Early waking

[frzgrl2008]

DD is 14 months and not sure if she sleeps enough. We put her to bed at 7:30 and she wakes up between 4:00 and 5:30 in the morning. Her diaper will be really wet but won't be leaking. We've put her in night time diapers but it doesn't seem to help.

When she wakes, she is still tired. We change her diaper and then spend about 20 minutes getting her back to sleep. Then she will maybe nap for an hour or two. It's better than getting up at 2 or 3 but still a tiring process. But I am not ready to let her be "up" at 4:00.

She get a nap at day care that is 2-3 hours long. We have tried letting her CIO in the am and she will just scream for hours. That is when we started changing her diaper.

Any ideas? I saw a post from a few weeks ago that some kids go to bed before 7:00. I think I am too scared to try that - she might wake up at 3:00. Plus, she'd get dinner and milk right before bed.

[SnuggleBuggles]

We have a later bedtime (9-9:30) so I know he isn't ready to wake up that early. But, I still wouldn't want a 4-5am wake up with a 7:30 bedtime. We would tell ds it was the middle of the night and pt him back to bed. Limited talking, no lights on, very minimal interaction so he didn't get used to the idea that it could be social time. He has some toys in his crib (Rain Forest one, a busy box and various plush with pull string music) so he is pretty good about playing himself back to sleep if he is in the mood to play before we are ready for him to be up. Just sharing some things that seem to have worked here. Oh, and we give him a sippy cup of water. I guess back at 14m I was still nursing him if he woke up. Hmmm...well, of you aren't nursing maybe one of those other ideas could work. :)

Beth

[Clarity]

Both of my kids have always woke between 4a.m. and 5a.m., my girls both nursed then, then would fall back to sleep. I typically put them in bed with me if they wake at any point after 4a.m. They usually fall back to sleep beside me. Once dd1 got older and sleeping longer, this was no longer necessary. DD2 is almost 14months and sleeps next to me for a bit every morning.

[slworld]

I saw a post from a few weeks ago that some kids go to bed before 7:00. I think I am too scared to try that - she might wake up at 3:00. Plus, she'd get dinner and milk right before bed.

I have also read that sleep begets sleep so you could probabaly try an earlier bedtime if you want. You could always go back to the usual time if she really ends up waking up earlier.


Her diaper will be really wet but won't be leaking. We've put her in night time diapers but it doesn't seem to help.


So do you think she is waking up at that time because of the wet diaper? Could you maybe do a diaper change right before you go to bed. I do realize that nobody wants to wake up a sleeping baby, but I am wondering if a wet diaper is waking her up maybe a diaper change at that time may help. It maybe easier to get her back to sleep at that time I would think.

[hillview]

I wouldn't put to bed later. In my experience, there is no change in wake time. It is a phase. If DC can stay in crib without crying etc I'd leave DC in there. We have also done the take them into bed with you which at that age works sometimes to go back to sleep. Finally agree with pp that changing diaper before bed might be something to try.
/hillary

[lchang25000]

DS also goes to sleep between 9-9:30pm and will sleep for 9 hours only. We've tried putting him to bed earlier, but he still wakes up 9 hours later. Early to bed, late to rise does not hold true for everyone. You can try it and see what happens.

[arivecchi]

My 9 month old gets up at 6:00-6:30 regardless of the time he goes to bed (usually around 7:30). He is just an early riser. If he wakes up before 6, we give him a pacifier and leave him in the crib. He usually falls asleep again and wakes at 6:30.

[truly scrumptious]

Her diaper will be really wet but won't be leaking. We've put her in night time diapers but it doesn't seem to help.

We had this issue with DS waking up because he was wet. We realized that if we changed him around 10:30/11 (before we went to bed) he'd go back to sleep very easily, and stay asleep longer. When he'd wake up around 4/5, he was just much harder to get back to sleep. I second a PP's suggestion about changing her again just before you go to bed. (Even if you spend 20 minutes getting her back to sleep - and you probably won't - it'll be better than spending 20 minutes at 4 a.m.)


I saw a post from a few weeks ago that some kids go to bed before 7:00. I think I am too scared to try that - she might wake up at 3:00. Plus, she'd get dinner and milk right before bed.

BTDT. Again, I second what a PP said about sleep begets sleep. Try putting her bed 15/20 minutes earlier for three days. If she sleeps any longer, then you are moving in the right direction. Move 15/20 minutes earlier again for three days, etc. It'll be trial and error for a week or two, but it'll help you find the ideal time to put her to bed so that she wakes up at the time you are aiming for. We did this with DS, and just fed him a little earlier and put him down. It worked wonders. He is also 14 months and currently sleeps from 7 - 6:30/7 every night. At that age they can easily go 12 hours without eating (while asleep), so don't worry that feeding her earlier will make her wake up earlier/hungrier.

ETA: DS knows that if he wakes earlier than 6:30, no one is going to come in his room, so sometimes if he wakes up early he'll talk to himself for a few minutes and go back to sleep.