2 Year Old Sleep Question Waking up a Little Too Early

Updated on January 24, 2011
L.W. asks from Florence, KY
6 answers

Hi ladies
my active 2 year old has been a great sleeper. Not much of a napper but we WERE always pretty much garunteed to get 12 hours at night from her (730p-730a)
Latley she has been getting up just a little too early...6am. I am a (as I like to call it) MOM sleeper and I will wake up(but not go in) in the middle of the night if she coughs or sneezes but now she is up at 6am and calling for me. She is in a good mood but seems to want to get UP for the day. During the week its not that big of deal because I work full time and have to be at work by 8 so her getting up at 6 just means I get to work earlier (hence getting OUT of work earlier too)
But now it seems to becoming a habit and there have been times she will get up at 545. This has been going on for about 2 weeks now. I am at a lost on what to do. In the beginning I got up right away and just got her and got her ready for school. but now (attempting to break it) what I have been doing is ignoring her. She doesnt cry...she just says "MOOOOOOOOMMY" or a very kurt "mommy"...and sometimes it gets louder and then she will call for "Mommy Daddy". So I eventually stroll in her room around 630 or 640 and get her ready. Especially on the weekends it gets pretty old when I want to sleep in unitl 7 at the very least. Any advise? Going IN her room and asking her to go back to bed is NOT in the cards because Ihave tried that when I lay her back down she SCREAMS and crys (did for over 30 mins) Should I just keep ignoring her in hopes that maybe she just wont wake up so early. Or am I unrealistic and that 545 or 6 am is an ok time to get up. We even tried putting her to bed LATER (at 8 and 830) but that double backfired and she was up at 4am..ICK

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C.M.

answers from Cincinnati on

My son started waking up earlier and earlier around age two as well. I figured part of the problem was that he would wake up and assume that it was time to get up. What we did is, he has a nightlight, which we put on a timer. As he can't tell time, this became a signal for him. When the light is on, it is bedtime, he is to be in bed. When the light is off, it is daytime, he is allowed to get up. It took a little while to get him used to it. He would get up, but if the light was on, we would put him back to bed and remind him it is not time to get up until the light is off. It's has worked well for us. He has even been known to sleep in on rare occasion. :-)

2 moms found this helpful

R.G.

answers from Dallas on

I just ordered a toddler alarm clock on amazon. It changes colors when it's time to get up. You may look into something like that..?

1 mom found this helpful
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E.W.

answers from Cleveland on

How many times did you try keeping her up late? Maybe if you do it over a week's period her internal clock will change. It takes time to change a schedule.

1 mom found this helpful
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T.H.

answers from Bismarck on

My son (22 months) has done the same thing. He goes to bed at 7:30 at night and used to sleep until at least 7:30 if not later in the morning. Then all of a sudden he started getting up at 6am and then that turned into 5:30 and sometimes even 5am. Way to early for me! It seemed that the more we would just go and get him in the morning when he got up early the earlier and earlier he would start getting up. Since he was getting up so early in the morning he was needing his nap early as well and then we were dealing with a crabby child in the evening when it he had been up for 7 or 8 hours before bedtime. Anyway, my husband and I decided we needed to just pick a time that we felt was an ok time for him to get up and we decided we were not going to go into his room until that time. After about a week he started sleeping until at least that time or later. I would try that, it worked for us.

1 mom found this helpful
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R.S.

answers from Terre Haute on

Actually you may not realize it but you are blessed and should try to keep the early schedule. In a few years when she starts school it will be so much easier on you.

T.

answers from Tucson on

yep i think it just starts happening. My 23 month old started doing it to. Mines up at 6:45 though no matter how late we put her down.

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