What is going on?!?!

[newmama12]

For a good 4 weeks now, dd (almost 19 months) has been waking early, usually between 5:30-6am. Sometimes as early at 5:15.  In those first few weeks, she was taking normal naps, 1.5 hours and sometimes even a little longer. The last 2 weeks or so, everything has gotten worse. She's still waking early, no matter what time we put her to bed and she's napping barely 1 hour a day. I am at a total loss and don't know where to go from here.

Here's a typical schedule. Maybe you can help me figure out what I'm doing wrong:

5:30-6am: wake up
6:30: I get her out of bed; she plays in her bed a good 30-40 minutes before I go get her
7:00: breakfast
7:30-9: play, get dressed
9/9:30: out and about on errands, playgroups, etc
11:15: home and lunch
11:45: in bed and napping usually by 12
1:00-1:30: wake up
1:30-5: snack, play, outside, errands
5:30: dinner
6:15: up for bath
6:45: in bed
7:00 sleeping, if we're lucky

[speechie]

What happens if you try to put her down for a nap? Is she happily playing or cranky?

[newmama12]

She's very use to one nap now, so I haven't gone back to 2. Around 10/10:30, I ask her if she wants to go night-night, and she always says no. But if I ask her again around 11:30 (after lunch) she happily says yes and goes upstairs herself. She doesn't cry when she goes for her one nap. She plays for a bit and then falls asleep. She can handle a good 5-5.5 hours, but not much more or less. She definetly will stay up much longer but she's not a happy camper.

[speechie]

hmmm- any teething issues?
seems like you have a good routine..

[newmama12]

Teething might be an issue. I think she's feeling her 2 year molars, although, I don't feel any bumps back there yet.

Last night I kept her up and she didn't get in bed till 7:30 and was asleep by 7:45p and woke at 6:30am today. I put her for nap at 11:45a and she was sleeping by noon. It's now 12:50 and she's already up. This is what I don't understand?? Why is she only napping 50 minutes?!?! Is A too long? Is A too short? It's now 1pm and we have a loooong way to go before 'normal' bedtime at 7pm.

[speechie]

GOod question! I'm not sure why she took such a short nap- anyone else w/opinions?

[newmama12]

We had another crazy night and early morning. It's gotta be the molars! I kept her up later yesterday thinking she would 'sleep in.' She went to bed at 7:30p and was sleeping at 7:45p. Woke at 3:30am and was up playing in her bed (not crying) and went back to sleep around 4:15 or so. Then she was up for the day at 5:15am! AHHH!! Not sure how the rest of the day will pan out. Unfortunately, we have a class this morning at 10:30, so she won't be doing an early nap. Ah well. Will probably be shooting for a 6:!5pm bedtime tonight.

[speechie]

Hugs- yucky night ,
We;re teething too- rough night w/Nick up about 3 times crying despite a dose of Motrin- looks like his lateral incisor is getting close to breaking through.
You may need to pour on the pain relief to get some sleep!

[traceyg24]

My almost 21 month old DS suddenly started doing this about a little over a week ago now. Can't figure it out. His naps have suddenly shortened and he's getting up between 5:00-5:30 a.m. I posted routine and details in the support chat thread about early wakings if you want to check it out. I can't figure it out either and I'm due any day with our second and don't want to be dealing with this right now!! The big drawback for us is he is now in a toddler bed so he can get out when he gets up. Before, when he was in his crib, he would sit in there and play without crying or whining to get out at all and sometimes would go back to sleep. Now he wants to stay up.

[speechie]

Hi traceyg- is your LO dropping his nap? I sometimes wonder if that is what happens around that age. Is he cranky or happy despite less sleep?