1 Year Old Wakes up So Early

Praise the lord she sleeps all night and just suck it up at 5:30. Maybe you need to go to bed a little earlier!! This is actually pretty good. You could try adjusting back her bedtime by 15 minute increments and see if that changes her wake up schedule, but if I were you, I would not mess with it. In a year or so, it will probably be different, but you may not like what that "different" will be either!

I think everyone covered most everything!

But, my son now 2, used to get up at 5:30am until we had a consistent nigttime routine that works. We have dinner at around 5:30 - 6pm depending on his day, and start out bedtime routine at around 7pm, which puts him to sleep no later than 8pm in bed and fast asleep shortly after...

Right now, he wakes up between 6:30am and 7am...but, like a lot of other posters wrote, we just have to roll with it. But, be consistent and stick to it...eventually you'll get some sleep!

Like your other responses, I am going to tell you that it sounds like this is just your child's schedule. I know it is hard; I too have an early riser. She used to wake up at 5:30, but now at 3 1/2, she sleeps between 6-6:30. And it was really hard for my husband and I, who pre-kids used to sleep until 9am on the weekends! Unfortunately, you just gotta go with the flow. I guess we don't have kids because we are looking to get more sleep! On the flip side, your child goes to bed early, so you get that time at night to yourself and your spouse. It could be worse, and you could have a child who doesn't go to sleep until 10pm!

Hi S.:
I guess the question here should be,How many hours can YOU go without eating?Your complaining that your one year old wakes up to early? Did you count how many hours that is? from 7pm to 5 or 5:30 am? I realize, a baby that only sleeps a (MERE) 10 10&1/2 hours straight is really a drag, but,it would be my guess that hes pretty hungry by then. welcome to the wonderful world of motherhood.

You might want to try to keep her awake a little longer at night. My son is also 1 year and we put him to bed between 8 and 9. He will sleep until about 7:30 and that is the same amount of time as your daughter...
I don't know what your nap schedule is, but I am also changing my son's schedule to include one long one after lunch instead of 2 short ones during the day.

Is she a super-napper? Around 14 months my son started sleeping through the night, and I ran into the same problem when he FINALLY started taking good naps around the same time. He seems to need 12 hours of sleep per day, so if he gets a 2 hour nap, I never get more than 10 hours at night. I try to stick to an 8pm bedtime, and limit his nap to 2 hours, and eventually he started sleeping a bit later, he will now often sleep until 7am (when he's had an hour nap). It just depends if she gets cranky with a shorter nap. Also, my son is much more active now and I think wears himself out more during the day!

omg I had the same exact issue with my son! He's always gone to bed at 7 and no matter what I would do he would never sleep past 5:30. I hated it! He's 17 months and he's been sleeping in until 7:30 for about 3 weeks now. The secret to my success? A nightlite! I have no idea why as he's not afraid of the dark or anything, but as long as I have a nightlite on when he goes to bed he'll sleep in. If I forget to turn it on he's up at 5:30 again. Give it a shot to see if it helps!

My son is just turned one and I had this same issue with him until he was about 10 1/2 months old. Same thing milk would not work. So I started to let him hang out in their for a certain amount of time. First 10 then 20 min longer and then eventually he extended his sleep time. He now wakes up between 6:30, 6:45 and 7. Atleast it is better than 5:30 or 5:45. I do also put him down at 7 at night. I think putting her to bed later will help. That never works for my son but every baby is different.

My daughter went thru the same phase and I think it lasted a few months at the most. Now she goes to sleep around 8:30 and sleeps till about 7am. A little later then most to go to sleep, but it works for everybody.

I am 39...i still get up at 5:30. I am up with the sun. I can't help it. Maybe, neither can your daughter.

I also have an early riser. I keep a humidifier in her room and for some reason it helps her sleep longer. I also keep her room as dark as possible. No nightlights, black-out shades on her window. She will now sleep until 7 or even 8AM.

Good luck!
N.

Why don't you try putting her to be at 8 instead of 7? Perhaps you've already tried this.

My initial suggestion would be to put her to bed a little later, like 8p.m. It sounds like you have an early riser. My son is like that & I was too (when I was young - I grew out of it eventually). I would also suggest however, to take a walk a little before bed & a bath just before. Both will tire her out & relax her too! Good luck & God Bless!

I put my then 1 year old in a twin bed on the floor of her brothers room. I used to nurse her to sleep. I wanted her to feel warm, yummy feelings as she dozed off to sleep. I wanted her to feel safe and secure at night. (I don't believe in CIO.) If she woke up in the early morning, I'd go and lie with her, to help her relax and fall back asleep. When she was 2... she would quietly walk to our room, knock on my door and I would quietly walk her back (around 5-5:30am) and lie with her and she'd fall back asleep, and so do I.

She is 4 now and we still do this from time to time. Works like a charm so I have zero complaints... compare and contrast to my friend.

My girlfriend has the same age daughter and let her CIO during infancy. After that stopped working, she'd have to drive her around the neighborhood to get her to sleep. She still does this sometimes. Sometimes her daughter wakes up at 4am or 5am and can't get back to sleep. Cuddling doesn't work. That happened to her this morning (her daughter was UP at 4am).

I don't recommend letting her cry because all that is doing is making her WIDE AWAKE and unable to sleep completely.

You don't want to take her into your bed, because then she'd get used to it and most people don't want that.

So I solved it by making her bed BIG. (My children never slept in their cribs. Our son was in our bed till age 2. Our daughter till age 1. Then it was to their own twin beds.)

I wanted to make her bed "her favorite" and it is.

Good luck.

My daughter just turned 4 last month and she used to be up before the crack of dawn until about 9 months ago. I have no idea what changed, but now it's the opposite, I can't get her up and ready for school! At least I can get some sleep and my work is flexible. We guided her to play quietly by herself in her crib/bed until we got up. When she was older, she would even get up and wash her face and go potty. I think all kids are different. But yes, she may or may not become a later sleeper. Sorry, you may have to ride it out! Good luck!

Hi S.,

My daughter has been waking up at 6am since she turned about 18 months old. She used to sleep in so nice and late, which was such a nice treat on the weekends but suddenly she started waking up soooo early. She is now 3 years old and still wakes up between 6:15-6:30am every single day no matter what. We tried letting her stay up later than normal (our bedtime goal is 7:30pm if possible) but she would still wake up at the same time in the morning. And now she won't go to bed when she's supposed to. We put her in bed but she continues getting up, making excuses - she is the Queen of Stalling, I swear! And sometimes it can be 10pm before we finally get her in to bed and she stays in bed for the night.

I hear that some kids will always be early risers. We are going to Finland in a couple of weeks for vacation and I am hoping the time change and jet lag will somehow get her in to a new routine of sleeping later once we get back home. We'll see!

Good luck with your little one!

-Char

Hi!

Both of my boys (now 6 and 2&1/2 years) are early risers. They both started out like yours, waking up between 5-5:30. Now my youngest one sleeps until 6:30 and my older one between 6:30-7am. They go to bed early (7-7:30pm) , and my younger one sometimes takes naps, so I think they get enough sleep.

I have black-out shades in their rooms, and an air purifier in one room (for allergies, but it does drown out the sound of noises - a fan would do the same). You can try these, but your daughter might just be getting enough sleep. I never was an early riser, but I am now! And we use the morning time for homework for my older son since he goes to bed early. He is more refreshed, and that is working out well. Plus, I have time at night to get things done and to have dinner with my husband since the kids go down so early.

Good luck! Just remember when they are teenagers and you are dragging them out of bed in the morning how they used to wake up so early!!!

My two-year-old now sleeps until 6:30 most days, which isn't too bad. She's drifted there very gradually over the last year - was a 5am riser at 1 year. Once in a blue moon I could convince her to cuddle up in bed with me and go back to sleep for an extra hour, but that was a pretty rare treat.

You might get luckier, and you might read Mark Weissbluth's "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" - it helped me out a lot. He'd tell you that moving her bed time later will just make her overtired and might make the problem worse instead of better. Stick with the 7pm bedtime, and go even earlier if she shows signs of being tired.

My husband and I try to take turns getting up with her on weekends, so most week we each get at least one later morning.

Both my kids have ALWAYS been early risers. Dh and I are NOT early risers. With my son (our first), it was a very hard change for DH and I to make. But we found that when we tried to put him to bed later, he would still get up early, and then be tired the rest of the day. So we felt it was better to put him to bed earlier (by 7pm at that age) and just get up early with him. That way he was more rested and that saved our sanity later in the day since we didn't have a crying/fussy baby all day. And now that my son is in preschool and has to be at school by 830am, I am grateful my kids rise early. That means we aren't struggling to get them up and out of bed each morning.

My daughter also is an early riser. She is months old, goes to bed between 630 and 730pm and rises between 7 and 730am. She naps from 12-330pm.

Although I'd love to sleep in more, I am grateful to have "baby alarm clocks". I am never late for morning appointments, and truly enjoy having 2-3 hours of quiet time with hubby or just alone time at night since both kids are in bed no later than 8pm.

I guess you just need to go with the flow on this, especially if you have already tried altering her sleep schedule and she still gets up early.

I have a ten month old that had slept through the night since three months. He started waking up at 5 or 5:30, which is too early for me any day of the week! We changed his bedtime to later (7:30 to 8:30 or 9pm). It took a little over a week, but he gradually started waking up later (7 am now). We also never fed him when he woke up early. Good luck!

And WOW! I just read the last two response. 10 hours is perfectly normal for an infant to sleep and very healthy at that. Good job! And you need your sleep too! I know I can go more than that between eating (do you eat at 7pm and then again at 5:30? I can go a little longer than that...) I like to spend some time with my husband or just have a little alone and sane time after my son goes down to bed. Just adjust the bedtime and don't feed her when she wakes up early (of course if she is really hungry, go ahead, but let her get used to the idea of changing the timing.) Regular naps during the day helps too.