Potty trained, now waking at 5am for good!

[tiff~b and e's mom]

My dd is 24 months, I trained her about 2 weeks ago and ever since then, she wakes up between 5-6 when she used to wake up between 7-8.  I am putting her to bed at about the same time (7-8pm) and she is napping about 2 hrs during the day usually around noon or one.  I have tried later naps, cutting the nap short, later bedtime, letting her cry, going in and putting her back down, taking her potty then trying to go back to sleep but she is totally awake at 5am!  I can tell she is tired and I am EXAUSTED.  The only thing I can think to blame it on is the potty training since it started about the same time??  I can't do this anymore, I am 6 months pregnant and I need her to be on a better schedule when the baby arrives.  I also recently moved her to a toddler bed but she slept great in that for over a month before this happened.  Now she gets out of bed and is crying at the door.  Should I put the crib back on and hope she will lay back down?  HELP!

[imsmum]

Is she falling asleep ok when you put her to bed at night? I'm just wondering if the pootty training is co-incidental because it seems like there are some wonky things that can happen with their sleep around age 2.  It seems like there is one of those sudden decreases in sleep requirement from arund 13 hours closer to 12, so if your dd gets 12 hours that may be all she needs right now.  It may also be that she needs a bit more time before her nap--it looks like she had about 5 hours before and she might need closer to 6 now.

[mari]

I have been having probs with Alex dropping off at bedtime and I put it down to naps.  I have slightly shortened them and I hope it will work.  I am not letting her sleep later than 2.15pm ( Alex is the same age as Ellie Kate, so perhaps this could be a similar problem.

There is a thread on the pottytraining board from Bubbasmama and she is having probs with her ds who wakes early for the potty and doesn't want to go back to sleep.  She has had loads of advice so check it out.

Well done to your dd for being so good with the potty.  Alex is really not interested yet, day or night.

[sue]

My son is much older (just turned 4) but when he was finally able to go without pull-ups at night, it created the same problem you describe here.  He has always gone to bed at 7pm and used to wake up at 7am.  Now he wakes up at 5am to use the washroom, then he is up for the day.  What we did with him a while ago was we put a digital clock in his room and taught him that he can come out of his room when it says 7:00.  Since he started waking to pee at 5am, we've taught him that he has to go back to bed and leave the lights out until the clock says 6:00.  At 6am, he can turn on his light and play quietly in his room until 7am.  Believe it or not, it's worked really well most mornings (and as an added bonus, he's learned some numbers! )

[mari]

Sue, that's great news.  Perhaps, as he is older, you could try a little reward to help this along, just to show how good he is when he stays in bed.  Thanks for sharing it with up.

[esthere]

I was just about to say I am on the potty training board posting every morning
Please come over, I got some amazing help and think we are sorted now (touch wood