Support and Chat thread for parents of Early Waking Toddlers #2

[ashtayla]

Ok I thought my daughter was been woken by her Dad with his morning shower or alarm (good ears 2 rooms away) but she has beaten all of this for a week now( she had been doing it every so often, day here and day there) and I am over it . She has been waking as happy as singing this morning at 5.15 after been put to bed at 7.05 and her day sleeps are normally Wednesday and Fridays at childcare 1hr/10min -1hr/40min @12.30ish all other days normally 1hr45 - 2hrs max @1pm
She is 23months and we have had some trouble with sleep but had been good for awhile. The earlier starts are getting earlier and earlier I think she has gone past 7 twice in the last 18 months normally 6- 6.30 which I can cope with. She does well with 6.30 wake 2hr @ 1 and sleep @ night 7-7.30. I have tried to get her down early but I work and we dont get home from child care till 6.30 so bath and wind down it is some times hard to get it done by 7.20 I try to keep the work/child care days the same as home days and otherwise Dad won't see his little girl much at all.
Any ideas will be welcome. have given her a pillow and doona and she likes been tucked in firm?

[katakow2]

ashtayla-
Maybe it's time to cut that nap a little shorter everyday-- Is there a pattern of EW on longer nap days? 

[EloysH]

I might be wrong but I think for a 2 year old the bedtime should be more towards 7:30 or 8pm. Or maybe the nap must be cut shorter?  My theory is that maybe she doesn't need so much sleep and hence the EW.

[smo71]

My 15-month old has woke at 430am for the last 4 nights in a row, regardless of whether he took 1 or 2 naps during the day and regardless of the time he went to sleep.

If I go in and walk out he gets more angry. I usually give him some milk and he goes right back to sleep. Sometimes he's so sleepy he almost falls asleep on my lap after the milk.

Could it be a growth spurt? Any ideas on how to get him to sleep 12 hours consecutively? He's in such a better mood when he's slept 11-12 hours.

[anna*]

Our EWs aren't as early as some on here, but I'm still trying to get our mornings a little later (they're currently anywhere from 5.15-6.30). I'm doing is pushing the morning nap half an hour later (to 12.30) and pushing bedtime half an hour later too (to 7.30). We're on day 2.

Smo, we had a few EWs from hunger, it was on days when Stan had been at nursery and they do the afternoon meal earlier than we would have it at home, and he was just so hungry by 4.30am. So on those days, now I give him a nice filling snack about half an hour before bed, maybe some toast and cream cheese, or a scrambled egg. Is that something you could try?

[EloysH]

smo71: what does your routine look like?  HOw old is your LO?

    I have had good success with pushing our one nap and bedtime later for our 16 month old. We've been doing it for nearly two weeks and we've come from 5:30am wakings to 6:00 - 6:45 am wakings. Two days we had 5:45am.

[anna*]

This morning was 6.45, the latest for a long time!

[Melsy]

Lucky you Anna!!!!  Could Stan come and have a chat to my Aidan please?!     He was 5.25am today.   

Mel

[anna*]

Argh. 4.20am this morning. 4.20!!! 

That's just ridiculous, that's 9 hours night time sleep. He slept two hours for his nap yesterday. I did WIWO for two hours - he kept sounding like he was going to sleep but didn't. I gave up and BFed at 6.30 and of course fell straight to sleep. I let him doze for 30 mins. DH has dropped him at nursery this morning, I've no idea what they'll do with his naps, I can't see him being able to last til 12.

*heavy sigh*

more coffee...

[Melsy]

I feel your pain Anna.  We have had 4.20am mornings too.     Today was 5.08am.   

Mel

[anna*]

(((((hugs))))) Melsy oh my the early mornings are tough.

Yesterday he had only 10.5hours sleep for the whole 24 hours. I've been trying to do a later bedtime but did 7pm yesterday. Had a NW at 12.30am for half an hour but then he slept til 6.30 which is not too bad and at least means he got a reasonable amount of sleep last night.

[katakow2]

We've been battling EW's for many, many months with now 13 mo ds.  The things that have worked for us are what EloysH and Anna are doing... pushing that first nap back and pushing bedtime back.  We're at a 8-8:15pm bedtime now and since my lo only seems to do 10 hrs at night (except on the very rare occassion, we get 10.5 hrs or something crazy- lol- like that!!), that puts us at a 6-6:15am wake-up.  If I push bedtime later (and our day), he will sleep in later too (although I don't go past 8:30 pm- just seems way too late to me).  I'm still playing around with the times to see if he'll do anymore than 10 hrs at night, but for now, this seems to be it!  Hope that helps!  Sara

[Sima]

Hi, my lo is 26 months and very sensitive to OT.
Can't seem to get schedule right...continually EW if OT. 
Problem is naps are 1 hour max, rarely 2.  If she sleep 2 hours, then cut down night sleep and wakes up even earlier!
Wake up  5.30
Nap 11.45-1
Bedtime 6.30

Should I go by A times or btc to avoid EW.
It seems that if I put her to bed later..eventually it backfire and she wakes up even earlier.  I have tried to do it by increments..very slowly.  Any thoughts? 

[Reubensmama]

Hi there... our little boy is 17 and half months and has always been a great sleeper. But, recently he periodically wakes around 5am and just won't re-settle. This morning he woke at 5.15, I left him for a bout 20 mins whilst he grizzled, but then went in to re-settle him at 5.40. He started to get in to a complete state so I tried the controlled crying. OMG. He cried hysterically until I eventually had to get him up at 7.00am. We couldn't take it any longer. Now he is up and I guess its wake time, which is fine, but not because we have all been awake since 5.15AM. I am fearing tomorrow morning... do we try controlled crying again and hope he won't cry for as long and actually go back to sleep.

Any suggestions... please??

[EloysH]

Sima,      I have been stuck in that EW cycle, like yours. Your LO is obviously getting a great night sleep, 11 hours straight its just all at the wrong times! I would suggest that at her age her nap needs to be at 1pm and the bedtime more like 7:30pm-  8pm. I think the only way to stop the EW is to begrudgingly move her nap and bedtime later in small increments day by day.. and deal with the OT as it comes.  If she wakes eaerly just keep her up until the alter nap time and bedtime.  If OT gets too bad give the occassional early bedtime, but I would wait a few days to see if she wlil adjust her OT by either sleeping in or taking longer naps.

We were stuck in a similar routine and now enjoying blissful 7am wake-ups I just moved everything an hour later over 2 weeks and presto! He did wake early a couple of days but after a while his clock adjusted and he started sleeping in.

Reubensmama: What is his routine like? How many hours is he getting at night? If it is a good nights sleep then maybe he's genuinely had enough sleep?  Is he teething?  That can be the cause alot of the time.  What's his nap time how long does he nap for?