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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To punch all parenting websites in the face?

73 replies

MaddingCrowd · 24/04/2015 05:51

DD 7mo always bloody always wakes between 4.30 and 5, clearly exhausted and won't go back to sleep.

It's the only parenting issue where I have never seen one bit of advice that I think might help. Often go on mumsnet etc about other things and usually see something where I think hmm that's interesting, hadn't thought of that etc. (although that is among the myriad of super irritating 'have you tried shh pat?' And the like).

Want to tear my hair out every morning when I try and Google tips and I see 'you may feel like 7am is too early to start the day but really this is quite normal for a baby' or 'make sure the room is dark'.

Bastarding bastards.

OP posts:

Ilovehamabeads · 24/04/2015 07:45

DS (7) still starts his day at 5.30. Nothing we have ever tried from any parenting website has ever made any difference. Pile 'o shite the lot of em.

harryhausen · 24/04/2015 07:56

I really really feel for you OP. Both my children were the same as babies and they didn't even nap much in the day either. DH and I used to take it in turns to get up. In the depths of winter it was grueling. The only huge plus point was they slept well at night.

I have no advice. My Dcs are now 10 and 8. They started sleeping in later at about 3/4. My ds used to bounce into our room at 6am on weekends. These days they both sleep in like teenagers. My eldest would sleep all day if I let her!

My dsis middle dc was the same. She was a lone parent at the time to 3 Dcs. It was hell. Dsis read the whole of the Harry Potter books while her baby rolled around at 5am. These days her teenagers are sharply intelligent and nearly always asleep or horizontal

Some of my friends kids (who used to think 7am was awful) still have early risers now (rueful smile).

But yes, it's god awful when people complain about being tired and you discover their kids get up at 7.30am etc.

reallywittyname · 24/04/2015 08:00

5.45am today, dd is 2. It doesn't sound so bad but she has been getting earlier and earlier. She was at 6am then the clocks went forwards which was nice for a bit but hasn't solved the problem.
No advice for you OP but here's some and a

Moreisnnogedag · 24/04/2015 08:06

We just took the shift approach. im going back to work soon so will be up at 530 anyway leaving poor dh to deal with it for ds2! With ds1 I just embraced it in the end, got up, had a cup of tea and did some work on the laptop feeling all virtuous.

goodnessgraciousgouda · 24/04/2015 08:10

I don't know if this will be any help, but you could try having noise in the room. Could it be linked to feeding at all?

Otherwise I'd suggest playing (obviously not at loud volume!) either classical music or white noise in whatever room baby sleeps in.

It's partly because apparently background noise helps babies to sleep more soundly(repetitive noise like white noise, or music in mathematical patterns like classical), and also because it could potentially be that there is some kind of noise - either outside, or in the flat that starts at that time. You may be so used to it you don't even notice, but it might be waking the baby. The music would help disguise it.

The only other thing I can suggest is maybe getting baby to sleep in a different room one evening, and see if they sleep any better.

goodnessgraciousgouda · 24/04/2015 08:11

It might be that nothing helps though, as others have said!

PerspicaciaTick · 24/04/2015 08:13

fattymcfatfat · 24/04/2015 08:20

DS is 6 and still wakes at 6 if I'm lucky!
DD on the other hand sleeps through unless she is ill or teething. she got up at half 7 today putting her back to bed works, DS nothing worked and he was up every hour as a newborn!

MrsEvadneCake · 24/04/2015 08:22

My only advice on this having been there twice; don't do anything else until a sane time! I used to start putting wash loads on or doing jobs. Then I realised I didn't have to. So I just sat with them. Cuddled. Dozed with them curled up on my lap drinking their milk. I didn't do anything useful until 7am!!

ThisFenceIsComfy · 24/04/2015 08:26

How old are your other DC?

kissedbyamoonbeammyarse · 24/04/2015 08:28

I put velcro tape round window frame(was plastic), cut blackout material to fit, other velcro tape round that. Complete darkness. None of the gaps of blinds or curtains.

JigsawsAreAllLittlePieces · 24/04/2015 08:35

My daughter used to wake at 5am and not be happy to stay in her cot so I would get her up and bring her down to the settee, wrap us up in a throw and we would go back to sleep with her in my arms. She just wanted the closeness - it didn't occur to me to bring her into my bed !

She's the same now she's 19. Once she's awake she has to get up.

We don't cuddle on the settee any more. That stopped about 17 years ago.

lucycant · 24/04/2015 08:46

Get a night nanny who can deal with your DC, bring you breakfast in bed and present you with a dressed DC at 8am.
Not helpful I know.

Original poster

MaddingCrowd · 24/04/2015 08:58

Is there a MN fund for escapes and night nannies? I'd like the Caribbean please.

OP posts:

Miggsie · 24/04/2015 09:08

Ah DD did this - for some reason she just started waking at 5:30.
It went on for about 4 months then just stopped, and she then slept in till 7.
Looking back I wonder if it was just a growth spurt or some physical development in the brain or sleeping patterns. She would then nap about 10am as I recall.
Nothing I did made a difference so I just went with it.

Only advice is: don't think you should sort it out, it may be totally inexplicable.
Don't bust a gut on housework or anything else non essential and try to get some rest if not sleep when you can.

Bakeoffcake · 24/04/2015 09:09

Probably a bit late now but the simplest thing to do is marry someone who likes getting up at 5.

My DH is like this and it was a godsend when the dc were little. It was their quality time together while I carried on sleeping

bananaramadramallama · 24/04/2015 15:09

I used to have a bottle with just water in it by the cot.
If they woke in the night I would give them a little drink of water, put their dummy back in, do the shush thing and retreat - all whilst they were still in the cot, as if it were the middle of the night.

Sometimes they are just thirsty I think.

Good luck!

widdle · 24/04/2015 15:24

Can I join the pity party? OP I'm afraid I have absolutely no advice and also used to be very at the advice given. I'm sure it worked for others but DS is a fricking nightmare.

Literally something new every week - he is nearly 2 and currently waking at 5:20am every single bloody morning. We have had it all - taking hours to go to sleep, waking for hours in the middle of the night, no napping, napping 30 minutes, rolling over and getting stuck, singing at 3am, crying at 3am - arghhhh! Then he lulls us into a false sense of security by sleeping through for a week - and then something new starts.

I got fed up of looking for solutions because he just changed his sleep problem to something new the next week. It was like playing whack a mole!

No advice - just lots of sympathy x

widdle · 24/04/2015 15:26

Madding - I'm in the Caribbean. You can stay with me if you promise to sort out DS

Thecowandcat · 24/04/2015 15:46

Is there something in your house making a noise at that time? The central heating or a boiler or something like that? An appliance making a noise?

I went through a difficult time with my DS waking in the night and I realised that out boiler was draining water from the tank for some bizarro reason and it made a real racket. Ended up replacing the boiler but it sorted the problem.

At another time he was waking early and not going back to sleep it was because he was hungry. I used to take biscuits to bed, something really plain like a rich tea for him to nibble on if he woke up, it made all the difference. Don't know what you would give a 7 month old though.

The parenting advice thing that really bugs me is the number of times I've bought a book of advice on child rearing and read the introduction only for the author to say something along the lines of 'I don't actually have children of my own but I'm a professional therapist/ PHD with 10 years experience etc etc'. Always earns the book a lobbing across the room from me.

Seeing children during office hours when you've had a good nights sleep is not the same as having your own! You know nothing! NOTHING!

Shockers · 24/04/2015 17:00

Mine are teens who occasionally lie in now. My body however, is now trained to wake at 4.30 after years of DS2 waking at that time.

It's lovely in the summer... Shockerdog and I do love a good sunrise .

That probably didn't help though...

AliceLidl · 24/04/2015 17:13

Would blackout blinds and curtains help?

Or perhaps moving your baby from cot to pram and you sleeping on the sofa next to her?

DS used to wake early but settle in a new place for a little while longer.

Yarp · 24/04/2015 17:16

Mine were like this. It sucks. Big time. And like Shockers, I am now awake with the lark while lummocking teens snooze on....

One thing I would try if I had my time again would be Waking To Sleep

Yarp · 24/04/2015 17:17

I read back and you have not mentioned Waking To Sleep. Google it.

It worked for 1 am waking, but I never tried it for early-morning waking

Yarp · 24/04/2015 17:18

I once remember doing the Supermarket shop at 5.30 am, along with some posties and a few wheelchair users

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