My son is 22 months-old and a very happy kid but typically gets up at 5:15 every morning! I have tried to making him stay in bed until 6:00 or giving him some milk to see if he falls back asleep. He just sits there and shouts out, "Mommy, where are you?" If you put him to bed later he still gets up at the same time. Nothing helps. My husband and I are so tired. Our friends with kids the same age sleep much, much later. Any suggestions or do you think we just have an early-riser?
A couple suggestions:
1. Try delaying his morning nap (I'm assuming he takes one). A lot of times pushing this back later, in combination with being intentionally slow to respond to him at 5:15, will help him sleep longer.
2. Let him bring books into his bed to look at.
3. What time does he go to bed at night? If it's any later than about 7:30 or 8:00 I would try putting him to bed earlier.
My daughter was/is the same way. She always has been. But, if you child still naps in the afternoon, you might try shortening or getting rid of this nap time. My daughter will sleep later if she naps only an hour (or not at all) in the afternoon. If you have already tried that - you might try putting him to bed a bit later. Or you might take a look at what is happening around him at that time - like is there a dog that goes out or barks at that time - does the heat kick on at 5:15...is there something that happens outside that wakes him up? I have but a low level noise maker in my daughters room to block out any outside noise. If you have looked at all of these options and nothing works - you may just have to wait a bit until he gets a little older. Keep in mind that the overachievers of the world will tell you they function on very little sleep - so there is a silver lining to your cloud!!
Good Luck! M.
B.,
I've been there with my son al well. May I ask you how dark his room is? The tiniest amount of light can wake them up because around 5am they get in a lighter sleep. I never thought it would help but I after a long winter with early mornings I decided to go to home. depot and get those large, thick contractor waste bags and taped all his windows and doors until we couldn't see our own hands for our eyes. Guess what? after 4 days he slept until 630 -7am. Also we put him to bed later. he used to go at 7pm but now goes about 8 or 8.30 pm. dont do it all at once. Start with 20 minutes at a time and see if this helps. It takes about 4-5 days before you are able to see a difference. Then add another 20 minutes if it doesn't work. Also good exercise in the afternoon (playground) helps with my son. We got this method from our doctor and it really helped. Hope it works for you as well.
M.
B.,
My son is 20 months and we have just broke the habit of his early rising. In our situation my son was waking up early and crying for us until we got him out of the crib. Toys in his crib certainly did not help, he wanted us! We had been bringing him back to bed with us where we would snuggle and half the time we would all fall back to sleep for another hour or two. What I have found helped is actually moving up his bedtime. We gradually moved it from 8/8:30 to 7/7:30 and he is now sleeping 12 hours a night instead of 10. I also recently skimmed through the No Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and learned that children of this age actually have some hormonal clock of some sort that makes the ideal bedtime at 6:30 to 7:00. Not sure if our situations are all that alike but if they are, this certainly helped us. Oh, also helpful was making sure his naps are long enough. I know now that is he doesn't get at least an hour and a half we will be getting up early or worse, in the middle of the night. But once we started our new routine, things really improved. I'm talking in a matter of a few days. Good Luck!!
B.,
Ugh! We went throught this with my 3 year old. Try putting things that will occupy him in the mornings - is he still in a crib? What about room darkening shades? Does he ever wake up in the middle of the night? Tell him its still "sleepy time".
With my 3 year old, we tell him that "Mr Sun isn't up yet, and we can't get up if mr sun isn't up." His room is pretty dark, though.
Hopefully one of these suggestions or one from someone else will work. Its never fun to be up that early!
B.
Have you considered the possibility that there is a reason he is getting you guys up this early? Perhaps there are things that you need to do in the morning that requires your attention? Or perhaps, you should try getting to sleep just after he goes to bed as another mom had suggested. If you're really tired, just take naps with him (if you are a sahm).
Most importantly, you need to create a situation that works for your household and not compare it to those of others. If he wakes up at 5:15am, then you need to work your schedule around that. An alternative may be that you take turns with your husband. You take one morning, then he takes another, allowing the other to "sleep in". That way, both of you guys aren't going two days with little sleep. I'm a single mom, and unfortunately, I don't get the luxury of alternating duties with someone else. GOOD LUCK!!!
I say that you need to keep him very active a little later in the day and put him down to sleep 30 min to an hour later than usual.
my advice is: go to bed right after your son. that way everyone gets plenty of sleep. our son gets up really early too. I've read in numerous places that this rising with the sun is very typical. try leaving some books in his room and some favorite toys to keep him occupied in the mornings.
mine does this too! 5:30 am no matter what. 2 things... One you can get up and do something... walk bike etc then by 10 he is nap ready. Or teach him how to turn on pbs kids!!! Maybe have the tv set to the station the night before. I started walking or biking.. now its dark but that was real fun i got my exercise in and he did too. good luck!!
We are going through this with our 20 month old. He is getting up at 6:00 (now I'm grateful it's 6:00 and not 5:15!!) I'm going to try to put something over his window to make it darker in his room....it's so light out now at 6:00 am. I've tried the books and toys....he doesn't care about them. He wants me right when he wakes up. My son doesn't sleep in a crib....hasn't since he was 10 months old...that's another issue :-) He sleeps in a big boy bed, so he gets up and just bangs on his bedroom door until I come and get him. So 'ignoring him' isn't easy when my husband needs to sleep in as late as possible since he goes to work.
I have heard of people using a chart....like the Super Nanny uses on her show. Make a weekly chart, and put a sticker on each day he stays in his bed until say 6:30. If he gets 3 stickers in a row, let him pick a prize out of a box. The prizes could be 'special time with mommy' coupon doing anything he chooses, a Dollar Store toy, ice cream cone, etc. My son wouldn't grasp the concept of this just yet, but I plan on using this technique in the future.
Hope you get some good responses!
My daughter is 21 months and is up early too, like 6am....we ignore her and she will play in her room for about 30 minutes or so. I find that if I put her to bed later that she gets up even earlier. Leave him alone and let him play, just make sure that his room is baby proofed. Good Luck!
