Hello,
My almost 15 month old daughter has been waking up, ready to start the day at 5am! Too early in my book. To give a little more information. She usually goes to bed at about 7-7:30. I recently bumped this time up(from 8ish), because I was following the weissbluth method in which he stated the earlier to bed, the later they sleep in....that worked for a few days only. Her nap schedule is not consistent and in fact she is fighting me on naps lately too. Anyhow, every day is different due to my part time work schedule, etc. Regardless, if you ever had a child who woke up way to early and resolved it, I'd love to hear from you!
We are fortunate enough to be patients of Weissbluth and unfortunately, parents of an early riser. Weissbluth says to sleep train them again - basically let them cry it out until they fall asleep in the morning and learn to sleep later. After a long day, they don't seem to cry as long as when they've had a full night of sleep! I'm sorry to say it hasn't worked for us, I hope you have better luck!
I really hope this is just a phase for your little one but it wasn't for mine. My son goes to bed anywhere between 11 and 2 am and wakes up at 8:30 in the morning. He also fights me on naps when he doesn't spend a descent amount of time outside running his energy off. People are probably having their opinions right now about when my son goes to sleep but I have tried everything with him and I prefer not to wake up at 5 am every morning when the house does not go down (I can't go down) until atleast 11:30 at night.
His sleep schedule is not the best situation for me but it is the only one that fits my scheduling. I make him go to sleep when he starts getting cranky or everyone else has gone to bed so I can go to bed as well. He averages 8 to 9 hours a night but the up side is now that it is summer let her spend a couple hours atleast in outside play. She will take a longer nap and give you that needed time to nap (really clean the house) because her nap will guaranteed last longer! I'm thinking about putting together an exercise routine for the winter so my son will get more exercise and still take naps. My son is 2.5 years old and doesn't need the extra exercise but what can it hurt right. It will only help if he acatually naps for atleast 1/2 an hour.
One thing to remember is that every child is different. If you are still doing 2 naps, maybe it is time to go down to one. That usually happens about 18 months, so you are not that far from that age. One of my sons friends went down to 1 nap before he was one. And my daughter at 2 needs less sleep than her brother did at that age.
Also, she is probably fighting you on all sleep because she realizes it is more fun to be awake and playing with you.
Another thing to try is - don't get her up at 5. Let her talk or cry in her crib for a bit and you might find she has gone back to sleep.
My son was doing the same thing he is 17 months. What helped us is I would go in at 5 when he woke up. Ask him to lay back down in his crib as it was not time to get up yet, I would say sweet dreams and walk out. He then would sleep until 8.
Hope this works for you, 5 am is too early!
Hugs
T.
My DD did this when she was a baby. We put a room darkening shade and heavy curtains up to keep her room really dark and it worked to keep her asleep longer. Hope this helps you.
S.
My twinkies have been early risers as well. They are 11 months old today. I tried anything and everything except one thing we changed this weekend. New blinds that block the sunlight out more. It seems to allow them to sleep a little longer OR at least play in their cribs quietly. The first morning they didn't rumble until 6! The 2nd morning until 6:20. The third morning it was 6:30!! And this morning we were back to 6:15 but much better than 5:30 or 5:45!
If there is anyway you can stick with your schedule it might help - easier said than done probably. And it could just be that she is outgrowing one of her naps which is just throwing her off as well as everyone else. :)
good luck!
