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Original poster

Using the clocks going forward to 'cure' early waking

48 replies

bayleaf · 08/03/2002 20:26

Maybe I'm being absurdly optimistic but I keep hoping that when the clocks go forward in a couple of weeks I'll be able to use it to 'cure' ( or at least improve) our dd's early waking habits - and I'm wondering if anyone has any tips that might help me to use it to best advantage.

To fill in a few details....
Dd is 14 months old and a gf baby (who always fittted the rouines beautifully). Over the last couple of months she has started waking at 6am ( when it always used to be 7am) and then in the last couple of weeks whilst she has been ill, at 5am.
Just before she became ill I had decided to be a bit more strict about the cclb routine as we had 'distorted it' to the extent that dd often wanted a good hour plus at 9.30 and I let her have it even tho' she ''should'' be down to 30 mins now- because of course she had woken early so was more tired than she should have been.( I can no, longer remember whether the early waking or the longer morning sleep came first)
She often still slept the 2 hours at lunch time too.

I didn't think the only sleeping 11 hours at night was due to needing less sleep as she got older as on the days she goes to nursery (2 days a week) she barely sleeps in the day ( 90 mins max) and if anything the early waking is worse after these days.
I've tried putting her to bed earlier (6-6.30)- sometimes it makes no difference ( ie she still wakes at 6am ) sometimes it makes her wake at 5am...)
MY plan is that when the clocks go back and her 'natural waking time of 6am is actually 7am everything will be hunkydory again - but I'm possibly deluding myself - and should I put her to bed at 7pm still ( 6pm old time)
Any hints/advice please????

OP posts:

Melly · 12/03/2002 15:56

Am also having a problem with my dd waking a bit earlier than usual. Have told myself it's my fault for being so smug (she has slept thru 7 - 7 since the age of 13 weeks!). For last three or four nights dd has woken at 6 am ish instead of her usual 7 am (quite often I would have to wake her at 7 am!) I wondered if it was the lighter mornings, birds signing etc. She does have black out linings but unfortunately curtains are on a pole so a bit of light still gets in. DH suggested putting a bit of hardboard up in the window (very attractive). I leave dd to chatter away to herself if she wakes early and this seems to work, this morning she woke just before 6 am but settled back to sleep at about 6.20 and I got her up at 7 am....only trouble is I can't go back to sleep!

ScummyMummy · 12/03/2002 16:08

Pupuce and Pop- We introduced a stairgate when our boys transferred to beds (we were finding it very difficult to get them to stay in the beds!) and for a while it worked perfectly- when either or both woke before us they'd just play quietly(ish) and chat together until one of us went to get them. I?d definitely recommend it, even though it was only a temporary respite- they even seemed to get security from the ritual of ?closing the gate? and still insist that we do this.
They've learned how to open the gate themselves now and we have one early riser -6.30am without fail- who, like your little boy Pupuce, joins us in bed raring to go at that hour. Our (not perfect!) solution is to tell him it's very early and Mummy and Daddy need to sleep so he can choose either to lie quietly with us till getting up time or to play quietly in his room. He seems ok with this- most of the time!
Is your boy old enough for one of those alarm clocks with opening eyes, Pupuce? I?ve heard some parents who swear by these though others have said that their kids deliberately wind the clock on so that the eyes open at their preferred hour!

manna · 30/03/2002 19:53

Oh no - I now there have been many discussions on this over the weeks - but I've forgotton what to expect. Ds is 19 weeks, in gina ford routine and waking 7.15am. I wake him 10.30pm for a feed, still. So - tommorrow - what should I do - wake him at 7am as usual or wake him at 8am (his usual 7am?) or wait and see what happens? It's just that I'm driving to devon on my own with him tommorrow after his 11am feed and want to keep him on track with the routine, if possible! Pupuce, anyone else - are you out there on a Easter night and can you write back this evening?

Pupuce · 30/03/2002 21:32

See what happens and what I use to do (if needed) is move everything by 15 minutes during that day so by the end of the day we had gone 1 hour forward! HTH

manna · 30/03/2002 21:41

sorry pupuce - been cooking all day at the cafe and think my brains gone to pot - do you mean 7.15 am feed. 9.15am sleep. 11.15 feed etc? Is that from old time or on new time? how should i start?

Pupuce · 31/03/2002 07:46

Whatever... if your baby is waking at 730 new time, feed him then... and the try to re-adjust 15 minutes at a time during the day ... my experience is that it's far less complicated than it sounds, babies adjust quite well.

buttercup · 31/03/2002 19:57

i've been following this thread with great interest as my ds has been waking up at 5.30 exactly for the last two weeks. It'd be great to hear who manages to use to clock to get their ds/dd to sleep an extra hour!!

Melly · 01/04/2002 13:13

Buttercup, I was having a similar problem with my dd waking up quite a bit earlier than her usual 7 am. I thought maybe it was because of the lighter mornings etc. On Sunday morning I got her up at 7.45 am (BST) which in her little body clock was 6.45 am. I re-jigged her routine very slightly i.e put her for her first nap about half an hour later and she had a slightly shorter lunch-time nap. I put her to bed just after 7 pm last night and she woke on the dot of 7 am this morning! Early days to count chickens but so far so good.
I do think that she might go back to early waking again though when it gets even lighter in the mornings. We've got blackout curtains but on a pole which isn't brilliant, so I'm going to try to get a black out blind as well although not sure of stockists?

Pupuce · 01/04/2002 22:08

DS woke up at 7 AM (verus 6AM last wek)... only 1 morning though...

buttercup · 02/04/2002 10:11

ds woke up at 6.30am yesterday and 6am today so he's already slipping. Hope we dont go back to 5.30am waking too soon!!

Pupuce · 02/04/2002 10:15

Buttercup - how old is your baby ?
DS was up at 650 this AM.

Original poster

bayleaf · 02/04/2002 13:22

I'm told argos do cheap black out blinds - mine was from b and Q but ws £45 - argos are much cheaper.
We're better than before the change - in fact this am she woke at 7.20 - but it has been confused by having a dodgy tummy and so waking early with a very full and very horrid nappy ( in the days running up to the change - and on the Sunday morning when she woke the alarm clock said 6.30 - and shed been to bed at 6.30 so I thought ''excellent ! 12 hours sleep'' and rushed into her saying ''good girl'' only for dh to point out that the alarm clock responds to the greenwich(sp???) time signal - so had automatically been put forward and it was only 5.30 in ''old time'!!! Dd was NOT amused to be put back to bed!

In an ideal world ( i'm a gf person) I want to try and get dd onto a 7.30 to 7.30 regime as this would be that little bit more civilised that 7-7 -tho I realise I might be ''wanting the moon''!

OP posts:

jasper · 02/04/2002 22:39

can anyone explain why GF suggests the 7 to 7 routine? Why not 8 to 8 if that suite the family better? I could not follow her explanation of whu this was not a good idea, and now I can't remember it.
Thanks

bloss · 02/04/2002 23:45

Message withdrawn

buttercup · 03/04/2002 09:13

pupuce - he is 9 months old. he woke up at 6.50am today, a lie-in by our standards. Hope its not a one off!!

Pupuce · 03/04/2002 09:52

Bloss is right Jasper. But if you are one to go to be later and don't mind going to bed at midnight then 8 to 8 is fine !

Buttercup - I do hope it improves otherwise all I can suggest is that you read the recent thread on Early Wakings ! Good luck

jasper · 03/04/2002 22:00

Thanks for the explanation.
Bloss, are you training your new baby to be a CLB?

florenceuk · 04/04/2002 09:19

Nice idea in theory - if you can get your baby to sleep until 8am!!!

bloss · 04/04/2002 10:40

Message withdrawn

Pupuce · 04/04/2002 10:59

Bloss-have you not given some thought to the osteopath for the wind problem?

manna · 04/04/2002 21:21

you were right pupuce - ds kind of went with it in the end. We were away -which made things a bit weird, but basically he woke 7 - 7.30am anyway and we wiggled daytime sleeps around for the first day, then he just adjusted! Except for this morning, of course - when I had to wake him at 7.45! Lovely......

bloss · 05/04/2002 03:29

Message withdrawn

Pupuce · 05/04/2002 08:45

Well I am no expert Bloss- osteopathy is not alternative BTW, it's 4 years of medical training (and even NHS re-imbursed in some cases). I did use an osteopath when I was pregnant (at my midwife's suggestion) because I had SPD (pubic bone pains) and it was amazing. He then told me to get my baby checked out - preferably when she was 10 days old - because he can see if she has/will have wind/colic problems and they can usually do something about it... A lot of osteopaths have a degree in cranial-osteoptahy and loads of mums here have used that and found the results day and night !
Up to you- I was just wondering what you had decided to do because you had asked "my" advice twice and I hadn't heard back - not like you so I thought maybe you hadn't seen my posts

If you do go down that route, I 'd get it down ASAP but more importantly you need to find an osteopath who had baby experience.

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