Why Is My 3 and a Half Yo Girl Waking up at 5 Am?

My 3 ½ year old has NEVER been a sleeper, Dr used to tell me she should be getting more sleep as an infant, only in my dreams! We used melatonine for about a month because she has bags under her eyes and that did the trick. Then we changed day care providers about 2 ½ months ago and vuala she is so engaged during the day that she is exhausted when she gets home and ready for bed at 8 and sleep by 830. I would look into the option that maybe she is not getting all her energy out! Good Luck

I wouldn't worry about it. If she's getting up on her own in the morning and she's happy, she's more than likely getting enough sleep. My 5 year old was a terrible sleeper as a baby, so I looked up the signs of being over tired and had to accept the fact that he simply didn't need as much sleep as I wanted him to! I can't remember all the signs now, but I know when he's overtired he gets grouchy and argumentative and can't make a decision to save his life (I hungry, I'm not hungry, I'm hungry, I'm not hungry). If he doesn't get to bed early enough, I have to wake him up and he is a bear!!!

It sounds like she's done with naps. Maybe she does need some quiet time each day, but it really does sound like a nap is going to push back her bed time and ultimately drive you crazy :-) To the extent that you can, I would follow her lead. She'll hit another growth spurt at some point and need more sleep again. In the mean time, try to trust her to listen to her body.

As long as she is staying in her room/bed and behaving herself (instead of coming into your room and waking you guys up and wanting to play, etc.), and not acting like a sleep-deprived grumpy-pants the rest of the time, I wouldn't worry about it. It may be just a phase. I know if my daughter is overtired she gets wicked cranky so as long as she is her usual happy self, she's probably fine. You can put her to bed at a reasonable hour, but once she is in there, you can't MAKE her sleep. I've also heard that melatonin can work really well for helping get a good night's sleep, so you might want to talk to your pediatrician about that one. I know I try to keep my daughter active with preschool, gymnastics, etc. so usually she is so worn out that even with a 2 hour nap, she'll still be in bed and asleep by 9 at the latest, and then up at 7.

If she usually sleeps more than this and is generally a good sleeper, it's probably just a phase. I agree that since she's staying in her room and entertaining herself, I'd let it go. Give her a time that she has to stay in her room until and I think eventually she will start falling back asleep. I get that as a parent it's frustrating and we worry about them, of course, but it sounds like she's okay.

Well... I can tell you that one of my granddaughters did this at about that age. She'd wake up at night, get out of bed - since she could! - and walk around the house. Her mama and daddy got worried and asked her why she walked around (she wasn't sleepwalking). She said, "I like to see what the house looks like when it's all dark."

It was an adventure to her. So they gave her some rules about it: she wasn't to wake anyone else up (unless she needed something), and if she wanted to read or play she had to go to her own room to do it. And they double-checked that she couldn't work the locks, in case she got it into her head to see what the neighborhood looked like when it was all dark.

That stage didn't last long, but it was, um, interesting.

I'd keep the nap times short, even if your girl doesn't get much sleep the night before. When she's back to regular hours at night, you can tweak the nap time to whatever she needs.