Early Riser

RustyFlange

Is this not a stage they all go through at some point? My son who is now 5, went through a phase of getting up at 5-5:30, I persevered and either left him to scream for a while, or would put him in bed with me, he soon got out of it. Although now he is still awake anytime from 6:30-7 ish which is fine by me as he occupys himself on a morning in his bedroom til I wake up at 7:30

jomo70

I'm hoping it is just a phase ..this morning it was 5am, which is a slight improvement:rolleyes:

Titch89

Have you tried putting him to bed slightly later/cutting out naps?

nifi26

Be strong! It won't last forever. Most babies/toddlers will go through a period of early waking which (any sleep adviser will tell you) is the most difficult sleep problem to deal with.
Sometime you just have to power through and it will sort itself out.

Keep doing what you're doing, you got some good advice here - though I would not recommend juice from a bottle or co-sleeping - and it will get better soon! I hope ds1 is not too sleep deprived but just remember that too will get better.

Have just been going through sleep issues myself after becoming mum 7 month ago. I have looked after young children for years but it is a truely humbling experience to be on the parent-end!

jomo70

nifi26 ...It does seem to be getting better, as we are alternating between a 5 am and 6am start, I don't think it helps when I talk to friends who seem to have "Perfect babies", I just need to keep telling myself it wont be forever..Good luck with your babies sleeping!!


Titch89...I have tried getting him to change from two naps a day to just the one, This isn't working, he becomes really grouchy and clingy by 9.30am if he doesn't have a sleep and then again the same again about 2pm...but he does only sleep about an hour each time..and then in bed by 7pm at the latest.

RustyFlange

I wish I hadn't responded to this thread ... both my children were up at 6:20am this morning .... My son is always an early riser, however my daughter decided it was fun to wake daddy up ... (my partner works away mon-thurs every week so fridays is the first time she sees him)

Smashing

I wouldn't pick him up, just calmly tell him that it's not time to get up yet, settle him and go back to bed.

Give it a few months and he'll start climbing out himself, so make the most of it while you can!

nifi26

jomo70 wrote: »

I don't think it helps when I talk to friends who seem to have "Perfect babies", I just need to keep telling myself it wont be forever..

Don't listen to them! Personaly I believe that people 'gloss it over' and make it sound much better than it really is. Not to be mean, but because we all have to encourage ourselves or else we'll lose it!

Be careful when manioulating naps - a baby who's not getting enough sleep in the day will not sleep well at night (you seem to have worked that out anyway). How bout changing nap times rather than cutting down?

My little angel was up at 5 this morning! you're SO not alone...

Also: we went through about A MONTH of early waking (4-5) and waking-up-to-play-in-the-night when ds was between 5-6 months. I was so frustrated as I was doing everything 'by the book' and had no idea why this was happening, he was a good sleeper from birth! Friends encouraged me to just 'keep doing what I'm doing' and it will get better - and it did. He started sleeping through about two weeks ago.

RustyFlange

nifi26 wrote: »

Don't listen to them! Personaly I believe that people 'gloss it over' and make it sound much better than it really is. Not to be mean, but because we all have to encourage ourselves or else we'll lose it!

Be careful when manioulating naps - a baby who's not getting enough sleep in the day will not sleep well at night (you seem to have worked that out anyway). How bout changing nap times rather than cutting down?

My little angel was up at 5 this morning! you're SO not alone...

Also: we went through about A MONTH of early waking (4-5) and waking-up-to-play-in-the-night when ds was between 5-6 months. I was so frustrated as I was doing everything 'by the book' and had no idea why this was happening, he was a good sleeper from birth! Friends encouraged me to just 'keep doing what I'm doing' and it will get better - and it did. He started sleeping through about two weeks ago.

Thats good advice, this is what I am trying to do at the moment, My daughter has always slept around 10-12 in the morning but started only sleeping for an hour due to her fannying about in her cot for an hour before hand ... so I left her a couple of days to see when she would just drop off, once was in her pram at 2pm and the other was in the middle of the living room floor at 1:30 so for a handful of days I put her down at 1pm after her dinner, she is having 2 hours, but i notice she is dead ratty in the morning so I am going to try 2 naps a day, even if only for an hour then see how she gets on.

bestpud

I feel your pain!

DD has never been keen on lying in. At one point I thought I was the luckiest mum alive if she slept until 6am. I always found I could cope with 5am but before that and my brain couldn't get out of sleep mode. I did often feel as though I'd done a days work by the time I got my older two off to school though!

She is 6 now and still thinks she deserves a medal if she sleeps until 7am! It is getting progressively later though - we manage half six most of the time now and have the odd 8am wake up too!!! At least at her age I can tell her to wait until a set time though - 7am weekdays and 8am weekends! She just reads, or plays until then. Trouble is she wakes me up anyway, but lying in bed listening to her is easier than actually getting up, I find!

I agree it is futile to mess with his naps or put him to bed later! The later dd goes to bed, the earlier she wakes up - pretty much every time! So then, I am more tired and she is really grumpy too the next day - it just isn't worth it imo.

As your LO one has just started this, it is more likely to be a phase though. Just keep calm, try not to make a fuss of him and see if it settles down. If not, I strongly recommend going to bed earlier yourself.

Oh and take no notice of the perfect parent/child brigade! You'll find them everywhere but the reality is often very different to the portrayal!