how we fixed the VERY early wakings

[powderdeb]

Just a quick question for people who have tried this advice: which did you do first, push the nap back or keep the toddler up later?  We have tried putting our 22 month old daughter to sleep earlier (which worked for a while) and later (which worked also for a while only) but she is back to waking at 5 AM--this morning it was 4 AM!  Looking for some tips on what to try next--the later to bed and later to nap idea seems like it's worth a try.

Has anyone tried it lately and do you have advice on how to start?

Thanks!
Debbie (mom to Lucy, 22 months)

[LARA M]

hello, I'm new to this site and now very relived that I'm not the only one awake at 5.00am (prior to 3 weeks ago 6.30am..... that sounds like heaven now!!)! I'm very confused about what I should be doing when my 20 month old Ella wakes so early. She is hysterical when she wakes and trying to climb out the cot. I've tried giving her her dummy and laying her down but she's having none of it. Any ideas whether I should be letting her cry till a reasonable hour? I don't want her to start dreading bed time. She usually naps about 11am for an hour so I pushed it back today till 12.45pm as suggested in previously posted messages. I guess I'll have to wait and see. Any ideas out there?

[Carmela's Mom]

Powerdeb and Lara show me your routines, maybe I can help??? 

I am going to try this I think.  I'm still scared but I figure if it doesn't work, we can go back to our "normal" routine.  We'll see.  If I do decide to try this, I am going to do both at the same time...later nap and later bedtime.  Will keep you posted.

[LARA M]

Well, yesterday morning Ellla slept till 6.20am which was a miracle. The day before I changed her schedule to....

5.30am Awake
6.00 Milk
7.30 Breakfast
11.45 Lunch
12.45 - 2.15 Nap (she usually naps about 11.30am)
5.30 Dinner
7.30 Bed

However, I did exactly the same yesterday and she woke at 5.30am AGAIN!!! Nightmare.

[Carmela's Mom]

Is there anything that could be waking her?  I am not 100% sure on this but I think my husband getting in the shower at 5 in the morning is waking my daughter, then when she goes back to sleep its short and its more tossing/turning than real sleep.  But there really isn't anything I can do -- my husband has to shower of course. 

I am hoping one day she outgrows it.  She goes through spurts where she's ok and then spurts of this so I am just hoping one day she gets it all together!

[Swirl]

Hi Folks,
I hope I"m not jinxing myself by talking about this...BUT it was about a month ago that
my son (18mos) was waking up early 5am... I tried putting him down later but that didn't work.
So I have stuck with his normal bedtime 7:30/7:45 but I did do the wake to sleep technique and
it worked!!! It took a WHOLE week but I didn't give up and he is now FINALLY waking up at
7:15ish... (his naps are around 12:30ish-1pm for 2 hours)
So I went into his room around 4am and repositioned him in his crib. He never woke up fully but
it did change his sleep cycle. I did this for 5 days straight but I kept moving the time I went into
his room by 10 mins... 4, 4:10, 4:20...etc. Also I pushed back his breakfast so that way he wasn't
expecting to get fed right away. ((I read that tip somewhere else to not feed breakfast or a
bottle as soon as they wake up or they will set their tummy's to be fed asap.))
Don't give up. I was willing to accept 6:30am wake ups but definitely nothing before hand and it
has been FINALLY paying off.
I really hope the wake to sleep technique works!!!!
Take care,
Diana

[LARA M]

Well, I haven't heard of that one - wake to sleep. But I'll definaltely try it because the later nap doesn't seem to be making any difference. I thought there may be something waking her but there just isn't anything going on that time of the morning!! Thanks for the advice, I'll let you know.

[powderdeb]

Carmela's Mom: Thanks for the offer of help.  Lucy's schedule looks like this:

5:45 (+/- 15 minutes) Awake
6:00 Milk
7:00 Breakfast
9:00 Snack
12:15 Lunch
1-3 Nap (usually about 2 h, sometimes as short as 1.5)
4:00 Snack
6:00 Dinner
7:15 Bed

[Carmela's Mom]

Powerdeb,

Maybe try an earlier nap?  5:45-1:00 is a long time at 22 months. I'd make lunch at 11:00 or 11:30 and make nap at noon and see how it goes.  If she sleeps until 2:00, then I'd move her bedtime to 7:00 and see if that helps at all. 

If not, then my next suggestion is to move back bedtime to 7:30-7:45ish.  if she's waking at 3:00 for her nap, then she may not be that tired at 7:15 ..... but I'd do the nap first and see if that helps.

I am moving nap and bedtime back to see if it helps us.  My DD is waking at 5:30 lately and driving me crazy so we'll see how it goes.

[powderdeb]

Thanks for the advice.  We have already started pushing nap and bedtime back, so we are going to stick it out for a week or two and see how it goes.  Good luck with your little one too!  Keep me posted!

Debbie

[Carmela's Mom]

How is it going so far?  Our first night was not sucessful.  She went to bed at 8:45 but didn't fall asleep until 9:30 (though she was quiet instead of singing!) ... but she woke up at 5:55 a.m.

We too are going to stick with it and see how it goes.

[LARA M]

I've stuck to making Ella's nap time later, now about 12.30 for 1.5hours though she's pretty miserable by 11.30 as is still getting up at 5.30am. Can any advise what to do when their little ones wake that early? Do you get them up for milk or do you leave them for a while? Ella is waking sobbing so it seems cruel to let her cry.... any ideas? I've tried the toys in the cot but she's not interested.

[Carmela's Mom]

If she's sobbing, then maybe you can do WI/WO.  I don't have much experience in that as my DD wakes happy as a clam.

[Swirl]

Hi Lara M.
Try comforting her but I definitely wouldn't give her milk at that time.
She may expect milk at 5:30am all the time if you start that. Don't give
up..this happened to my lo one for almost 3 weeks but I stuck with
his normal routine but also did wake to sleep technique for 1 whole week.
Here is Anthony's schedule... again it will take at least 1 week of being
consistent (regardless of what your method is) in order to see a change.

Wakes 7:15 am (just started waking up at this time...YAHOO)
Breakfast 7:45pm
Snack (through out the morning)
Lunch 11:15am/11:30am
Nap 12:30pm and he sleeps for 2 hours
Supper around 4:45pm/5pm
Snack (yogurt,crackers...etc) around 7ish
Bedtime between 7:30-7:45pm

The early lunch is what made everything work out well. Since he used to
wake up so early (6am) he was miserable around 11:30 so I decided to
feed him his lunch and put him down.

Believe me him waking up early used to drive me crazy. It all started
when I went back to work...he must of heard me get ready. I didn't
have much of choice but to tweek his routine instead of mine.
GOOD LUCK and just be CONSISTENT!!!
Take care,
Diana

[LARA M]

Thanks for the advice! This morning she woke at 5.40am, she went to bed at 7.10pm as was so tired and keeping her up seems to make no difference what so ever to her wake up time... she's just more miserable with less sleep. Today when she cried I went in and talked to her, not getting her up but just pottering around her room clearing up for 20 mins.

I'll try the early lunch (11.30 - 12 ish). I'm petrified of doing the W2S in case I have a nightmare on my hands at 4.30am!!!

I'll keep you posted. Fingers crossed. 

P.S. Actually don't feel too tired, think I'm getting used to it.... 5 weeks now! Yuck