18 Mo Old Is Waking up at 5:30Am

My son did this when he was small, and now his own daughter does this - has since she was born (she's six). I said to him, "Welcome to my world." No matter how late we put her to bed, she gets up at the same time. The only thing that seems to happen with a later bedtime is that she's still up at 5:15, but spends the day sleep deprived.
Is it possible that he's hungry,wet or both?
I think body clocks are pretty much individual.
Believe it or not, time will fly by, and all too soon you'll be able to sleep as late as you want to ... because he'll be grown.
:^)

Best of luck, and try to enjoy these years.
C.

I too have an early riser, it seems like half the day has gone by at 9:30! One idea you could try is called wake-to-sleep from the Baby Whisperer. Go in an hour before he usually wakes up and wake him gently then put him back to sleep. I usually just changed his diaper and put him back to sleep. Do it for three or four days in a row then see if that helps. It may not get you all the way there but you will see some kind of improvement.

When our daughter does that, I go in and do the same thing we do at bedtime. Lay her back down and say "night night". It took a couple days before she knew to sleep through. This of course asuming he is healthy and no cold or ear infection.
Blessings,
Amanda

Hi E.,
My son is 18 months as well. He takes one 2-3 hour nap during the day and his bedtime is around 6:30pm. He sleeps until 6:30am. With the time change it took about 2 days to adjust but he is back to his sleep schedule. I found that no matter what time he goes to bed at night, he gets up at 6:30am regardless. There have been a few occasions where he has went to bed late because we were out doing something and I thought for sure he would sleep later...NOPE! It hard to say what to do. Sometimes if our son wakes up earlier than usual, we let him stay in his room for a little while before we go get him (as long as he is not screaming crying).

My advice is do not change his nap schedule but rather put him to bed later. Does it seem like he is ready for bed at 7:00? Even still, try to keep him up at least another half hour by reading books or doing something that is not going to key him up. Sounds like he is getting plenty of sleep thus the early waking. At this age, children require less sleep...in fact, some children even stop taking naps around this age (though they go to bed earlier). You will figure it out if you just start altering his bedtime to later. If he is still waking up at 5:30 a.m. after a later bedtime, you may decide to either put him to bed a little later the next night, or try to get him to go back to sleep. Good luck!

We have always been affected by the time change in the fall, dealing with them getting up too early. What I do is put them to bed 15 minutes later for a few days, then continue doing this every few days or a week until he starts getting up later. He is waking up earlier because of the light cycle. Even though the clock says 5:30, it still seems like 6:30 to him and it is probably lighter outside than it was at 5:30 before the time change.

Once he starts getting used to getting up at 6 or 6:30 again, you might be able to start making his bedtime a little earlier again, closer to 7:00.

Like the other poster said, I, too, always put mine to bed at 8:00 at that age, because if I put them to bed any earlier than that they would get up much too early. I wouldn't worry about shortening his naptime because as long as he is only getting one nap, he will sleep as much as his body feels it needs to. Our pediatrician said that you should never shorten a baby's nap. You could possibly try making his naptime a little later, too, maybe by 15 or 30 minutes, unless he is really cranky and doesn't need that nap postponed.

It could possibly take a few weeks to get his schedule back on track, but it will, sooner or later.

Blessings

.

Every child is different, but when mine was 18 months, he was going to bed closer to 8:00 and waking up around 6:30. Also around two years, his nap time dropped to two hours max. Good luck!

I don't think any of those things will work b/c it is his body clock. I would try to make his room darker, cover his window, and put him to bed about 30 mins later and then when he wakes up at 5:30, go in and rock and shhh him back to sleep. He is probably still tired but is used to getting up that early. Usually I can get mine back to sleep if it is from a time change. Good luck, that is too early!

W.

My little girl was sleeping till 7:30 till the time changed and now it is 6:30. She takes a nap sometimes but I have found even without a nap and no matter what time she goes to bed, she still wakes up at 6:30. I don't know what to do either but just deal with it till she wants to change it. I just adjust my life to fit hers.

my first impression is def. too much sleep. I'd cut the nap back to 2 hours max and move the bedtime back to about 7:30-8:00 (he doesn't have to be a school, etc. at an unreasonable time, so no need to enforce such an early bedtime). I think you'll gradually see his sleep time in the mornings get better. Although you may still see 5:30 the first couple of times (I don't know why that happens, but it does). Zzzzzz....

Our 10 month old woke up at 5 a.m. before the time change and continues to wake up at 5 a.m. after the time change. If you figure out a good answer, I'd like it hear it.

welcome to my world:) When my son was younger he would wake up at 5 am. One time the time changed and he started waking at 4. yes, 4. During that time I just let him sit in his crib for a while and then got him. I tried to let more and more time go by so that he was back to 5 regularly. Eventually it worked. Then I put a nightlight in his room on a timer. It was off during the night, and at 5 am it turned on, letting him know that Mommy would be in to get him up. I had to go in IMMEDIATELY when it went on to help him understand what the light meant. Once he figured out what it meant I slowly pushed the time back- 5 minutes every few days, all the way to 6 am. The time changed again and he was sleeping to 6 (or at least quiet when he was up) and he started waking up closer to 7. Since the time changed again we're back to 6:30, but I'm scared to push it- I remember how terrible I felt waking up really early and I can live with 6:30. He was abou the same age as your son when I started all of that, and bow he's 26 months. I'm not sure if he's getting older and that's what changed or if what I did worked. I do know that, for him, it doesn't matter how long his nap is (anyhere from 1 to 3 hours) or when I put him down. I have a pretty strict bedtime with him, so he's never really been up past 8:30 but I have a feeling that even if I put him to bed at 11 he'd still wake up at 6:30.
I posted the same question as you months ago and I was told by pretty much everyone that there's not too much you can do about it- some kids just wake up earlier. Good luck!

My kids are a little older, but I also had to transition them due to the time change. When they can't tell time, it doesn't matter what the clock says! :-) For about a week or so before the time change, I would let them cut out a nap more frequently, and/or let them stay up later (because they always sleep longer in the morning when I do that).

Your son isn't doing anything unusual -- he's just getting up at the same time of day he always was -- the clock just says a different number, that's all. Transition him gently to the new time. The problem is that you're already adjusted to the numbers on the clock, and he doesn't know any different. The first thing I would do is to let him stay up later. My kids' bedtime was always 8 or after, anyway, so it's certainly not a "wrong" thing to do to let him stay up that late. Most likely, that will change his wake-up time. But remember that it will take several days or even a couple of weeks to reset his body clock, so don't sweat it!