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Sleep

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Original poster

waking earlier and earlier - solutions...??!

13 replies

vic891 · 26/02/2006 07:58

ds (9mo) used to wake at 6:00 - 6:15 or thereabouts, which was fine, but his wake time has been creeping steadily forwards for the last couple of weeks. this morning it was 5:08! have to find a solution as i'm getting so tired. the last couple of days i've gone back to bed when he has (for his morning nap) but this means i miss my window of opportunity for showering.

any ideas anyone? anyone tried tracey hogg's 'wake to sleep' method?

for info, his daytime sleeps look like this: morning nap of about 1hr 20mins from 9ish plus maybe an hour or so after lunch. he's taking meals and milk feeds pretty well at the moment so i really don't think he's hunger (also, we don't feed him immediately upon waking and he's fine - just doesn't want to sleep/stay in cot any longer).

any help would be gratefully received!!

OP posts:

Kidstrack2 · 26/02/2006 08:11

what time is bed time? does he have a bed time routine? do you have a blackout blind?

Original poster

vic891 · 26/02/2006 08:19

goes to bed at 7pm following an hour of wind-down time (inc. bath, milk and story time). yes, he has a blackout blind.

OP posts:

CatBert · 26/02/2006 08:26

This was a tip from someone on MN. I used it successfully for both of mine. A lot of babies start doing this at this age.

She decided (and I agreed!) that anything before 7am was unacceptable!! So basically it was about treating any waking before that time as "the middle of the night". Even 6.30! I kid you not.

So, you treat the situation as if it were 2am. no talking, no lights on, no eye contact. Message = mummy is really boring right now. Nothing is happening until official morning time! You go back to bed.

Now, in the instances where they were not having any of it, I would often sit in their room, or hold them (if it meant them not crying and waking everyone else up). But no talking, lights etc. Sometimes I would sit there for quite a while, and then at 7am, I would open the curtains and say GOOD MORNING! and the day would start.

It's really true, that before very long (a couple of days or so) they wouldn't bother waking up before 7, as it wasn't worth it. I think it's about training their body clocks.

Very dark rooms too (as mornings are getting lighter, earlier). HTH...

Kidstrack2 · 26/02/2006 08:32

vic891 your doing everything right, agree that you should prob try and leave him in cot til nearly 7am because he is an early riser and has been for a while , how about you leave him in his cot till 6.45am going in and saying its sleepy time and calmy walking back out the room, if he gets upset do the usual cuddles and place him back in his cot, if you are persistent it will work, it will be very tiring but once you and your ds get the hang of it, it will be bliss for both of you

Original poster

vic891 · 26/02/2006 08:33

Thanks CB. He can get himself stranded now as he rolls onto his tum but can't get back - so I have to go in and check if he gets upset. BUT even with strict no lights - no chat - no eye contact strategy it's still Game Over once either DH or I have been in there (hysterical crying once we leave room). We have tried treating it as middle of night by using controlled crying, but it's different as he seems to be wide awake - won't settle however long we wait.

SO... maybe we have to try your Plan B - sitting in the dark with him'til 7am. But this would be nearly 2 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OP posts:

Kidstrack2 · 26/02/2006 08:39

by the sounds of it, he may just be a baby who doesn't need much sleep, i know thats not much help but my friend has 4 children 3 boys and 1 girl, all the children sleep till 7am except the 5yrold boy who wakes at 5.30am and has done since he was a baby, she tried everything, and now he is at school my friend thought that would make him extremely tired and he would sleep later in the morning, but he has adapted well and still wakes at 5.30

hermykne · 26/02/2006 09:05

vic, his 1st nap of 1hr 20mins is where he is compensating for waking early. i wouldnt let him have that long then and wake him after 30/40mins, then put him down at 12.30/1 for a decent sleep. he'll be grumpy as hell i know after the 1st one but perceivere, and he will wke later in the morn if he knows he aint going back to bed for a decent nap til noon or thereabouts.
slowly reduce the 1st nap to 15mins and increase the midday nap, and bed at 7/7.30, as u do already which is perfect.
hth

futurity · 26/02/2006 09:06

Is he teething? DS2 (now 1 year) did this for ages at the same age and it really got to me and I tried everything but nothing worked. Then it stopped and he woke at 7 but in the last week or so he has started again waking at 5.30/6. I figure that it is teething as for the first block of time he was doing this 6 teeth came through and then nothing and he slept well...now I can feel 3 on there way (not broken the skin but can feel the lumps) he has started again with the early waking. My first son wouldn't settle at night when he was teething and would wake in the night...DS2 seems to favour the early morning waking approach! I go in..change his bum (as he has always done a poo) give him hhis milk and then go back to bed. He dozes on and off until 7 but I think he knows the score as I am consistent with this approach.

SecondhandRose · 26/02/2006 09:07

was about to say the same as catbert but she saved me a job. Good luck.

Original poster

vic891 · 26/02/2006 11:08

thanks ladies - sorry was asleep (as was ds and dh!) again til now - wonky days!!!

futurity - yes he may well be teething. bottom two came through a month or so ago, and in the last week we have had lots of dribbling plus sore bottom and diarrhoea - so am expecting the top ones through soon.

hermykne - have wondered about his nap times. it would certainly be easier to think about phasing out the morning nap if it were shorter (and the lunchtime one were longer) so doing what you suggest may well have lots of benefits. but i do hate waking him - especially after such an early start.

CB and 2ndhandrose - think imay try this. BUT one question - what do you do if baby gets grumpy even with you in the room? i think that if ds is wide awake and ready for action, he's not going to be dissatisfied with my mere presence!! even if i hold him (he's not a particularly cuddly baby) i think he may wriggle and cry until he's given toys.

OP posts:

Original poster

vic891 · 26/02/2006 11:09

oops 'satisfied' i meant

OP posts:

gegs73 · 26/02/2006 11:51

Hi - my ds did this until he was around 15 months old. I think it coincided with his teeth coming through as well as just being in the habit of waking really early. We tried adjusting his bed times but this didn't seem to make any difference at all. One thing that did seem to work a little was moving his morning nap to later in the morning - it was originally around 8.30am and we moved it to about 10am. This meant he didn't think he could wake really early and just catch up earlish in the morning. Other than this the only other thing we did was ignore him. We would go in two or three times tops, no talking just check he was OK then leave him. This did continue for a good few weeks - may sound harsh!! but in the end he got the message and now stays in bed til around 7am. He often wakes before then, but just talks to himself no shouting or crying until we go and get him. Hope this helps as its awful when they wake so early.

CatBert · 26/02/2006 13:25

How does he wake? I always knew somehow that mine had had enough sleep when they woke chatty and happy. If they woke crying or grumpy they hadn't had enough sleep, even if they thought they had by the time mummy came in.

I also agree there are just SOME children who survive on much less sleep. I think the only thing to do there is to decide that perhaps you'll just have to be a 6am family instead, and then you at least only have an hour of persuasion to get him back onto the original timings again.

Things with babies always do change as well. You never know it could be as people suggest co-inciding with teeth, or something else and will settle down by itself. I think the thing about my suggestion is that if you have eliminated the teeth or pain issue (Calpol etc), hunger issue, then it's about reestablishing the 6am habit, not getting earlier. Giving into earlier and earlier wakings, and what happens if he decides 4.30am is when he wants to wake up! Yikes (And this used to happen to my sister, although the tike was always asleep again 2 hours later - just SHE was awake by then!)

Most important of all - YOU need to make sure you have adequate rest, and in these first few years, it means going to bed early most nights!. Damn MN, Desperate Housewives and ER for stopping all this in my house!!)

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