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Original poster

summertime morning waking

116 replies

strangerthanfiction · 25/05/2004 12:04

Just wondered if everyone finds their kids wake earlier during the summer months? Dd is 19 months and I remember this happening last summer and it seems to have started happening again now. She usually sleeps til around 7.15 but is now awake between 6-6.30 and is pretty knackered by mid-morning. I've done the usual blackout curtain stuff and her room is pretty dark but still she wakes. Maybe it's the bird song. Anyway I just wondered how common this is and if anyone ever has found a miracle cure!!

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LHP · 27/05/2004 21:00

Thanks stf, he's 2:6. He used to sleep in sometimes til 7:30 , so this is really coming as a shock to me! I think there might be something of the "shunt effect" going on, he goes to bed fairly soon after his dinner, so maybe a bit of active playing first will shake it all down a bit, and he might go before bed. I'll have a look in "sleep" for the thread you mentioned, thanks.

LHP · 27/05/2004 21:02

No meat, Mao, he's veggie, but does eat quite a lot of fibre; brown bread and fruit etc.

maomao · 27/05/2004 21:04

Hmmmmm..... curiouser and curiouser! Well, there goes THAT theory then!

hermykne · 28/05/2004 07:36

STF
my dd slept for 1 3/4 hrs yesterday from 1pm til 3 or so. then her granny babysat and she told her she didnt want to go to bed, until granny decided at 8.45 it was past bedtime! so we arrive home thinking yipee we might get til 7.30, no 5.50 on the button and she would not stay in her cot, and all she wanted was dada who had to go to the other room to sleep on until work.
shes a monkey, i have to say, rubbing her eyes now at 7.30, so i am going to try a nap this morn of just an hour and if she gets dozy in the afternoon as walk in the pram.
its mad as u say, the sleep and naps adds up to 13hrs the recommended dosage!

Original poster
strangerthanfiction · 28/05/2004 09:46

Minor miracle this morning ... dd woke at 6.15 and I was so utterly shattered I popped into her room, gave her a quick swig of milk as she stood in the cot, spoke in whispery voice (which is what I do if / when she wakes in the night) told her it was too early and to go back to sleep. And she did! Until 8am!! Wonder if it's a fluke. It's something I haven't tried before. Usually she's like your dd Hermykne and insists on being up up up. Anyway at least I feel like I've had some decent sleep today.

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Redwood · 28/05/2004 20:14

STF, thanks, I let dd sleep for 2 hours today from 12-2, and interestingly she was still really sleepy at bedtime at 7.30 . Last night she cryed briefly at 3.30 so I quickly gave her some milk - she was still really asleep - and hoped this might keep her asleep a bit later in the morning, and guess what, it didn't! Giving milk in the night is aginst my better judgement but anything is worth a try for a few extra minutes sleep in the morning.
Anyway we will see what happens tonight....

Mo2 · 28/05/2004 20:17

Don't want you all to haet me, but DS2 (22 months) has gone back to seleeping until 6.30- 6.45 am..... phew!

The extra blackout MAY have helped - but who knows???

Original poster
strangerthanfiction · 28/05/2004 20:56

Don't hate you mo2, I think it's great! 6.30 is really early for bed but maybe it makes sense to put to bed early if they're going to wake early anyway ... I'm going to see if my new 'technique' works tomorrow!!!

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Mo2 · 28/05/2004 22:06

stf - Bit confusing sorry - no, I meant he's sleeping in until 6.30/6.45 am.
He actually goes to bed between 7.30pm and 8 p.m.

Original poster
strangerthanfiction · 29/05/2004 20:44

So, how are all my early rising friends doing? We had a reasonable 6.50am start this morning. But we've had a busy day today, took dd to the zoo and she only slept an hour after lunch so it'll be interesting to see if that has an affect on her.

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hermykne · 29/05/2004 21:31

hello stf
got til 7.10 this morning but she woke three times between one and two am so on the 2rd i lifted her, as she up with ted in her arms and dodo, so my eyes were barely open, took her beside me, from about 6 she was stirring but every so often i got a soft touch of the hand and that seemed to lull her back to sleep, bad bad bad bad bad habit - baby no 2 here in july!!!
we'll see how tomorrow goes.
she asked for bed tonight at 7.55, bang on schedule and was wrecked.
me off to bed now!

Original poster
strangerthanfiction · 30/05/2004 12:10

How was last night hermykne? Has she always woken a bit in the night or is that a recent thing?

Dd did a good one last night, straight through til 7-ish but she seemed absolutely exhausted most of this morning, probably 'hang over' from yesterday's excitement and lack of sleep. So I gave her lunch at 11 and put her down at 11.30 and am hoping she'll get a good couple of hours and be in better spirits this afternoon.

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maomao · 30/05/2004 13:00

Hullo all!

Hermykne, first and foremost, how are you feeling? Baby no.2 coming so soon! What does dd make of being a big sister? Must be very exciting! Hope last night went well for you.

STF, did your dd enjoy the zoo? I'm hoping to take my dd there in a few weeks. We were out and about in Central London yesterday, and dd hardly had a nap (maybe 20 min. in her pushchair). Spent most of her naptime in Habitat, rolling these giant, pointy balls around on the floor and waving at people out the window instead. So this morning we actually didn't get up until 8:00 a.m.! Now we're dealing with LHP's problem of poopy nappies instead. Sigh.

popsycal · 30/05/2004 13:24

oooh just spotted this thread,,,,

Ds is 22 months and woke at 5am today

he has always been an earlier riser 6 - 6:30 and since the light mornings has had earlier days but this morning was crazy!!!

We have black out curtains, heavy normal curtains and a roller blind!
Any advice?

Soulfly · 30/05/2004 13:30

With my ds2 it doesn't matter what the weather he is usually up anytime from 5am onwards. But usually around 6ish. Its annoying i know!!!!

Soulfly · 30/05/2004 13:31

Also doesn't matter what time you put him to bed either, i put him to bed really late he's still up at the crack of dawn!!

maomao · 30/05/2004 13:35

Popsy, my advice is to have your ds go sleep at soulfly's....

popsycal · 30/05/2004 13:37

lol
it doesnt matter one jot what time he goes to bed either!

so i put im to bed at 7 as usual!
tried all combinations!

Soulfly · 30/05/2004 13:46

Why thank you!! lol cheeky!

maomao · 30/05/2004 13:51

I know, I'm soooo helpful!

(Perhaps popsy doesn't know about your ds' cot-decorating talents.... How old is ds2?)

Original poster
strangerthanfiction · 30/05/2004 20:20

Hi popsycal, I don't know what the answer is. It seems to me that they wake up around an hour earlier than their 'usual' waking time during the summer months. Dd was born in October 02 and slept until 8am until the summer, then started waking around 6.30. In winter she reverted to around 7.00 - 7.30 and now this summer she's all over the place so far but is averaging a 6.30 wake time. Rather than put her to bed later I've decided to put her to bed a bit earlier as she probably won't wake earlier and at least then will get a good amount of sleep before her dawn call.

OP posts:
Original poster
strangerthanfiction · 30/05/2004 20:24

maomao, yes, dd LOVED the zoo. It's her second visit to London zoo, her first was on her first birthday and seeing the difference between then and now was amazing. Last time she'd just started walking and was in an excited daze about it all. This time she could name all the animals and got very excited trying to tell us all about what they were doing / eating etc. And she also went nuts to go on a merry-go-round and even a bouncy castle.

Central London is hellish to get them to nap in. I usually now try to do quick in and outs in between her nap times as getting her to sleep in the buggy in town just doesn't work.

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Tommy · 30/05/2004 20:24

Have spent afternoon putting black paper up on the internal window in DS2's room in the vain hope that he won't wake up at 5am tomorrow clapping his hands and looking like he's rarin' to go!

alimc · 31/05/2004 14:11

Have just joined mumsnet due to this post. Dd is 16 months and waking between 5.30/6am. She started waking earlier when she eventually started sleeping through at around 12 months, but it has been gradually getting earlier and earlier as the mornings get lighter. Doesn't seem to make any difference to her nap time or duration but she is still getting about 10.5 - 11 hours at night and usually 1.5 hours nap so I think she's getting enough in total. We have blackout etc and it doesn't seem to make much difference - will try shutting the window though just incase it's the birdsong!

Thought I'd give anything to have a sleeping through baby but getting up at 5.30, even if you go to sleep at 10pm, is inhuman!

maomao · 31/05/2004 19:20

Tommy, how'd it go with the blackout paper? I'd love to know whether you felt they make a significant difference. We don't have any on dd's window or door to the patio --- but we do have those venetian wooden blinds, which are pretty good about blocking out the light.

Welcome to mumsnet, alimc! I'm sure you'll find lots of other threads of interest too, and you may even become an MN addict!