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Original poster

has anyone tried controlled crying for early morning waking?

112 replies

Tutter · 05/06/2006 21:14

sorry if there's a similar thread - dh has given me access to the laptop for 10 mins so i don't have time to search archives.

ds turned 1 a fortnight ago and wakes around 5 or 5:30am. we suspect he's woken by the planes - they start around that time. in the past he often went back to sleep but now he usually is up for the day.

we used cc when he was 6mo to get him to settle himself at bedtime and it worked well. we're now planning on starting again tomorrow morning to get him back to sleep.

i'm sure he needs more sleep as he is grouchy and grotty til he goes back for a sleep at 8:30-9ish - and this is usually a long one - an hour and 20 mins or so.

also has a lunchtime nap - around an hour.

anyone tried anything similar? tips would be oh-so-gratefully received - i am so sick of waking so early Sad

OP posts:
tribpot · 21/07/2006 21:32

I'm afraid to say that my 'solution' to this hideous nighmare of the 5 a.m. start was to increase ds' milk again (having been bollocked by the GP for the fact he was still drinking so much milk and not interested in solids). He was simply hungry, and so waking up too close to 'normal' wake-up time to go back to sleep. It was nightmarish; he would make up the sleep time during the day but I couldn't (and was having to do the early start and work full-time, for any dhs who claimed they 'couldn't' do both).

Not a long term solution but needs must - ds is 13 months tomorrow. I seriously could not work when I was having to get up so early every day, it was killing me.

mogwai · 24/07/2006 12:45

We did CC for when our daughter was about 8-9 months old. It worked well at night but not in the morning. If we appeared in her room then disappeared again, she was hysterical.

We have had a couple of periods of her waking progressively earlier. The first co-incided with teething and it righted itself within a few weeks.

The second was more recent. she is teething again, but we decided that she was probably hungry as was having tea at 4pm with the childminder, a bottle at 7pm then nothing until about 7.30-8.30 next day. On the days she's with the childminder, she now also has toast before bed, and when she's with me, I give her a good carbohydrate-based meal at about 5.30pm.

The other thing that's helped has been that we have moved her changing table to within striking distance of her cot. I put books and toys onto it in the evening, so she has something to play with if she wakes up early.

Since doing this (last week), our alarm clock has woken us at 7am everyday (she was waking us at 4.30/5.00/5.30). It's really odd having to set the alarm clock again. She's usually sitting in her cot reading books when we go in to get her now. I have no idea what time she's waking up, but at least we are getting a longer sleep.

franch · 24/07/2006 19:45

How old's your dd now mogwai?

shatteredmumsrus · 24/07/2006 21:43

my son too has started waking early. used to be around 7.30 and is now 6.00. i dont do 6.00am especially as he had me up twice in the night too. It must be the heat. try re jiggling their daytime naps. I did this today and they have only just gone to bed so it didnt work for me. anythings worth a shot

PeppermintHippo · 25/07/2006 20:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TheLadyVanishes · 25/07/2006 20:45

dd is a 5.00am gal! i have read this thread before and noticed someone had mentioned the early morning nap may be the problem so dh bought the Dr Ferber book (will be reading over the next few days) awful to say but pleased we aren't the only ones to suffer from this problem

BoilingHotFrayedKnot · 25/07/2006 20:56

I did it with DS at 13 months.

I bought some earplugs.

His crying was quite whingey, not hysterical or bellowing, so at teh offset of the crying, I would put in the earplugs. This allowed me to doze while still being aware of the noises he was making. I figured it takes 15 mins to fall back to sleep so if I fell back to sleep it meant he had probably stopped within about 10 mins, but if he was still crying after 10-15 mins I would go to him.

It worked in about 5 days. I only had to go to him on one occasion, and patted & told him it was still sleepy time & backed out again, after which he settled down & fell back to sleep.

It was a real turning point for me. He has slept brilliantly ever since, 7-7 or 8am. He had never slept beyond 6.30 until then.

I couldn;t have done it though if his crying was full-on, or if I did I would have done 2 mins then 5 mins etc.

glassofwine · 25/07/2006 21:24

DS1 was an early riser until about six months ago when he was just over 3. He gave up his daytime nap about two months before, which he really did still need, but that's another story. Now he wakes at somewhere between 7 - 8am having been 5am since birth. I guess I'm saying it will change, but it might take a long time.

mogwai · 27/07/2006 21:01

she's 13 months now, Franch

this is the second week of later rising, even through the heat

flannelettepyjamas · 29/07/2006 00:10

We have the same problem with our 14 month old DD.
She wakes at 5.30 often.
I haven't tried the CC for this particular problem so far although I did it when she was 6 months old.
I'm interested to try a later morning nap as she goes down at 8.30 just now.
Does anyone know what Ferber suggests is the optimum time to put them down in the morning?
The book "Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child" suggests that early wakers are actually doing it because they are sleep deprived and that putting them down progressively 20 mins EARLIER in the evening increasing it if necessary every 4 days can help them to sleep LATER in the mornings. It didn't work for us, she just woke 20 mins EARLIER.
Might be worth a try for other though.

mogwai · 29/07/2006 22:28

I think there's a lot of truth in that. My daughter sleeps worse at night if she's had a poor nap in the day.

Sometimes she seems to get into a cycle of poor sleep that she can't get out of, then it just rights itself.

I think your daughter may continue to get up at 5.30 if she knows that she can have another sleep at 8.30. Someone suggested that to me when I was having your problem, and it made loads of sense. My daughter goes for a nap at about 10am, which lasts between 1-1.5 hours. She will sleep in the afternoon if we are on the motorway (but not the roads) and will do the same in her buggy, but if she doesn;t get the afternoon nap it doesn't seem to affect her night sleep.

Have you tried more food during the day or toys within reach? This really did solve our problem overnight and today she woke at 7.50am

BTW, I do know it will all go pear-shaped again, I'm just enjoying this brief respite!

NotAnOtter · 29/07/2006 22:32

so so true - often more sleep in day = good night

flannelettepyjamas · 30/07/2006 07:42

Mogwai - 7.50 wake up

mogwai · 30/07/2006 22:22

(yeah, I know. We've had at least least 5.30am for so long that I was beginning to think that 6am was a lie in).

Look at it this way - at least the mornings are light and sunny. Imagine getting up at 5.30 in January.

So you need to get it sorted before then.

And by then, my daughetr will be back to 5.30am and I'll be !!!

flannelettepyjamas · 30/07/2006 23:38

I'm in Australia Mogwai, so it'a actually very dark here at 5.30 and doesn't get light til 6am or so.
Not too cold though

Holymoly321 · 31/07/2006 07:47

Oh my god - I thought I was the only one! I was about to start a thread about this this morning! DS is 10 months and has been waking up at around 5-6am every morning for about 5 weeks and it's killing us! THis morning it was 4.20am!!! We started giving him some milk a couple of mornings ago in the hope that he would go back to sleep - and he does, for about half an hour. Then he has to go into his play pen for 15 mins then he's crying again and has to come into bed with us where he is literally crawling all over us until we have no choice but to get out of bed. Pleease, someone, give us all some hope that this is just a phase!!! Putting him to bed later in the eve makes no diff at all (he usually goes to bed around 6-7pm). Might try the carb thing for his tea.

Original poster
Tutter · 31/07/2006 07:54

didn't realise my thread was still going!

am of some tales of success. ds now 14mo and still generally wakes between 5:30 and 6:00. we have tried cc in the morning but it's not very effective - even after 45 mins or so he won't go back to sleep. game over once he's decided to start the day. am hoping that things may improve once the days start to shorten - but then again i also think that some babies are just early risers...

OP posts:
BonyM · 31/07/2006 08:25

DD2 (16mths) has started waking up between 5-5.30am most mornings (for the last 2-3 weeks). She doesn't have her daytime nap until after lunch most days so I don't think that's the problem.

She will usually go back to sleep if we bring her into bed with us and I give her a breastfeed, but sometimes she really resists it and wriggles around for ages, whinging. This morning she woke at 5.50am which felt like a lie-in , but by the time she'd had her feed there was no way she was going to go back to sleep.

It is exhausting...

twinmumma · 31/07/2006 13:56

Oh thank goodness I'm not the only one!!
I have read this thread and am going to try to stop the morning nap.
I have TWIN girls of almost 18 months. They have been brilliant 7-7 babies (followed Gina Ford - and it worked excellently) but suddenly (since MMR) they are waking at 5am ish. This morning was 4.20 then resettled until 5.20. Last week the other one woke at 3.15am and wouldn't resettle.
They still seem to want their morning nap, only 15 mins from 9.45 - 10am. But I think that as they can go from 5am - almost 10am without a nap, then they can go from 7am til 12 without one.
I think I'll try lunch at 11.15/11.30 and bed at12. OR if v tired will put them down at 11.45 ish and give them lunch at 2pm. Hmmmm
It may be difficult and they may get crabby for few days til get into the swing of it.
Anyone got any other suggestions?
It's so difficult. Wish there was a magic solution! Up until now Gina ford worked really well. And controlled crying (even with twins) works well too. But not in the morning!

mogwai · 01/08/2006 00:14

dreadful isn't it

we've had two great weeks but reverted back to 6.15 this morning. I know that's not so bad, but it was 7.50 at the weekend.

She's a bit poorly so hopefully it won't last.

I don't rememebr anyone warning me about this...

flannelettepyjamas · 01/08/2006 01:00

6.50 for us today - a veritable lie in!!

BonyM · 01/08/2006 07:47

6.45 here! Makes a huge difference doesn't it?

Original poster
Tutter · 01/08/2006 07:50

5:05 here [yawn emoticon]

teeth are making him (and me) very very grumpy

OP posts:
twinmumma · 01/08/2006 13:45

One cried at 4.15 as per usual.... cry sounded like she would resettle - which she did within 5 mins (I was awake for another half hour though!!)
then they woke and chatted at 6.20am. Lovely.
6 months ago 6.20 would have been unacceptable - but now, as you say - quite a lie in!!

aquablue · 02/08/2006 12:16

my 14month old DS was waking in the early hours too and i tried control crying and it worked! he didn't end up going to sleep the first day, but the next day he was good, and i think he was up at 7am, but just played in his cot and gave a little cry at 7:30am it was bliss! it has worked out so well because now he is getting up later, i can put him down closer to midday and he has a beautiful 2 hour nap. i found before when he was waking at 5 or 6am he would need a sleep at 10am for about 1.5 hours, and then another 45min one at 3pm, which meant he was sleeping after 3:30pm and it was affecting his sleep at 7pm (he wouldn't go down so easily). Oh and another tip, I have to feed him lunch before his daytime sleep so he doesn't wake up hungry early.