Sleeping FAQ: 12-18 Months – Early Morning Waking

My 17-month-old daughter wakes early in the morning and cries.

My daughter is not a big sleeper in the day, but at night she usually slept from 7pm-7am. About 6-7 months ago she started to wake up from her daytime naps crying, then she started crying in the morning too. Up until then she would wake and happily talk and play in her cot until I went to her. Now she is crying before she is even properly awake. If I leave her she gets hysterical. Then about 5 months ago she started waking earlier, sometimes as early as 5-5.30am. We had already changed her to one nap a day, which she would have for two hours. I then shortened the naps which helped a bit. Now she wakes herself up after an about an hour. She still only sleeps until 6am and always wakes up crying. Are the two things connected? She eats well but not huge amounts and doesn’t seem to be woken by hunger. what has gone wrong?

Most toddlers of your daughters age will wake and play or chat to themselves if they have had enough sleep. A baby or toddler who always wakes crying may still be tired but does not know how to settle back to sleep alone. How you then deal with the situation will determine whether it becomes a habit or the toddler learns how to go back to sleep again. It would seem that your daughter has got into a habit now of coming into a light sleep early in the early morning, waking herself up and is miserable because she really needs more sleep.

Although cutting daytime naps originally seemed to help, now she is more mobile and active by day she is probably falling into a deep sleep as soon as she is put to bed at night. The problem this can cause often is early morning waking. A baby or toddler who chats and sings for about 20 minutes before setting themselves to sleep is less likely to wake early in the morning. Aim to have her in her cot by 6.30/6.45pm and see if she will settle herself by 7/7.15pm rather than falling straight to sleep.

Try pushing the lunchtime nap onto nearer 1pm and see if she will sleep longer at this time. An hour and half would be the ideal to work towards. A toddler who is sleeping a lot less than this will become overtired and unable to sleep properly so causing a vicious circle.

When you hear her waking in the morning go into her and lie her down again, telling her it is still nighttime and she needs to sleep. It may take a while for her to learn how to settle back to nearer 7am. It may well take you many visits to teach her how to settle again but if you remain persistent and not willing to start the day at 6am or earlier she will begin to learn how to lie quietly and not disturb everyone else should she wake early. Once she begins to sleep for longer in the mornings you may well find she sleeps better at lunchtime as well.