14 Montrh Old Waking at 5Am, Used to Sleep Til 6:30Am?

I believe it's time you switch her to one nap a day. As for the 5 am wakings.... until she gets used to her one nap a day, you may have to get used to her waking up at 5 am; so sorry. My oldest would wake at 5 am at 9 months, i would give him a bottle and then give him a soft toy to play with until i was ready to get up at 7. That seemed to work for me and he wouldnt' lay in his crib and cry. Good luck to you!

My son is 16 months and his schedule started getting screwy aroung that time I had to start pushing back his bed time.

I fully believe the same advice that your first responder offered. At 14 months old, they are starting the toddler stage. You were lucky to be able to squeeze 2 naps at 12 mo old. Either limit her sleep time per nap minus 30 min. and start waking her up after 30-1hr, she will probably stop waking up so early during her night long sleep. Baby's bodies know when they've had too much sleep.Good Luck!!

My son did this when we had a time change and then when the time change went back, he went back to sleeping a solid 12 hours a night. It was a rough go though... getting up that early is the pits! It could be a "phase" as people like to say. Possibly a growth spurt? I was ready to pull my hair out when this was happening, I hope Gwen will get back into a better sleeping pattern SOON for you!

She may be ready to drop that morning nap. Try keeping her up until a little after lunch before putting her down and see how it goes. If you are going to try and cut out that nap, also try putting her to bed earlier. If you have ever read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, the author suggests that if you want your baby to sleep longer in the morning, then put them down at an earlier bedtime. Worked for my son... He is 17 mos, goes to bed at 7:00 or 7:30 and sleeps until around 8:00 or 8:30 a.m.
Good luck!

My kids are all grown now but I have 2 ideas you could try.
#1. Try keeping her up for about an hour longer at night or
#2. I fed mine a little baby cereal right before bedtime and they always slept all night. (None of them turned out obese)
Good~Luck!!! C. S.

Is she teething? My son, who is also 14 months old, goes through this sometimes. I find it gets worse when he starts teething. My times go on for a few days and then go away. Hopefully, you will get relief soon too.

A. R.

According to Happy Baby, Happy Family (I THINK that is the name of the book) the doctor states, and I can attest to this, put your little one to bed earlier. Sounds crazy, but it works!

I have a 2yr old and when he was waking up earlier than the norm I tried to focus on making sure he was full enough before bed (maybe an extra snack before bed)and played enough (had some tumble time with dad). That seemed to make a difference. Good Luck! I know I'm thankful for every mintue they sleep in!!

I was having the same problem and I started with one nap a day and now my little one sleeps until 7a.m. every morning. Try the one nap and see if that helps her sleeping patterns. I usually put my little on down around 11:30 - 12:30 and he will sleep for 2 hours and then bed time is usally around 7:30 - 8:00. He will sleep through the night. I hope this helps.
S. L.

I experienced a similar pattern from my son around the same age. His afternoon nap was getting shorter and he was waking up earlier so I decided it was time to drop the morning nap. It took 1-2 weeks for him to adjust but after that he went back to a 2+ hour afternoon nap and 6:30/7am wake-up. Good luck!

I think it's time to switch to one nap. Both of my kids changed around 12 months to one nap. I just moved back the morning nap gradually to around 12:00-12:30. It took a few weeks to a month.....just dropping the morning nap was hard. I put them bed about 15 minutes later each day and that way they didn't notice so much. Each child is different, yours may adjust better.........this is just a suggestion. I also fed them a snack before nap too. Once it reached 12:30, I fed them lunch first. Good Luck!

Hi S.,

From my experience, as a childcare teacher and a mother of a 20 month old daughter, the best thing to do is to cut down the naps. For her age, it is best to have one nap, usually after lunch, for about two hours. That will give her enough rest to have energy during the day to play and grow. Before bed, give her a warm bath. Baths usually help wind them down after a long day of playing. I wouldn't give her anything to eat after dinner because that's starting a habit you don't want her to have. As she gets older she will expect something to eat before bed and even for us it's not good to eat before bed because you're not burning the calories. Before a year old, yeah, it's ok to give them a bottle with or without cereal before bed, but as they become toddlers you're only asking for trouble in the long run. The best thing is to ber persistent and not give in. Once you start a good routine, she will eventually get used to it and you both should be happier in the long run. Good luck with everything. I wish you the best. Becka/Sneads Ferry, NC

Hi! I too have a 14 month old daughter. She has been having only one nap for 4-5 months now. Perhaps you can try to move her nap time to the mid afternoon. Mine used to nap around 10am when she started her first nap but I kept moving it forward a half hour at a time every week or two. Now she's up between 6-7am, we do tons of stuff in the morning hours to keep her busy and stimulated, we have lunch around 11:45-12:00, then she winds down for a half hour (needs to poop before she goes down) and then in bed for a nap around 1pm. She will usually sleep for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. She goes to bed around 7:30. This seems to work well for us. But I really think if you get her to nap once a day that should help. Also, mine does wake up from time to time in the earlier morning and I let her cry, usually it's a winey cry not hysterical cry. I wait out winey cries. If it persists more than 5 straight minutes, I get her. Good luck, hope this helps!

Sometimes changes in sleep patterns are caused by growth spurts, or a disruption in the family routine elsewhere. If you don't think this is the case, I would definitely try cutting out one nap or maybe shortening both. I have 3 children and each of them have their own "sleep personalities", and each time around I had to discover what worked best for them. Remember, if you experiment with her naps and it doesn't work out, you are no worse off than you were before. Good luck!

I wouldn't recommend moving to one nap a day, once you take a nap away it's gone. I would try an extra feeding/snack before bed and perhaps even feeding at the 5:00 time if after 5-10mins she hasn't gone back to sleep or does not stay asleep and then putting her right back down. I have had success that way with my one yr old and if I do have to do the morning feeding, he ends up sleeping another 2 hours or 3 hours and still takes his 2 naps and goes to bed fine.

--L. mother of 6 little blessings 9,7,6,5,4,and 1

As the mom of a 14 month old boy who has never really slept well, my vote is to go down to one nap. My daughter, now 3 1/2 was a wonderful sleeper, day and night from 7 weeks on, went down to one nap at that age as well. Her one nap combined may be almost as long as the two together but she'll have a longer wake period between sleep times then. I wish you luck and patience!
L. K.

Honestly, it's probably just going to take a little trial and error.

First, don't feel bad about letting her cry a little bit in the morning. It's EXTREMELY hard to listen to, but it's necessary. You know there's nothing wrong with her, and you know she's just trying to get your attention. But you are still the mommy and still in charge.

Next, try letting her stay up a little later, cutting her evening nap down, or a combination of the two to see what works. Give each one about a week, a little time to let her adapt to the change.

Each child is different and will require different things. But don't feel bad about experimenting with your daughter. We've all had to do it. God bless, and good luck!

S., it sounds to me like she's getting too much sleep. Try taking the first nap away and only giving her a long nap after she eats lunch. My oldest son was the same way and he is now 15, and one nap a day at 14 months was enough for him. And if that doesn't work, put her to bed later, she may be more tired and go back to sleeping later again. And it may just come down to her just not needing as much sleep as most babies do. My son was never one to need alot of sleep, even to this day. On the other hand though, my 2 girls, now 11 and 7 needed alot of rest as babies, and still do. Another possibility may be that she is waking up hungry, if you don't already, give her a snack around 7-8 o'clock and put her to bed between 9-10 o'clock. It's trial and error, try something for a week and go from there.

A little about me, A., Statesville NC full time working mom of 3, Deven 15, Carolyn 11 and Elyssa 7.

my son also did this for a few days during the week of christmas, but he had been sick with a cold right before that and i thought maybe that messed him up. he is 16 months now and back to "normal". i just had to let him cry for a few minutes and after about 2 days of that he went back to sleeping normally, he is also now down to 1 nap a day, so maybe that also helps. you may want to try that. he is usually up around 7 and naps around noon for usually 2 hours, sometimes a little more. then to bed at 8pm. good luck, i know how hard it is to have to be up at 5am!

I really think you need to drop the morning nap. It is pretty unusual for a 14 mo old to still be taking a morning nap. Sounds like she is just getting too much sleep during the day so she is waking up an hour early because she doesn't need so much sleep any more. Usually, my kids (I am Mom to 8 and foster mom to MANY more infants) drop that AM nap around 10 mo or so. Anyway, you could give it a shot and see what happens. I bet wtihout the morning nap, she would be sleeping a good 12 hours at night. At least that is what my kids do. Nap from 12:30 to 3:00 in the afternoon and then sleep 7p to 7 a.

Hope this helps
N.