Waking up too early is ruining our whole day!

[newmamalizzy]

My 11 month old pops wide awake in the morning and then is rubbing eyes and yawning like crazy half an hour (or less) later.  I am sure that she needs another 40 minutes or so of nighttime sleep, but I simply cannot get her back to sleep when she wakes up.  She's generally asleep for the night by 5:30 p.m. and thinks she's ready to get up at 4:40 a.m.  I've tried treating this as we do other nighttime wake-ups (bottle and rocking back to sleep), but it never works.  I've also tried the "playing dead" approach, which fails miserably. (Sometimes she'll crawl right to the door, open it, and leave the room!) Then her dad gets up for the day about a half an hour later, so if I don't have her back to sleep by then, it's just hopeless.  She's always been a MAJOR nap-fighter, so having her overtired right out of the gate is the last thing we need, KWIM?  My only idea at the moment is to revert to 3 naps, put her to bed later, and see how that changes the dynamic.  But I shudder at the thought of trying to get this girl down for a nap THREE times a day...Anyone have any ideas for how I can get her to stay asleep later in the morning?

[Parker'smommy]

Well, with a 5:30 pm bedtime, I can see why she is ready to be up at 4:40 am. That's pretty early, imho.

You can try adjusting things slowly to a later bedtime, 10 minutes at a time, start with her naps and forward to bedtime and hopefully, the wake up will scooch up too? When does your dh get home from work? Maybe have him entertain babe, and/or give her a bath in the evenings? Also, if she is going to bed so early and not spending time with daddy, I can see why she wants to get up and be with him! 

Also, continue to treat 440 am as the middle of the night because, well, it is!!! I really treasure my sleep and I treat anything before 7 am as sleep time! So, if my baby wakes up at 630, I nurse her and/or settle her back down to sleep. Do you co-sleep? If not, maybe at 440, bring her into bed and cuddle back to sleep? 

Good luck! I know I would be a walking zombie if my lo woke up that early!!!

[newmamalizzy]

I agree, it IS wicked early, but somehow she always ends up back at 5:30 when we try to adjust things.  We've tried slow adjustments, fast adjustments....She always goes to sleep for the night at almost exactly the same time, so I've given up trying to adjust that end of things for the moment.  When the clocks change it will be 6:30, provided I can manage to keep her schedule steady, so that's not quite so weird.  Anyway, I'm not so concerned about the fact that she's waking up at an early hour as that I know for a fact she isn't really ready to get up even though she's generally slept 11 hours at that point.  She will occasionally sleep a 12+ hour night (ironically, this usually happens on days she goes to bed BEFORE 5:30!!!), and the difference in her mood and her ability to get down for her morning nap is astounding.  DP generally gets home at 6:30, though spring will bring very long hours for him, so it doesn't make sense to revolve bedtime around his schedule at this point.  We do cosleep, so, unfortunately, I don't have the trump card of bringing her to bed with me in the morning.  Maybe I should try sticking her in the $400 cat bed (i.e. crib) for the morning....

[Nicole730]

Hmmm...

My 11 month old is going to bed b/w 5:30-6:30 depending on the day.  Then up for the day at 6am, which I think is early!  (She naps 8am-10am and 1pm-2pm).

If she is tired 40 minutes after waking up, I would try putting her down for a nap then.  My daughter isn't really a nap fighter though, so I don't know how difficult that would be for you.  I've read that the first nap is an extension of nighttime sleep, so it makes sense to me that she would want a nap so soon after waking up so early.

[newmamalizzy]

Originally Posted by Nicole730 

Hmmm...

My 11 month old is going to bed b/w 5:30-6:30 depending on the day.  Then up for the day at 6am, which I think is early!  (She naps 8am-10am and 1pm-2pm).

If she is tired 40 minutes after waking up, I would try putting her down for a nap then.  My daughter isn't really a nap fighter though, so I don't know how difficult that would be for you.  I've read that the first nap is an extension of nighttime sleep, so it makes sense to me that she would want a nap so soon after waking up so early.

Wow, that's a lot of sleep compared to Bea.  She gets just shy of 13 hours a day.  I think you're right that getting her down for a "nap" 30 - 40 minutes after waking is the right thing to do.  It's pretty much what I do if she has one of those play-in-the-middle-of-the-night episodes.  The only issue is that her dad gets up at almost exactly that time and by the time he leaves for work, it's too late :(  Waking up at 6 a.m. would be amazing!

[Nicole730]

Originally Posted by newmamalizzy 

Wow, that's a lot of sleep compared to Bea.  She gets just shy of 13 hours a day.  I think you're right that getting her down for a "nap" 30 - 40 minutes after waking is the right thing to do.  It's pretty much what I do if she has one of those play-in-the-middle-of-the-night episodes.  The only issue is that her dad gets up at almost exactly that time and by the time he leaves for work, it's too late :(  Waking up at 6 a.m. would be amazing!

Yeah it is a lot of sleep.  I have no idea where she got it from, her brother slept a lot less and never would take naps.  He didn't get fussy or cranky though, so I didn't try too hard.
 

[Kuba'sMama]

Yea, I second trying to put her down in 40 minutes again. While none of my kids ever got up that early for the day (that's crazy talk in our house, 4-anything am is NOT a time when mama's anything close to getting out of bed, unless someone's puking), mine did sometimes get up at 6:30 or so, seemed quite awake and then within 45 minutes would settle down again to nurse and sleep. Since I never let them believe that we are up for the day at that point, I think it was just normal for them. Did I mention I am not a morning person? LOL

[newmamalizzy]

Originally Posted by Kuba'sMama 

Yea, I second trying to put her down in 40 minutes again. While none of my kids ever got up that early for the day (that's crazy talk in our house, 4-anything am is NOT a time when mama's anything close to getting out of bed, unless someone's puking), mine did sometimes get up at 6:30 or so, seemed quite awake and then within 45 minutes would settle down again to nurse and sleep. Since I never let them believe that we are up for the day at that point, I think it was just normal for them. Did I mention I am not a morning person? LOL

It's funny.  When she wakes up at 4:40 it makes me CRAZY, but 5:30 - no problem.  And I go to bed earlier than most people's grandparents.