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The Early Bird: Waking up Too Early
An Excerpt From The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers & Preschoolers (McGraw-Hill, 2005)
By Elizabeth Pantley
Even if your child is getting less than the sleep hours on the chart she may be one of those rare children who need a bit less sleep than the average. In either case you can't expect her to sleep longer in the morning simply because you went to bed at midnight or were up all night with her baby brother, and you're still tired. (Oh, but if it only worked that way!) If this is the case in your house, you have two options. Gradually move her bedtime later by about 10 or 15 minutes until she's going to bed an hour later and (hopefully!) waking an hour later in the morning. If you've already read the first part of this book you know that an earlier bedtime is often best for a child, and sometimes a bedtime change won't affect awakening time, but you certainly can experiment with this to see if you can find a happy medium that works for both of you.
The other choice, of course, is to make your own bedtime earlier so that an earlier wake up time works for you. This may be nicer than you think, since most larks are cheerful in the morning and grumpy in the late evening, so by adjusting your faily hours you'll have more time in that happy place together.
