12 month old wakes up at 4 am!!

[dyani]

Anyone have any suggestions on getting my 1 year old to stay in bed a little longer?  He goes to bed around 7 pm in his crib in our bedroom.  He wakes 2-4 hours later & I bring him into our bed.  He wakes 2-4 more times throughout the night & by around 4 am he is trying to climb over me to get out of bed.  Sometimes I can nurse him & get him to sleep an hour or so longer, but not always.  When we get up he seems tired still & is pretty cranky until he takes his morning nap.  He takes another nap in the afternoon (they last 1-2 hrs each).  He has never been a great sleeper at night, but 4 am is just TOO EARLY!  Thanks!

[incorrigible]

With my first, I mistakenly did as told and put him on a feeding schedule when our ped told me to. That's when he stopped sleeping through the night, and I think he was about 3 before he slept a full night again. =/ Honestly, I eventually just made my room childsafe and left toys on the floor for him. I didn't really sleep so much as dozed while keeping an eye on him/ ear out, but he would play contently for half an hour to an hour, then crawl back into bed with us and go back to sleep. When I fought to make him sleep, he'd just be up for hours fighting sleep. In our case, I found just giving him a safe space to do his thing worked best.

We had a crib for ds but only used it a couple of times. At 1, ds had a "big boy bed" - one of the toddler sized car beds. The angles and curves made it easier for him to get in/out on his own so he could come to me when he wanted instead of my having to get up to get him...though he really only liked to sleep there for naps during the day.

[lanamommyphd07]

A LC consultant friend gave me some tips about how to sleep through a night nurse, and I swear it saved the day! DD would just crawl over me and have lunch all night, and I'd wake up with that milky smell all over (but we slept!) I think some nights she may have nursed almost nonstop...especially during the teething time.

ETA: While sometimes I could get DD nursed to sleep around 8, it was more likely to be a little later. Perhaps beginning the nighttime sleep a bit later might shift the wakeys past 4?

[motherhendoula]

Well - you can call me for a pre dawn play date!  My DS is 2 now - and consistantly wakes between 4 - 6AM his whole life.  Pretty much he will wake at about 5AM and nurse for 30 minutes or so before demanding that we 'awake'  - i do recall about a month of him getting up at 4 AM - it was last January - he was about 16 months old -  i didnt 'do' anything to fix it ....i dont know that you can ....i could keep him awake until 10 PM and he would still get up just as early....although my MIL never believed that and laughed at me for putting him to bed at 6PM....

He is young enough that i would try side carring the crib - have toys at the ready - when he wakes at 4 and he wont snuggle/nurse back down right away - you can doze, in your bed....while he plays with toys right next to you....maybe if he plays for a little while he'll go back down....or, he may just hot you with his toys....

he may just be an early riser -  i know for us...keeping him up later never got us anywhere!   Good Luck and enjoy the sunrise!

[Peony]

3 of my kids have been or are early risers. We do the black out blinds, white noise, it never mattered what time they went to bed at night, they were just wired to wake up early. The toddler years were always the worst, I am currently getting up between 4:30-5am every day with my 17 month old and have been for quite some time. It bites. One child eventually out grew out, I'd say about 6-7 and she would sleep in until 7-7:30 (yes, that is considered sleeping in here!) but her siblings are noisy... My 6 year old still wakes up by 5 most days, and then the toddler of course. We just have early nap and bedtimes to compensate. And I drink lots of coffee, several pots through out the day. 

[scldrgnfly]

Sometimes I wonder if it is just a matter of wearing warmer clothing for bed that might help...as if it could be due to the temperature change they feel when they go to the bathroom at night.

Good Luck!

scldrgnfly

[SweetSilver]

This happened to us every Solstice time.  The dark late into the morning totally confused their bodies.  It would steadily get better as the morning became lighter.  Same thing happened around summer solstice, though not so badly.  This is the first year my girls have slept through the dark mornings, and they are 6 and 8.  It hasn't been as extreme as what you are describing for several years, though.

[krich1130]

I had some offal issues with my little guy who is now my 4th.. Here are some things. I did.. I'm sure you are at the point you would try anything... I will say though. 4am is not a normal time to wake.. Be firm and dont cave EVER! Clothing and what my little guy has on his HUGE... He can't be to hot or to cold or he wakes up.. He kicks the covers off so. I had to take note of that.. He also has to have SOFT things on his body and all around him.. So his sheets are a very high thread count. His pajamas are awesome and he and I both love them.. Not to hot, not to cold and very soft.. These alone helped him sleep longer.... Oskosh sung and fit.... Another factor that was waking my little guy is what he ate or I ate before nursing him... Sugar of any kind, this includes juice.. Finally I was told by my best buddy that no stimulation is best. When they wake.... NO talking PEROID..... Not a sound...... If I get up and go over to my son and pick him up and put him in our bed he wakes up at the same time every night... I let him fall a sleep in our bed and whlie he is cuddling with me I tell him that he is going to have to sleep in his bed after he falls a sleep.... I then pick him up when he has been a sleep for about an hour and put him in his crib... I whisper in his ear that I'm right here I'm going to sleep and I'm not going anywhere... I do not get up to comfert him if he wakes, I do not even move... If he really needs me there is a stool at the end of our bed and he climbs right up... I then reasure him everything is just fine let him fall back to sleep and put him back in bed with a kiss to the cheek.. Cant help that I love this little guy so much... Its been a year now and he goes and gets in his own bed for naps and falls a sleep without assistance. Some times at night he crawls away from me while were cuddling and gets right into his own bed and falls a sleep... He does not wake any more in the middle of the night as a matter of fact he sleeps longer....

[mommy2be2011]

I have the same problem with my soon to be 16 month old. I try to keep on schedule to put her in her crib at 9 or a little after and she still usually wakes up at 12am or 3am. She still uses a bottle (for bedtime and nap time only).. Once I give her the bottle she usually goes right too sleep. Have you considered putting the little man to sleep a little later? Also have you tried night time warm baths and lotion massage before putting him to bed and try feeding him some too (if you don't already a little before bed) I read that if the baby gets put to sleep with a fuller stomach they will sleep longer. I'm sure you know this too.. but it's worth a shot, Good luck
 

[transylvania_mom]

This might be a sign he needs to drop one of his naps. Both my dk started having just one nap around that age.