17 Mo. Old Not Sleeping past 5AM

My daughter was just the same. When she was 11 months old she thought 4 am was wakeup time and wanted to go to bed by 5 pm! Oh, how I remember! What I did was change her bedtime by 10 minutes each night. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it worked. I made a schedule and each day backed up bedtime from 5 pm to 5:10 pm to 5:20 pm, etc. We ended at 6:30 pm and she would wake up at 6 am. She's 4 years old now and still goes to bed between 6:30 and 7 pm and gets up between 6 and 6:30 am. I love it because it gives my husband and I adult time every night!!!!! Also, we have no problems getting ready for preschool because we are up in plenty of time! hope this helps!

is it light? my son has started getting up earlier again due to light. if so, put a blanket or towels over the windows.

is she wet? as she gets older she may become unhappy with wearing a diaper after its full. some kids sleep through it others not so.

does she have teeth coming in? whenever teeth have been an issue the sleep patters seem to change. tylanol before bed could fix this.

my son stopped all naps at 18 months. he would go to sleep between 7-8 and sleep to 10-11 the next morning. at first it was major cranky, but he settled into his own schedule.

It seems you have two choices - 1. let your daughter set her schedule and rearrange everything in your life around it. Or, 2. slowly change her schedule to better fit with yours. It will take time, and yes, she will be cranky during the transition, but it is possible. It's certainly not going to hurt anything if she gets up at 5, naps at 9 and goes to bed at 6:30 everyday. But it also won't hurt anything to slowly and gradually change her schedule to better suite the others in the household. She may be cranky during the transition, but aren't we all when our schedule is changed?

That is so crazy, b/c my 18 month old has been doing that lately! She usually just talks to herself when she wakes so I leave her in there, but geeze! I will say our usual bedtime is 7, but lately has been creeping up towads 7:45! I really think the later my daughter goes down the less she sleeps in. But, going to bed before 7 does seem much earlier than normal.

One thing that has helped is on days she does wake up really early I just go ahead and resort back to our 2 naps. B/c I hear you, at 9 it is like rubbing eye city!

Good luck and let me know if anything works.
Amanda

Have you tried an 8pm bedtime? Maybe if she goes to bed later than 7 she'll adapt to waking up later in the morning. This may help and it may not. I hope it does for your sake. I know it's frustrating but she will find a time she likes soon. J. A.

Sounts like you are doing the right things by expermenting to see what she likes best and what will work best. I, personally, feel that is her personality and she is just gonig to be an early riser; when it is light she is ready to get up. You may just have to go with 'her' flow and make sure you get sleep when she does during the day. She may be too young for this but you may try putting her in bed with you when she wakes at 5, turn the cartoons on, give her a bottle and go back to sleep while she sits up watching TV. I have done it all. Every child is different and part of being a mom is figuring out what they like and how to do it and conforming to them. Trust me, we have all been there, done that.
Good Luck!
Good luck.

Based on research I did when my kids were that young a child your daughters age only needs 13-14 hours of sleep each day, so expecting her to sleep from 6:30 p.m. to past 5 a.m. is unrealistic. You definately need to move her bedtime to later...my kids have an 8:30 bedtime once they turn 1. Move back your daughters bedtime in 15 minute increments, tonight and for the next 3 nights put her to bed at 6:45 and then 7:00 for 3 or 4 nights until you eventually reach what you think is a good bedtime. It will take your daughters internal clock several nights to reset, but eventually she'll sleep past 5 a.m. as her body adjusts to the new sleep schedule. I read this approach from a "sleep expert" when my daughter had the exact same problem and it worked, it just takes several nights. Good luck!

Get the book - The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems by Tracey Hogg

You could try letting her go to bed later. My 16 month old son has always gone to bed at 9:30 and gotten up at 8 since he was 5 months old. He sleeps through the night perfectly and wakes up on his own smiling and happy. It sounds like your child is sleeping well. It is unreasonable to think they are going to sleep for more than 11-12 hours at night. If you want to get up later, you have to go to bed later. Just keep pushing the bedtime back a little each night until you get him in bed later. Most people say that 7:30 is a good bedtime. We pushed it to 9:30 so that my husband can see him more at night after work. This way, he sees the baby at night and I get to sleep late in the morning. It works perfectly for us. Don't let people tell you that kids have to be in bed by 7, they can have any bedtime you want, you just have to train them to get sleepy at that time. My son goes down after just laying him in the crib and walking out... Good luck. I know how hard it must be to get up so early each morning.

This is the perfect time (since the days are getting longer) to push bedtime just a minute or two minutes later each evening. In a month to 6 weeks you'll have her bedtime at 7:00 (and by the end of summer at 8:00, which is probably about average). This should make her (or at least HELP her) sleep later in the a.m. Try not to let her have a nap until she's been up at least 5-6 hours. Give her a fruit snack or yogurt (or anything healthy), read her a book, work shape sorters or something to push both bedtime and naptime a little later.

(These same time-users are also great to use while potty training, which in my opinion should start about now. Naming body parts is also a great pastime while they're on their potty).

L. I have the same problem,My little girl is 22 months now
we stared haveing more playtime out doors, find something that she like and when we wanted her to start going to bed later, I would make her dinner time late and then we would let her watch her favorite program and then we just stay we are going upstairs to get ready for bath time ,I will read to her for awhile and then at 7:30 start bath
it was hard at first but I did it,now she will sleep until 7:am and nap time is at 12noon. I know how you feel just hang in there .T.

Is there a reason for the early bedtome other then her being cranky? My 13 month old goes to bed at 9 and wakes up at 7 and my 4YO has always had a 9pm bedtime and wakes up between and 8am. My 13 month old takes one 2 hour nap a day around 2pm and my 4yo will only take a nap if she does something like goes to the park and wears herself outand its only for maybe 30 minutes. I'd try to keep your baby up later so she will sleep later. Its going to be several days of fighting her at first but it should even out soon. Good luck!