15 month old waking up at 5am every day

[Eci]

Hi everyone,

Our gorgeous 15 month old girl is generally a good sleeper. She goes to bed without a fuss between 6.30 and 7.30pm and sleeps without waking till 5am.

Whilst I am happy that she is not waking overnight, getting up that early is making all of us very, very tired. :sleeping:

We've tried resettling her; restricting her morning naps (from 2 to 1 hour); pushing her morning naps from 8am to as late as 11am -nothing seems to be working.
On occasion, she will wake up at 6 or even 6.30am but that's very rare.
She still has two day sleeps - one generally around 8am (that can last up to 2 hours) and one at around 2pm (usually up to an hour).

I am getting very envious of friends who complain that their babies woke them up at shock, horror 7am.

If anyone has been in the same position and can offer a word of advice I would love to hear from you.

Thank you:)

[bridee]

I have a 15mth old doing exactly the same thing she wakes anywhere from 5am-6am every morning (occassionally later but not very often). She's been doing this for 1-2mths. At the start we went in laid her down (coz she would be sitting or standing) and we told her it was time to sleep. She sometimes would go back to sleep but often didn't. We didn't get her out of bed unless she was putting on a real performance. We tried not to get her out of bed till 7am. ON the occassions we did get her out she stayed in her sleeping bag and came into our bed where we laid her down she didn't sleep but would be quieter than in her cot.

After a while she did start to go back to sleep, sometimes for 1/2 hr others for a 1- 1.5hrs.

We are now in the situation where if she wakes in the 5am's we go and tell her it is time to sleep and she goes back to sleep. If she wakes in the 6am's we don't into her but she happily lays in bed until we go into her at 7am.

She seems to now know she gets up when it is 7am and if she wakes before than she just occupies herself.

I think consistancy is the key. I too am jeaulous of mums talking about there kids sleeping in till 8am or later but we now have something that works for us. But there was no way I was getting up at 5am and starting the day - the day would be way too long for that. I'm just hoping at some point she thinks 'I might as well just sleep to 7am coz they're aren't going to get me up before that time.'

[Pax]

my eldest (now 16) was a morning person... the rest of us are not!

she never stopped doing 5am starts until she hit adolescence..

it was exhausting...

as she got older she would get into everything.. thank god she is now older and able to care for herself. she does that by sleeping in till 10-11 LOL

[muminshock]

My darling little 15 month old was still waking up at night and crying for up to 3 hours. We had absolutely no idea why and tried everything. The very day I posted for some help on here he started to sleep through (go figure) and has now done so for 8 days in a row (touch wood).
Probably every second or third day he wakes up at 5am and I have gone back to giving him a bottle and he goes back to sleep. There's no way I could start the day that early so if the bottle works I'll do it, even though I was happy that I had got rid of that already.
Would she settle back to sleep with a bottle?
I also found that he now sleeps til 7, 7.30 (on the mornings he has that bottle, little bit earlier when he doesn't) and have even managed to get rid of his morning nap. So he's a new kid all round. AND pregnant mummy is getting some sleep :thumbsup:

[Mahjong]

Um, I would hate to tell you this, but she's getting 11 hours - enough sleep for overnight!

When DS1was 15 months, he woke three times a night and was up anywhere between 4am and 6am. He only started sleeping through the night 6 months ago.

COuld be due to the fact it's Summer and the sun is up earlier, but I would be lucky to have a 15 month old sleeping 10-11 hours at night straight!

Going to bed earlier for you might work too ;)

[Pax]

but I would be lucky to have a 15 month old sleeping 10-11 hours at night straight!

Going to bed earlier for you might work too ;)


i must say i have to agree with this bit.. my kids were 2 hour feeders for months and months.. by 15 months they were still waking at least 3 times in a night.

i would have killed for 11 hous straight.:yes:

[mummyof3littleones]

Um, I would hate to tell you this, but she's getting 11 hours - enough sleep for overnight!

When DS1was 15 months, he woke three times a night and was up anywhere between 4am and 6am. He only started sleeping through the night 6 months ago.

COuld be due to the fact it's Summer and the sun is up earlier, but I would be lucky to have a 15 month old sleeping 10-11 hours at night straight!

Going to bed earlier for you might work too ;)

:iagree: all my kids have always and still do wake from 5-5.30

[Eci]

Thank you all for your suggestions.

We tried resettling her for days but she screams and screams and it's just so heartbreaking to listen to in the morning.

I normally breastfeed as soon as she wakes up in our bed which gives us extra 20-30min of peace, but straight after that she is all giggles and action.

Not that long ago (maybe couple of months ago) she used to wake up probably at the same time but she would talk to her teddy bear for at least 30min. And then when she is ready she would call out for you - literally ey, ey..
Now though, she screams. So I don't know if anything is bugging her (teeth??)

We might try giving her a bottle of milk in her bedroom in the darkness. See if that makes any difference.:fingerscrossed:

And yes, we are now going to bed so much earlier :)

Thanks everyone

[Nowhere]

I wouldnt be trying to change anything in risk that it may mess with her some what GREAT sleep habbits

seriuosly sleeping from 7.30 to 5 am and having 2 one hour sleeps a day, thats great

Sure 5 am is early but heck its its doable for sure

[reAllytee]

I wouldnt be trying to change anything in risk that it may mess with her some what GREAT sleep habbits

seriuosly sleeping from 7.30 to 5 am and having 2 one hour sleeps a day, thats great

Sure 5 am is early but heck its its doable for sure

:iagree:

Sorry but your little one is sadly an early riser & the fact she is sleeping so well means that this is her cycle.

She screams cause she wants to get up & do stuff .... My 15mth old is the same but with him its 6am ... He wakes usually around 8 times a nite.

My DS1 is the early riser & always has been usually its around 5am but it can sometimes be 3am for him or even as late as 7am if we are very very lucky ! Thing is he only until recently was still waking 5 or 6 times a nite & was often only getting 5hrs sleep !

I would kill for 11hrs from my two !!!!!!

[Manxie]

My three and a half year old wakes at 5.00-5.30 am still :hair:

She now dosent have a sleep during the day and by 4pm is like this:devil::devil:

Unfortunately like you we have tried everything to try and change her body clock nothing seems to work I think I have to accept that she will always be an early riser:sleeping:

Thank god dd2 is turning out to be a lazy old toad like her mother:D

[Myztiks#1Fan]

coop is 17mths old and he will wake anything from 5am to 9am depending on how tired he is and if i go to work or he is at carolines place. he still wakes up anything up to 2 or 3 times night. i put him to bed no later than 7pm. weekends he will wake up early however he will be back into bed within 2 hours usually as he is tired again and i get to go back to bed depending on how tired i am. if he is in bed with me however he will sleep longer :D

[bindiloo]

Sounds pretty normal im afraid but it may just pay to be aware of how warm she is at that time of the morning. Back when our DD was that age and started waking 4-5am it turned out she was getting cold and once we set the heat to come on at 4am every morning she slept some mornings till 8am. The weather is tricky right now though,hot when you go to bed and some night cold by the morning. Sleeping bags are great but now she 2.5yrs and once again wakes at around 5.30am evry morning. So we just deal with it,as long as i get a whole nights sleep im happy .
Maybe go to bed an 1 or 2 hrs earlier at night to make up for the mornings.;)

[Eci]

It's good to hear that it's all pretty normal.

Every health professional and others I've spoken to kept telling me that I "must" resettle her as somehow 5am is not acceptable.

My gut feeling was telling me that it's just her body clock - I suppose I know my daughter better than my maternal and health nurses.

I don't want to generalise about the nurses (at the maternal centre and over the phone) but the ones I've encountered seem to be very black and white. I don't believe in one size fits all model but after hearing so many give me the same statement (on sleeping as well as eating - my girl didn't start eating solids until she was 8 months old) you start believing what they say. I mean, they are the ones who encounter babies every day so they should have plenty of experience to back them up. Anyway, sorry to ramble :ecomcity:

And I know this is pretty good - we've had worse - much,much worse.. Just as I went back to work she started to wake up at 2am wanted to play and have fun. She would then stay up for up to 3 hours!!! :eek:

We called a lovely night nanny and had the situation sorted but it took us I think 2 months to make that move (I didn't believe in CC). I kept thinking she'll go back to normal as she was always a good sleeper. Of course she didn't so by the time the nanny arrived we were all like zombies.

I have also been meaning to get a timer for her heater. I have noticed how cold it is in her room at that hour - might not make much difference but it will certainly be a bit more comfortable when she wakes up.

Thank you all :)

[Mahjong]

No two babies are the same, babies are individuals and dont run according to professional "guidelines" and "rules"

Im glad that you are getting it sorted, soon enough, you wont get her OUT of bed :laughing:

[MrsMiggins]

You're not in QLD by any chance, are you??

My kids are awake anywhere between 4-6 am in the summer. DD isn't so bad because she'll come climb into our bed & will usually have another hour or two's sleep in there, but once DS is awake - he's awake!! I went to bed at 1 this morning, asleep sometime around 1.30, only to be woken by DS at 4.55am!! Gah!!!!!

Bring on daylight savings, I say!!!

One thing to note is that all kids (well, most - my kids sure did!!) seem to go through these stages where they wake up at odd times of the night all full of beans & ready to start the day!! They get past it.

Hopefully you can get another hour or two out of her soon!!

[JacksMumBec]

no matter how many day sleeps, what time he goes to bed or how completely worn out i make him during the day, ds will still wake up at 5.50am EVERY morning. some kids just have really good body clocks!! we discovered though that if he doesnt hear us making a move to get up he will go back to sleep after about an hour of chatting and playing to himself! BUT thats not so easy given we need to go down creaky stairs right near his room arrgghh which then sets of his 'GET-ME-OUT-OF-HERE-NOW' screams hahaha

so i think your dd is doing well to be sleeping through so long - its just unlucky for us parents with these kids :)

[Eci]

Same here. Last night she went to bed at 6pm and got up at 5.15am. Some other nights she might be going to bed at 8pm but she will still get up between 5 and 5.30pm.
We noticed a minor difference when she has a shorter morning sleep (if we wake her up after 45min) but it's not worth putting up with a cranky baby for the rest of the day so that we can get extra half hour of sleep (and that's not even guaranteed).

[Eci]

[quote=MrsMiggins;3275793]You're not in QLD by any chance, are you??

No not in QLD, but it's just as bad here in Melbourne. It's been soooo freezing overnight...

PS I hope the reply turns ok I am still figuring out how to use all the features:)

[bindiloo]

If its freezing overnight id be definitely trying extra layers or something. If you dont have heating set your alarm for 4am and go in and put an extra blanket over her or put her in bed with a sleeping bag if she wont keep covers on and another blanket over top later.
On hot days here we usually send our dd to bed dressed in warm pj's but put the fan on till about midnight till the house cools down then when the weather turns cold overnight and early morning she is dressed appropriate for it and wont get cold. But if we dress her in boxers and a cool top she wakes early crying and grumpy without fail everytime. Give it a go for a few nights and see if it makes a difference,worth a go cant hurt her.
Otherwise just remember it will pass they go through so many stages,in a months time she will have you distracted with something new she is doing like no longer wanting her hair washed or refusing to eat dinner.
:thumbsup:It never ends but thats the fun of it hey!