Waking up early in the morning

Do you have any suggestions for getting our ten month old to sleep later in the morning?  She regularly wakes around 5am.  She still takes two naps and sleeps at night from 7pm to 5am.

Having a large family definitely gives me perspective on this problem. While we have been in your shoes, we now are forced to wake the majority of kids for school. A school schedule seems to transform even our early risers into children who prefer to sleep in.

Our second child was our early riser. He consistently woke up at 5AM. We tried putting him to bed later and increasing his physical activity, but never found a simple solution. When he was just over a year old we moved from Birmingham to Orlando. By moving over one time zone we now were able to sleep to 6AM! You could move to Brazil.

On a more practical note, I would recommend you try increased outside time as the summer evenings get later and later. The main thing to remember she is sleeping well and eventually this will get better. Aside from starting Kindergarden or moving to South America, I do not have any guaranteed cures. Given time she will sleep in and trust me that has its downside too.

Written February, 2011 by
Dr. Gordon, Orlando Pediatrician