Do early waking babies ever change?

[ThePippy]

I would have posted this on sleep but I think most people on there are in the middle of issues, and I kinda want to hear from folks who came out the other side...

Basically I have a 7 month old who I would describe as a good sleeper. Self settles, 2 good naps each day and sleeps from 7pm ish to about 6am with no problems. I know this is great, but by this age my DD was sleeping until well gone 7 every day, which works better generally. What I would like to know is whether anyone can tell me positive stories of their babies who were early risers (before 7am) who changed as they got older. On the sleep thread there are lots of tales of how it doesn't change, so would love to hear from anyone who LO improved with age.

They do get better eventually. My perennial early-bird slept in this morning until 8am. :) He is 12....

Watching with interest, my DD does exactly the same, though I leave her to it for an hour or until she cries, she crawls about her cot and plays with her teddy.

I have to agree with Cogito - they seem to change at around the time they start secondary school

Dd1 is 4.5 always an early riser no matter what time he goes to bed. 6am is still the norm I'm afraid. Hoping school in Sept will wear him out!!

My DD changed when she reached 14!!!! Now I often have to waker her up particularly on school days ;-)

• wake

My DC gradually got later over the years. I have to wake them up now

Yes, my ds (dc2) wasn't the best sleeper. Now we have to drag him from his cot. He just loves his sleep. Turning point came at about 18 months.

Our DD1 is 3.4yo and has always been an early riser. 6am is a lie-in - still! Her usual waking time is between 5-5:30am. She's always been good napper; never over-napped and is usually in bed by 7:30pm. No matter what we've tried, she just wakes at that time. She starts nursery in September, so maybe this will tire her to the point of maybe sleeping a bit longer in the mornings?

She's very bright, her mind is always on the go. I wonder I'd this has anything to do with it? Like there aren't enough hours in the day?

No. Eight years on I'm still propping open my eyes with matchsticks and ds still wakes before six every morning no matter how much sleep he's had. Dd is not quite as bad but has got into the habit of waking when she hears her beloved big brother.

A couple of things:

Ds attends nursery full time (term time).

We limited his daytime nap to 1 hour from about 16 months.

He pretty much sleeps 12 hours at night. So 7.30pm - 7.30am weeknights and slightly later at weekends.

DD much better now she's ten and a half....8.15 today

My 8yo still wakes up at 530 every morning. Thankfully he knows how to turn the house alarm off and turn the TV on.

Ah but surely at 8yo they can be trusted to get their own breakfast and watch telly while you lie in bed???!!

Thanks for all responses. Looks like I am clutching at straws then. Yama that's interesting though as my DD has been FT at nursery since 9 months and so will DS so I will clutch onto that final straw and keep hoping!

Heh. I came here as my 7 month old wakes at 5am every morning!

But reading your post . . .how on earth did you get her to sleep through? I'd do anything for that. Even with 5 am starts I'm up 2 -3 times to feed . I don't think I've slept more than 3 or4 hours at once since she was born!

My DS used to wake at 5.30am every morning at that age, its utterly knackering but thankfully only lasted 6 months or so. He is now 23 months old and wakes at 7.30-8am, on the odd (blissful) occasion 9am at weekends. Good luck!

Mine changed at the age of 5, but we probably could have tackled a few years earlier. We bought an alarm clock and set it for 7am. We told him he couldn't get up until the alarm went off. We expected it to take a few weeks for him to get used to it but he got it the very first time we used it. Now we set it for 8am on a school day and sometimes 9/10am if he goes to bed late at weekends or in the holidays.

We recently stopped in a travelodge and he was stirring around 5:30/6. He was awake but lying in his bed and sucking his thumb. DP got up to use the toilet and I immediately assumed it would be game over thinking if DS saw DP getting up he would be wide awake. However he must have gone back to sleep cos we had to wake him at 8:30am!

I think pre-alarm clock he stirred that time most days and just got up cos that's what he thought he was meant to do and no one had really shown him otherwise or ever tried to re-settle him, whenbut he hadn't necessarily had his full night's sleep. I think had we tried it, he probably would have gone back to sleep for longer.

Post alarm clock we got proof when we stayed at travelodge that he must have got used to settling himself back off to sleep if he's still feeling tired.

yep DD1 used to wake at 4.30 now it's nearer 6ish-7 which suits us TBH

I would say it was fairly common for a baby that age to wake around 6, or before. My DS went through a phase at that age of waking at 5.30am. If he wasn't crying i left him to it, if he began to grumble i'd either feed him and put him back down (so i knew he wasn't hungry) or bring him into bed with us and he'd sometimes sleep a little more. He 19mo now and goes 8-8 most nights (has done since about 9/ 10 months i think). You could try moving his morning nap back a little?

Have you got blackout blinds? I found they made a big difference. You can get them fairly cheap in Dunelm if you have one nearby.