Anyone else with an early waker? What do you do all morning?!?

[Summerdays2014]

Hi,

17 month old wakes early. Anytime after 4.30. Average is 5.30. It makes the day soooo long. It's 8am now and I'm counting down the minutes until his activity starts at 9.30. It's worse on the weekend when there is nothing happening until 10. We are very often the first ones in the park at 8am and the supermarket at 7. anyone else in the same boat?

Thanks

No matter when DD (20m) thinks she wants to get up for the day, we don't come down for breakfast until 7. We stay in her room and she can play with her soft toys and books, I sit in the chair and doze. It's working very slowly, her average wake up time has moved from 4.30 to 6 over the last 6 weeks.

As above, if my daughter wakes up before 6.30 then we stay upstairs. I would class 4.30 as night waking! How much sleep do they get?

My old next door neighbour used to let her children outside in the garden at 5am to play. Was annoying for the neighbours though! If you don't have close neighbours - an option in the nice weather?

Early morning park and shopping. Quiet cleaning and chores and cooking.
Yes, mornings are very longer they start that early (veteran of 8 years of early starts )

I'm the same as PPs above. My DD has never been a great sleeper but I have always treated anything before 6/6.30 as night time still. If she has been wide awake then I will bring her into our bed, sometimes putting the telly on if I'm desperate for more quiet time or dozing. I don't take her down stairs until at least 6.30/7am and we stick to the same food routine timings.

4.30am is definitely not an appropriate time to get up and ready for the day. My DD is 22 months old and for the past 3 days hasn't woken up until 7am 😳 I cannot remember the last time this happened, in fact I'm not sure it ever has!

Not any more but I had an early waker and we could not stay upstairs due to waking others. I used to go downstairs and zombie on the sofa while he played. We were always first in the queue anywhere, he had very few naps and inevitably they would be on the way home in his buggy or car seat and he would wake the moment we got into the house.

He was like this until he was about 3 when he started sleeping later. He still is on the go from the minute he wakes up though. I was permanently exhausted and put him in nursery a few hours a week just so I could have a sleep when he was 2 years old.

The only advice I could give is if its tiredness that you struggle with then ask others to have your child while you have a nap. I was lucky my mother had him overnight once a week so I could sleep.

If its boredom that gets you, my mother used to do quiet chores like sorting the laundry, paperwork, dusting etc but she is also a bouncing off the walls morning person

Ds went through a long phase of this. People as above always say they'd treat it as night waking, but you just can't. He's up for the day and wont go back to sleep. It's waking.

I used to phase things in stages, so he was still bf I could feed him.laying in bed and doze. Once he'd stopped bf he had a cup of milk upstairs, not before 6. We would read, put the radio on etc but everything on the bed.

Then I'd get ready for the day, then at 7 downstairs (maybe 6.30 if up at 4.30.....))

Breakfast in the highchair. Keep him in the highchair for as long s possible while I did some washing up etc. Basically really drag things out!

He's 2 this month and wakes between 6+7 now, and one day last month 8.40!!!!

Interesting that people keep them upstairs. I hadn't thought of that. he is very clingy (please be a phase) and won't play by himself anymore, he wants me on the floor next to him and playing with him. I am so hoping that both these issues will not last forever!

Thanks everyone.

Unihorn, he sleeps through from 7pm. And has one nap between 1 and 2 hours.

cookingdinner we do often go outside but I wait until 7am we have neighbours with children an elderly couple who are both up early, but we still try and keep the noise down until 9am.

Right I will probably get flamed for this but...I definately think it's possible to 'break' an early wakers routine and routine to a much more 'normal' routine. My daughter was always a late waker so when my son arrived and started suddenly waking at 5am at around a year old I treated his wake ups no differently to if he was waking in the middle of the night. So followed the exact routine. (Said its nighttime, shhh, gave dummy, blanket and retreated) I would repeat this until he either went back to sleep or it was time to wake for the day. It was hard work but within a few weeks his wake ups got later and later and now he won't tend to naturally wake until 7.30/8 am (he's nearly 3 now)

I know it's not for everyone but I'm SO GLAD I did it!!

That's fine if it works bam, nothing we did worked. Ds just didn't need much sleep. He rarely naps now and he's not 2 yet, if he does have a long nap, he's up early the next day.

It's worth a try though OP, but Ds did grow out of it.

Exactly the same as the op here with my 18 mo dd.

She wakes around 5/5.30 on a good day (having slept through since 7/7.30). She is definitely up, and much as I would love to just treat it as a night waking and keep telling her it's time to sleep, she won't have it. She shouts and cries to get out of her cot, demands to go downstairs and desperate for a cup of milk. If we bring her into bed she won't lie down, and just clambers over me and pulls at the door to get out.

So we get up, have a cup of milk downstairs, and attempt quiet play like books, duplo, stickers etc. Sometimes this works quite well. But sometimes not!

I try and hold off getting breakfast until a sensible ish time. But the mornings feel soooo long!

So, no advice from me op, but solidarity!

I think people who say 'treat it like a night waking' clearly don't understand. When my children are up, they're up. I tried for 3 horrendous shitty months when DS2 got up at 4:30am at treating it like a night waking - guess what? It was fucking miserable, he got really angry and upset and when we finally came down the stairs at 6:30 I was stressed to the max. He still is an early riser but at least downstairs he has his toys and can play. I am also first in the park, queuing up at the library at 9 etc. Yesterday DS2 got up at 2:30am and didn't go for his nap until midday, but I did keep him in his room until half 5.
Sadly some babies don't read the baby books and sleep for the amount of time they're 'meant to'. Won't stop many mothers thinking they're God's gift to parenting though by being lucky enough to have sleepers.

Oh, and the "have you tried bringing them into your bed?" crew piss me off too. Yes, I have - unfortunately as he is awake for the day he covers all over me shrieking with laughter, shouting "hiya" at the top of his voice and trying to physically remove my eyeballs.

Sorry, that was a bit of a rant...DS1 didn't sleep through until aged 3, and was 4 before it was reliable and as history is repeating itself with DS2, having the same 'advice' trotted out for the millionth time really grinds my gears.

It's really tough isn't it? I have a 5 year old (sorry to break that to you!) who still gets up at 5am. It gets slightly easier as they get older and can do more stuff on their own- I now try to see the positives, like I can get a couple of loads of washing done and on the line before he goes to school (yeah I know, that's pathetic but you have to look for some positives...)

I don't have any ideas for you, just sending moral support. My biggest frustration is how late stuff opens, we need more 6am opening cafés. Also trying to arrange things with friends who say "I couldn't possibly get up and out the house before 11am". That one used to kill me... "But I've been for 6 hours, what are you playing at?!"

graysor, ours sound exactly the same! He's wide awake and desperate for milk. I try and wait until 7 to give breakfast unless he is having a breakdown!

FurryTurnip - early opening cafes for children could be a great business proposal!

op was asking for advice, I gave mine which worked well, it took weeks of hard work but worked. Well done on being nasty though...

Hope you didn't think.my comment was nasty @bambisms, I wasn't intending it to be.

I had early riser and i do think it helps if you stay upstairs ...it makes it slightly less tiring and dull getting through the morning if you dont actually come downstairs until after half 6.

I would do gentle play in bed with me or tv on ipad. Honestly i look back at getting up at 5am and think it wax a mistake and i should have been tougher about setting a time like 6am for getting out of the cot or bedroom.

No notalotta I apologise my post wasn't aimed you at all. More towards the posts discussing gods gift to parenting and anyone who says treat it as night waking clearly don't understand. I bloody well do understand it was hell putting him back down every time. He cried, he didn't give up for hours but my point to OP was after a few weeks it did eventually work. I certainly don't think I'm gods gift I'm just giving advice to someone who is in a similar situation to what I was in. I would never discuss babies sleep in RL or on here unless specifically asked as it's always such a touchy subject!

Oh good, I really tried, but it just didn't work. He's never needed much sleep. Is poorly atm, went to sleep at 10.15 last night, still up at 6.30. Had a bit of a nap in the car, but still not asleep now.

I'll ne the first to admit though, often when people (myself included) say "Oh that wouldn't work for my baby" They've not actually tried it. I've been surprised a few times at what has worked.

Can you give a bowl of porrige before bed? Maybe hunger is waking him?

I had two early wakers. We moved to commuterville and years they often still wake up when I do for the early commute!

DS2, 23 months, sleeps later but is never in bed before 9. He wakes at 720 almost everyday which gives me time to get ready for work. He has 1 hours nap, wakes at 1230 when I'm just getting home then is on the go till 9 ish. He's just fallen asleep. The later wake up is nice but I don't think I've had much of an evening since he was born. I'm not sure what's better 7pm-5am or 9pm-7am... We've tried lots of things to get him to sleep slightly earlier but nothing works, he's just a night owl rather than an early bird.
It won't last forever OP. With DS1 I found he slept later once he started school and now he's a teenager he's always in bed!