WHY oh WHY can't she just SLEEP!!!

[Haley's Mum]

For about the last 3 weeks, Haley (3.5) has been up early (like 5:30) and showing up beside our bed for one reason or another. (has to pee, heard a noise, etc) She will not go back to sleep afterwards nor will she let mommy. This hasn't been EVERY morning, but I would say at least 3 out of 5. The other mornings she sleeps until 7am.

So, the straw the broke the camels back was last night. She was up at 3am and moving all her stuffed animals to the couch like she does in the "mornings". Totally ready to start the day. I told her it was the middle of the night and to go back to bed. She did so without issue but was awake until 3:30 (I'm assuming) where I think I heard her get up again. She moved all her animals back to couch and slept until 7am. She has done this on occasion as well.

I should add that MOST days she doesn't nap but always has quiet time in room. She is very routined for the most part and is in bed by 8 on "nap days" and 7:30 on "no nap days". She has NEVER been a napper and has never seemed to need much sleep. But how the heck do I keep her in her room at nights?!?! Is this just a phase? Should I let her be? She can't be getting a good sleep while moving all over the house all night.

Help!

[Mommy2Cuties]

Have you tried putting her to bed later? My daughter Alysa is 2.5 and we put her to bed at 9pm and she sleeps until 8 or 9am the next morning except for lately she has been having nightmares so we, like you, get a midnight caller into our room.

On a side note, I think the animal moving is sort of cute but yeah probably not so fun at 3am.

Has there been a change in her routine (ie: company staying over, new foods etc.) that could be throwing her off?

[chky0925]

This past week the time change could have put her schedule off. I know it did with Malcolm. He has always been an early riser and this week instead of 6, it is 5am, . We just bring him into bed with us, don't let him get up even if he is not sleeping. The last couple of days it has been 5:30ish that he has gotten up so gradually he will resume the 6:00 wake up. So I would hope it is just a phase she is in and if you are consistent with putting her back to bed it should pass!!!

[Haley's Mum]

Thanks for your responses. There hasn't really been anything different around here lately. The only thing I can think of is Halloween maybe? She has been eating more "treats" than normal. However, the early morning thing started before halloween, so I am not sure on that.

As for the time change... I know it affects a lot of kids. I have gotten this a lot from people since this started and I really don't think that is it. (I wish that was it though then I would know it is short lived! LOL) Time changes have never really bothered her much and because this all started way before the time change, I think it has to be something else.

I may try the later bed thing, but really, she is soooo tired by 7:30 when she doesn't nap. It is usually a battle to get her to do anything since she is so moody. Might be worth a try though.

Oh... an the moving of the animals... yeah, maybe cute at 8am... not so much at 3 am

[Liisa]

You have my sympathy. I have an early riser, and I am definitely not a morning person so it bugs the h*ll out of me. If it's before 6 am, I will try crawling into his bed with him, which has worked sometimes. I don't bring him into our bed on weekdays b/c I don't want to disturb dh. If it's btwn. 6 and 7, I will try bringing him into our bed and he has fallen back to sleep a total of two times that way. Usually, tho, I end up having to get up and go downstairs with him. I just give him some cereal in a cup or something and curl up on the couch beside him with a coffee.
Mine also never napped much, but I found it didn't matter what time I put him to bed, he'd still be up early...and if I put him to bed too late he'd just be cranky the next day by afternoon.
The only other thing I can think of is activity level...the busier his day was, the later he'd sleep the next day. You can't have them out running laps every day, tho! lol
My eldest would play happily on his own for a while in the mornings before waking us up, but it sounds like you're a light sleeper and this wouldn't work for you.

You can count the days until she's a teenager and you have to dump a bucket of water on her to get her out of bed before noon!

[Haley's Mum]

You can count the days until she's a teenager and you have to dump a bucket of water on her to get her out of bed before noon!

I'm not sure if that makes me feel better or not. If I count the days, I may get REALLY depressed!

Honestly, I would totally trust her to get up and play on her own, and have done this if it is after 6am. But this 3am business is CRAZY! It just gets earlier and earlier!

[amyunicorn]

Can you get a hold of a really really huge faced-clock and put stickers where the hands must be before she's allowed to leave her room? Something like that? Or a digital clock and put a sign on it "When the numbers match THIS: --:-- , you can come out and begin the day!" Something along those lines? Then when she's up before these criteria are met, she can stay in her room (more quiet time), but she's not to come out or wake mommy? Worth a try.

I growl, so my kids learned real quick; if mommy's in bed it's not morning time!! They do NOT wake me up... they learned at a young age not to. Not that I was abusive, but my reactions were strong enough and they were promptly taken back and dumped into bed. Or they stole in under the covers and went back to sleep with me (my ds, not my dd so much... she would play quietly until I got up).

[Spots]

Replace she with he and I could have written your title. My DS has been waking super early and refusing to np or even lie down. As a result he's super cranky which is no fun. I haven't figures out a solution yet, when I do I'll let you know.

[jasterling]

Yikes!!! I feel for all of you in this situation! Laura, Julia (same age as Hailey) had gone through a few stages of early waking as well. Sometimes 3am, but usually 5am. She also doesn't nap anymore and is exhausted by 7:30pm. Normal wake up time for her is 7am.

Some solutions that have helped... we feed her (and Maya too) oatmeal before bed because they often woke up with growling stomachs whether they said they were hungry or not. Also, now that she is potty trained sometimes she had to go pee at 5am or whatever and then couldn't go back to bed. The solution to that has been taking her to the bathroom before we go to bed. We literally pick her up while she is still sleeping, sit her on the toilet and whisper "Julia, it's Mommy, I want you to go pee on the toilet", she does, she gets put back to bed and really doesn't even wake up. Other than that, the only other thing I can think of is we turn out their nightlight before we go to bed so that their room is extra dark and have a black piece of felt covering the window under their blind.

I hope this gets sorted out for you soon... it most definetly is not a fun stage to be going through.

[Spots]

Jasterling thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for suggesting making him pee before I go to bed. I've done it the past two nights and he's slept much better. The first to 8 am! Today until he usual 6:45 am. I have my happy toddler back. Yeah!

Haley's Mom how is Haley's sleep now?

[Haley's Mum]

She seems to be doing better so far (knock on wood LOL). At least no middle of the night wakings. She was up at 5 yesterday and slept on the couch I think but didn't wake us up. This morning it was 6am.

We did the wake her to go pee thing for months and months and months while potty training, etc. She has been accident free for a long time now so I don't really want to take a step back really. She never did get trained to get up at that time (midnight) to go pee on her own.

I think that she may be hungry actually. We are working on giving her a bedtime snack. However, we eat fairly late (6ish) and she doesn't eat much breakfast really, so I don't really know.

I LOVE that clock idea. We were gonna get her a clock for christmas anyways so I may head out and get it for her early. I would like one that plays CD's as well so I have to look a bit I think.

Thanks for all the ideas on here. It has given me lots to think about!

[jasterling]

We did the wake her to go pee thing for months and months and months while potty training, etc. She has been accident free for a long time now so I don't really want to take a step back really. She never did get trained to get up at that time (midnight) to go pee on her own.

Julia has never had a night time accident either since being potty trained. The reason we were taking her to pee was simply so that we didn't have to get up at 5am with her! If it does help I wouldn't consider it a step back... just more sleep for you : ) That being said... there are the occasional nights that we take her to pee and she still wakes at 5am. I just tell her it's still the middle of the night and that she has to go back to bed and closed her eyes. Luckily for us this has worked for us and she usually sleeps for another couple of hours.

I think that she may be hungry actually. We are working on giving her a bedtime snack. However, we eat fairly late (6ish) and she doesn't eat much breakfast really, so I don't really know.

When you have given her a snack does she eat it anyway even though you may have had a late supper? If I remember from chatting with you before or previous posts, Haley is a good eater... our problem was Julia usually doesn't like to eat a lot at supper but surprise will eat the snack before bed!! She is a picky eater.

I LOVE that clock idea. We were gonna get her a clock for christmas anyways so I may head out and get it for her early. I would like one that plays CD's as well so I have to look a bit I think.

The clock idea worked for my sister in law. They told my niece that she wasn't allowed to get out of bed until the clock said 7:00 or whatever time you choose.

It's so hard to know for sure isn't it? Even though the pee thing works for us I still struggle with the idea that maybe I am training her to have to go even though she may not really have had to go if you kwim.

Anyhow... hope it gets better soon!

[jasterling]

Jasterling thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for suggesting making him pee before I go to bed. I've done it the past two nights and he's slept much better. The first to 8 am! Today until he usual 6:45 am. I have my happy toddler back. Yeah!

I'm glad it's working for you!!!

[amyunicorn]

Hey, I think it's not a horrible thing to have them go, even if they don't "have" to. My son has now been (suddenly) dry at night for over a month, and we still make him go pee right before bed, just in case.