DD wakes up every morning btwn 4-5am... Help???

[Headmeister]

My DD is 18 months old and cosleeps in a crib right next to my side of the bed (side car, railing down). Every morning she wakes up btwn 4-5am, talking and standing in the crib (which is why the side is back on because otherwise she's be walking all over us and a danger to herself). I'm able to calm her back down in under a minute and she'll seem to fall back to sleep, but then is up again within 10 minutes. We do this dance for an entire hour, when either she falls asleep until the alarm goes off or I pull her into bed with us (which is where she used to sleep).

The only issue I have with her being in bed is that many times she remains awake, or, she will rub my belly while she's falling asleep (it's a pacifying thing for her stemming from when we nursed - she's just recently weaned) and since she can also keep doing this for about an hour, it keeps ME awake while SHE sleeps.

I'm 5 months pregnant and I'm a F/T WOHM, and while I wasn't a huge fan of this early waking prior to getting pregnant, I'm desperate for it to stop so I can get that extra 2-3 hours of rest I'm finding I desperately need right now that simply isn't available to me at any other time during the day.

Has anyone else had the same issue, and if so, how did you fix it and get your DC to sleep longer?

[maguvet]

My DS is too young for me to know from experience, so take this with a grain of salt, but.... it sounds like she is not upset, just awake, so what would happen if you pretend to sleep through it? Maybe after a few days she would realize everyone else is still sleeping, and it is quiet time, and settle back down?

[lifeguard]

What if you offer her some water at that time? Ds is super thirsty when he wakes at that time. I still nurse him but I can sometimes not by offering water & it is obvious he has woken due to thirst.

[St. Margaret]

I came to this forum today to post almost the EXACT same post! My DD is almost 3, though.

Most of the time when she'd wake so early as a baby, it was just a phase and we'd get through it, once I had a plan of attack her schedule would change anyway. And for that time I was a SAHM, so I would just rest during the day, esp when she was still napping.

I just wanted to offer sympathy, from another mother of an early-waker. It sucks. And I'm off to post about my own little alarm clock...

[Headmeister]

Hi all, and thanks so much for the replies...

1. I've tried pretending to sleep through it and she'll just get louder and louder, and then try to climb out of the crib or reach over and touch me to wake me up...lol. If I at least catch her as soon as she starts, I can usually get her back down. she doesn't always wake up every 10 minutes, but 40-50% of the time she does. I do tell her it's not time to wake up yet and that it's still "night-night" time, and that actually does do the trick some days.

2. I do have a sippy of water for her and will frequently ask if she wants it. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Sometimes she'll ask me for it without my prompting her. Her thing is partially anxiety - she wants to know I'm there. Sometimes all she wants to do is hug me and mush her face against mine and get me in a death grip for a few mins, then she'll lay back down like nothing happened...lol (can't say I really mind it when that happens though...lol), or, she wants to come into bed with us. Like I said, I'd let her (and used to pre-pregnancy) but that keeps me up from that point on.

3. To St. Margaret: I feel your pain, sister! Worst part for me is that if I wake up in the middle of the night due to insomnia or some other pleasant pregnancy malady (lol), I can't even relax because my DH doesn't wake up for anything! I have to put the monitor on and when I hear her upstairs, I have to run up there to take care of her. *sigh*

Luckily she's been sleeping a good stretch and not popping up ever 5-10 mins the past few days... maybe we're turning a corner with this? Or maybe she's just lulling me into thinking that...lol.

[confustication]

This time of year, as it's getting lighter, my kids are up with the sunrise.

I don't bother fighting it. I miss the sleep, of course, but it's par for the course around here.

On the upside, I get to sleep in late/fall early winter when sunrise is late...

[AKA_PI]

My 19 month old is going through this same thing. We had to convert his bed to the toddler bed since he was climbing out of the crib, and we recently moved his bed into my bedroom to see if that will help him sleep through the night.

I feel for you mama. Hopefully your little one while change sleep habits before the new baby comes.

[Ceinwen]

I've since given up on this with my 26 month old. Her regular wake time is between 4 - 5 AM. I've tried every.single.possible.thing to rectify the situation, but no matter what or where... that's what time she gets up.

I dread mornings now. I'm a morning person to boot, but 4:10 AM is a tad much for me.