Hi all
I would love it if someone could help me with my little girl! She's 14 months old and from about 10 months onwards she has woken up between 5 and 6am, usually before 5.30am and sometimes even before 5am.
I have kept a diary and monitored these things, and none of them make a difference:
- nap timing/length (she usually naps quite well, but the length does vary - she went down to one nap around 12 months and can sleep from 1hr20 - 3hrs45...the average is about 2 hours but shorter or longer naps seem to make no difference to her wake-up time)
- bedtime - I have tried bedtime at 6.15pm, 6.30pm, 6.45pm, 7.15pm, 7.30pm, 8pm (that last one was actually not a deliberate attempt on my part but due to her refusal to sleep!) - makes no difference and still she wakes early
- blackout blinds
- heating
- trying to resettle her if she wakes before 6 or at least give her some things to play with
Usually she wakes up happy and can be left until 6am - I have a rule that I won't start the day before then unless something is badly wrong. I assume if she wakes up happy, she's had enough sleep. Sometimes she wakes up crying and we try to resettle her. Sometimes this works and occasionally she will then sleep til 7.30/8.
I am not sure what is happening - she used to sleep until 6 or 6.30am and although some still consider that to be early rising, that would be OK for me. How do I get her back to that?
A typical day for her is:
Wake: 5.20am
Get dressed and have milk: 6-6.30am
Nap: 10.45(ish) to 1(ish) - it does vary a lot, though - I am not sure why
Bed: 7ish. Sometimes I try to do it earlier or if she has had a good nap, it may be a little later.
Usually she is OK going to bed, but sometimes she fights. Recently we have seen more of this after weeks of easy bedtimes. She has also been crying in the night. I am not sure why, though I can see several of her top teeth trying to break through (so far she only has 4 teeth!). Anyway, the early wake-ups seem to be unrelated to teething or indeed anything so I would love some help with this!
