On the other hand, the problem may be not that she wakes up groggy but simply that she is a morning person and therefore wakes up earlier than you and your spouse care to be awakened. Yet there's Baby, calling to you from her crib, so what choice do you have? Though you can try adjusting her to a later bedtime in the hope that she'll sleep later as a result, you may find that she wakes up early anyhow and hasn't had enough sleep. She's simply a morning person who just naturally wakes up early. There are several things you can try in dealing with early risers. Make sure the room stays dark and quiet, put her back to bed after a quick feeding, or let her fuss a little. If these suggestions fail, revert to the earlier bedtime. Make sure she gets enough sleep. If she still is up with the roosters, you've got a “lark” for a baby.

Is food the first thing she wants when she wakes up? Does she cry for you not because she's hungry but because now that she's awake she's bored and wants something to do? Here's another experiment to try: Leave a toy in the crib, something it's safe for her to sleep with, that has no sharp corners or other hazards, but something that will intrigue her when she wakes up. See if, instead of crying, she coos as she discovers the toy and then busily plays with it for a while.

If she wakes at 5:30 A.M. and plays with the toy, she may even settle down and go back to sleep after a bit, but if not, it's not a problem, as long as she's not getting you up. At first, you may wake up on hearing the crib creak and your baby coo, especially if she's in the same room as you. But after a few days of realizing that she's not winding up for a full-throated yowl, you'll probably roll over and go right back to sleep, if indeed you wake up at all, when Baby wakes up and finds her toy and begins playing. Just be careful in your choice of crib toy — don't choose anything she can hurt herself with if she rolls onto it during the night.