waking baby in morning?

[belindarose]

Any advice on whether or not to wake 5 mo DD in the mornings? Up to now, I've been happy to go with the flow and certainly do not want to impose any kind of schedule, but it's quite difficult to plan a day not knowing what time she'll get up in the mornings. I've noticed over the last few weeks that on the days she wakes up around 7am, we have a really good calm day. She'll have BF, then play/ change etc for about an hour, then wants nice long nap. Other days she'll wake around 8.30 and nap seems much shorter, leading to grouchiness later! Is it worth building on this by waking her at 7am? If so, how do I go about waking her up? Silly question, but I'll feel awful doing it.

[TulipsInTheRain]

i never ever wake mine unless i absolutely have to, comes from havin a non sleeping first child though, i now have a pathological fear of doing so

result is a 3 and 5 year old that can sleep til 10/11 at weekends though and sleep through any amount of noise.

if ds2 is asleep and the older kids need to get to school i leave it til the last possible second and bundle him into the car with us in his pjs and just feed him when we get home.... or better yet if dp is home we let him sleep.... last week he went til 11.30am

[Morloth]

I never woke DS unless we needed to be somewhere (except for a couple of times early on, when I was confused!).

DS also enjoys a good sleep in on the weekends now, we don't often hear from him before 10ish.

[Orangesarenottheonlyfruit]

I may go against the grain for this but I found exactly the situation with my DD. I used to wake her at 7ish to start the day properly, (especially if we'd had a rough night) otherwise she'd be a right pain. It seemed to work as now at 2 she can sleep anywhere and is a wonderful sleeper.

[minimoonumbertwo]

Oh yes a definite waker upper here! Started waking ds at 7am at about 6 months in order to get into a routine and lo and behold I had a brilliant 7-7 sleeper with a 2 hour nap after lunch (can't remember if he still had a morning nap at this stage too) and a very content little boy.

Have only stopped doint this now (2.3 now) as he's started to drop the post lunch nap so is nice to enjoy a lie in at last

Worked for us but i can see how it wouldn't for everyone.

[Morloth]

I am impressed at all you people who are up yourselves at 7am! I have to be dragged kicking and screaming out of bed on weekdays.

Truly hate getting out of bed, it is so warm and snuggly and it is still bloody dark at 7am ATM, is unnatural.

[belindarose]

Mixed views then, as I expected! I'll see if we get any more thoughts and decide whether or not to set my alarm based on how many times I end up getting up in the night (sometimes sleeps 10 hours, sometimes definitely not!).

[Morloth]

Always will be mixed views (on all parenting really) because some people like routine and some people like chaos (me!) and some people would rather get up in the night and feed and then sleep until 9 and some people have to be up and out of the house and and and...

There isn't any one "right" way I reckon, just what works for both of you at any given time (because what works this week, may not work next week and so on).

[belindarose]

'just what works for both of you at any given time (because what works this week, may not work next week and so on).'

I know, and keep forgetting this! Nothing is ever as I expect it to be, so should stop expecting!

[Morloth]

I think most kids turn out OK if you avoid either of the extremes (i.e. neglect vs. smothering).

[belindarose]

Well, decision was made for me this morning - she woke at 6.55am! Has now been napping beautifully for an hour. We'll see what tomorrow brings...