Teeth and Birds - why is she waking early?

[nsmum]

Hiya,

My DD is 20MO, she currently has ALL 4 canine/eye teeth coming through which is causing her quiet a bit of discomfort (runny  nose with it, hands  in the mouth, big red cheeks, irritable) - for the past few weeks she has been waking at 5/5.30am and as I am currently pregnant with my 2nd child I'm finding it very exhausting. Also moving into spring (Australia) it's getting light around 5.30 and the birds are quite noisy very early. I'm not sure whether it's teeth that's waking her up or the birds/light. We are starting daylight savings in a few weeks so I'm hoping things may change with this but this early wakings is taking it's toll on me. Any encouraging words or tips would be appreciated. 

Her routine the last few weeks looks something like this
5.30wakeup
11.30 - 12pm nap for around 1.5 to 2 hours (more often than not the 2 hours)
6.30/7pm bed depending on what time she wakes/how long she sleeps at lunch

[franchick]

My short answer to this is, Yes. I think it is both the teething and the birds that are waking her.

I don't really have any major words of wisdom or advice for you, I'm afraid - I always look forward to the time shifts, both spring and winter, purely for the impact on bed time / awake time (we always want it different from what it actually is - lol!).

Does your DD stay in her crib / cot / bed happily when she wakes early? Or does she shout / cry for you? If you think she might stay in her cot with some toys / drink of water / books / snack etc in the early hours, even if just for another 30 mins or so to give you a little bit more sleep, is there anything you could rig up that would help her - e.g. when you go to bed, sneak in with some toys / books / drink / snack and put it at the bottom of her bed to find in the morning?

If not, given that you are pregnant, the only other thing I can suggest is that you shift your body clock to go to bed even earlier than you currently do (which is probably quite early anyway - I remember what it felt like to be pregnant!) and forget all and any housework etc for the time being.

ou could try walk in / walk out (tiring when you are pregnant) / gradual withdrawl / double heavy duty blackout blinds / white noise etc etc, but if her teeth are waking her, then there is not an awful lot I think you can do - just make sure she has pain meds and try and get as much sleep as you can when you can.

Your DD is getting about 12.5 hours sleep in total in a 24 hour period - she can definitely survive on this much for a good few weeks / months.

Poor DD and poor you - it will get better, promise! Wishing you the best through your pregnancy. 

[KathrynK]

my dd will always wake early when she is teething- it seems when she comes into a lighter sleep around 5.30am if she is in pain it's enough to disturb her. I too hate these phases- you know it's bad when anything after 6.15am feels like you've had a proper lie in!
When we have an early waking phase I like to try to eliminate all the obvious causes to help me work out the cause.
Do you have blackout lining/ blinds in her room? I have a blackout blind, with blackout curtains over the top, and a blackout pelmet all the way round so her room is totally dark. That way if she does wake early I know it can't be due to the light mornings, there's got to be another reason.
Also I sometimes move her dinner slightly later, maybe 30 mins or so, and feed her more than usual. Quite often in the last few months she has had a little growth spurt and has needed more food and it's hunger that has woken her early.
If she's not disturbed by the light or hunger, it's bound to be the teeth- all you can do then is hang on in there and wait for them to come through. We're cutting eye teeth too at the moment, it really sucks so hugs from me to you x