hear them wake and play for a while (sometimes as long as 30 mins), cry out to me (I would not go in unless it got out of control), and then eventually go back to sleep. I also take the approach of explaining everything to kids- from a very young age- just assuming they understand you. So, tell him at bedtime that mommy and daddy are tired and need their sleep and that he needs to stay in bed until Mr. Sunshine is up, and that you will put some toys in his crib to play with in the morning if he wakes before Mr. Sunshine and mommy and daddy. Hope this works!

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L.C.

answers from San Francisco on

Sleep cycles will continuously change with age and environment. Experiement by taking shorter naps and going to bed maybe 30 mins later. The downside is a child who is tired and grumpy. My son will fight sleep when over-tired. What we've learned works for him is teaching him to amuse and play by himself quitely. Sometimes he gets bored and falls back to sleep by himself. Good luck!

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W.S.

answers from San Francisco on

How long has be been doing this? He might actually be overtired, I know my kids when they are overtired, they wake more regularly. I would think, if you stayed strong and kept not going in, he might learn not to wake up anymore, or at least cry out. Also, have you tried giving him an early morning nap and then a afternoon nap? Just for a few days so he's not so overtired? Just a thought.
Love,
W.

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S.M.

answers from San Francisco on

Hi L.,

All those who have recommended an earlier bedtime are right on target for your son at his age. Read the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr Marc Weissbluth and he explains it very well. It helped us SO MUCH when my daughter was a baby to know more what to expect and what to do at different ages and stages (still helps!). A later bedtime usually tends to make for worse sleeping overall (especially over time) and for a not-very-well-rested child. The point isn't to exhaust your child so they pass out asleep! :) Better sleep and more sleep tends to make a child (or even an adult) sleep better and longer at nights. My daughter tends to be an early riser (not 4 am though!) so I know how that can be.

Oh, one more thing - it would probably help if you could transition his napping time to just after lunch ... that can be hard when he is waking up far too early, I know, but it will be easier once he gets settled in that routine.

Best of luck in helping settle your son into a good sleeping routine so ALL of you can get good rest!

S.

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H.S.

answers from San Francisco on

Try putting him to bed earlier- like 7. It seems crazy, but it worked with our daughter. She still wakes early (6), but it's better than 4!

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M.L.

answers from Redding on

I would try putting him to bed later like at 8:30- 9:00. It may also be that you just have an early bird. Try putting some quiet toys in the crib for him to play with while he is waiting for you to wake up. I often find my son has woke before me and he is sitting in bed looking at books.

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S.S.

answers from San Francisco on

hi L.! my 22 month old started doing that (she'd been sleeping from 6pm - 6:30am but suddenly started getting up SUPER early - now we keep her up later, around 7:30pm she goes down and usually sleeps until 6:30am (though she gets up a few times in the night now, i don't know why! i just tuck her back in) - so i would try keeping him up a bit later every night 'til you've moved his bedtime back (maybe even just a half hour will do the trick) this will work nicely when it's staying lighter later in the day, too, as we move from winter to spring/summer - anyhow, good luck! it seems that just when they've got a schedule down, it transitions again and we're all topsy turvy once more :) cheers!

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J.B.

answers from San Francisco on

I would definitely try putting him to sleep earlier- like by 7:00 at the latest. My kids have always done better erring on the side of more sleep, not less. I would also then try to make his afternoon nap consistently around 12:30 to 1:00 and try not to vary the time too much. Also, you will probably have to "ignore" the 4:00am wakeup until he learns to put himself back down by himself in those light sleep hours. Good luck!

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D.F.

answers from Stockton on

my girls bed time is 9pm, no if's, and's, or butt's about it, sounds like your putting him to bed too early, try putting him to bed around 9 or as late as ten pm. the later he goes to bed, the longer he will sleep, like i said my girls bed time is 9pm and they wake between 6 and 7am, and sleep through the night.

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L.L.

answers from Sacramento on

My advice is to not let him go to sleep at 7:45PM if you want a good night sleep. Your son is using that time as a power nap. Try keeping him awake until it's your bedtime. For instance, if your bedtime is 11:00PM then have that be his. At least this way, you will get more sleep and he will be sleeping longer through the normal sleeping hours. Try this out for one week and see if it works.

Hang in there, you're doing great because you care.

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D.F.

answers from Redding on

Hi L.,

Every child is different. With my daughter who is close to the same age, because of my husbands work schedule we opted for her to be up later. She goes to bed at 9PM and wakes by 8-8:30. She has a nap at 12 or 12:30 ish and wakes up around 2:30 or 3:00 pm. She is like clock work. Does your child have a bottle or snack before going to bed. Because sometimes one of the reason they wake is because they are hungry. You might try a glass of milk before bed(warm or cold). Our daughter is a very healthy little girl but if our schedule changes out of the routine it takes a couple of days to get back on schedule. Hope this works. Find your schedule that works for you two.
Blessings~!

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T.E.

answers from Redding on

My son is only 7 months old, but we found that putting him down earlier works for getting him to sleep longer. One of the books I read said to try putting them down 15 minutes earlier each night to see if it works. If it does then great I guess you have your answer. Hope that helps.

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C.D.

answers from San Francisco on

try putting him to bed at 8:30, and see what happens. it will take one to 3 weeks to see any type of change.

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R.G.

answers from San Francisco on

First, he needs to get out of that crib. You are lucky he hasn't had any falling accidents yet. Put mattress on the floor for awhile and then to twin bed when he is ready (couple of years)for it always with a rail till he is about 7-8 years old. Don't do the toddler bed thing. Waste of money. With this new mattress on the floor big boy responsibility he is to stay in his room if he wakes up. 6am is good. Nothing wrong with baby gate on door. He might climb it but oh well. He also is going to bed too early for his age. Keep him up, nap no later than 2pm. Do some bouncing around at 7pm. Cook together in the kitchen, make a big mess with bathtub crayons, or something he gets excited about. Start routine around 8pm, teeth, reading, bath etc. Otherwise, drug him with benadryl at night and do it for three consecutive days to re-set his clock. Can't hurt. This too shall pass.
Good luck.

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A.S.

answers from Sacramento on

Hi L.~ I would definately try keeping him up later at night. Maybe until 9 or even 10pm and see if that helps him get used to sleeping in. Once he is used to sleeping later than you can cut his bed time back to an earlier time and see what happens. But a two year old still needs a lot of sleep...I beleive it's like 14 hours a day or something close to that.
Good luck~ A.

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J.M.

answers from Sacramento on

If he still naps during the day and goes to bed at 7;45 he probably could stay up later. Try it and see if he sleeps till 6:00. Another thought on that is does he wake up hungry, because a nice bowl of cereal about 7pm could help as well....he is a boy!!

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T.G.

answers from San Francisco on

Try an earlier bed time, and not even going in to the room until 6 am...that worked for us. Good luck.

T. G.

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K.L.

answers from San Francisco on

My two year old was a VERY early waker until we extended her bedtime to 8 or 8:30 - we've discovered that she still wakes up at 6:30 regardless of what time we put her to bed, but at least its not 5 am like it used to be. Perhaps he is waking up early because his diaper is very wet, or he is hungry: we use huggies Nite Time diapers for her at night, and they are super absorbent, so she never wakes herself early because of being wet and cold. If she eats dinner early, we always are sure to give her a small healthy snack before bed so, again, she isn't prompted to wake up early because of a hungry tummy.
Now, she is still an early riser, and also tired by 9 or 10 am, so I just adjusted her nap so that she just takes one long morning one from 10-12 or 10-1pm. Try messing around with his sleep/nap schedule a little, and see what works.
Good luck

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S.K.

answers from Sacramento on

My daughter was doing that for a while. I finally decided that she needed to go to bed later. She goes to bed now at about 8:30, but usually sits in her bed looking at books until about nine. Then she generally wakes up between 7:30 and 8am. There are still mornings where she wakes in the night for some strange reason, but it's only every once in a while.

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F.M.

answers from San Francisco on

Hi L.,

One of my son's did the same thing. He is now 7 and is still and early riser. I put a clock in his room and told him that he had to stay in bed until the clock says 6:00 or 7:00 or whatever you choose. Ir worked for him. It was also important that we did not let him come to bed with us or he would not stay in bed and test us really hard to see if he could come in bed with us.

Felecia

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T.W.

answers from San Francisco on

Try putting him to bed a little bit later. Cause my son Ashton used to do the same thing. Now he does great on the time he gets up.

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M.T.

answers from San Francisco on

Try putting him to sleep earlier. I find that our daughters sleep better when they go to bed earlier. They are in bed at 7pm and they get up at 7am. If we get them to bed late, they don't get up later, they tend to get up earlier. Another factor is temperature. Our younger daughter will get up earlier if she has kicked off her blanket or comforter and she is cold. We try to prevent that by dressing her in light pajamas so she will not get warm and kick off her blankets. Good luck!

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