wake to sleep.Anyone done it?

[cazza92]

Hello
My daughter who is eighteen months has always been an early riser. Normally 5.00 to 5.30 when teeth are comming and 6.00 on a good day! was wondering about wake to sleep. Has anyone done it? was it successful?
Megan goes to bed at seven at night and has a two hour sleep after lunch.

Also should i move her bedtime to 7.30 pm? really feel that i can cannot cut nap as i need to sleep as well as she was up at 4.30 this morning!!!! and 4.15 yesterday so very tired! any help would be really appreciated as i am feeling desperate!
thankyou

[Layla]

I don't think you should cut the nap either. What time is the nap? Waking up early can be from overtiredness, although it is very common for toddlers to go through 5am wake-ups. Generally you don't want her to be awake for more than 5.5hrs of wake up time. Does she act tired during the day?

What do you do when is up that early? I would do wi/wo until the time you want her to wake up. Not sure if you feed her as soon as she is up, but if you do, I would cut that out as well as it can set their tummies on "breakfast" mode at 5am.

Does she sleep well at night? I wouldn't push the bedtime. That can and usually backfires and she will wake up even earlier and will have restless sleep at night.

Layla

[cazza92]

Thanks for your reply. Normally awake for a least 6 hours before nap. When she wakes early i normally leave her if she is just chattering to herself untill she starts to get moan then i give her a beaker of milk in the cot and give her some books to look at whilst i catch five minets in bed! then i get up when she starts to cry and not play.

She has done this since birth. We are used to six am starts but when she teeths it gets earlier and thats the killer! and recently its been really early. maybe we just have to live with it?!

[Layla]

Hhhmm you would generally do w2s if its habitual but if she is waking earlier and earlier then thats a sign of overtiredness. If she is teething thou, have you tried giving her anything to ease the pain. Sorry I did say do wi/wo in the morning but if she is teething then you might have to wait it out and then do wi/wo in the morning.

I'm going to ask that this post is moved to "sleeping for toddlers"- I personally haven't done w2s on a toddler but I am sure someone there will be able to give you more info on that.