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Sleep

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Original poster

Has any solved the waking at 5AM problem??

22 replies

GColdtimer · 29/02/2008 07:09

DD (22months) wakes at about 5AM every day. I now feels like nearly lunchtime lol. Has anyone solved this - she is too young for one of those clocks and doesn't understand that it is too early to get up. If she wakes later she plays happily in her cot but if she wakes at 5 she cries and cries . I wonder if it is still too dark for her to play?

She still has a nap in the day because, quite frankly, by 1PM she is so tired she would never make it through the day without one. Do you think phasing out her nap would make any difference? She has about 1.5 hours at the moment.

OP posts:

Original poster

GColdtimer · 29/02/2008 09:31

anyone?

OP posts:

meemar · 29/02/2008 09:35

Hi twofalls, we've never solved it. DS2 (age 2.4) has gradually started to wake around 6 o'clock, but from the age of one he was a 4.30 - 5.30 waker consistently. It was like his body clock was programmed.

There are many threads about early wakers in the archives, but I don't think anyone has found a real solution so far.

Original poster

GColdtimer · 29/02/2008 09:36

That was my fear meemar, just wondering if anyone had found a magic solution. Perhaps I will do some trawling to see if there are any ideas I could try [desparate emoticon]

Glad you are starting to get to 6am!

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castille · 29/02/2008 09:44

What time does she go to bed?

VictorianSqualor · 29/02/2008 09:57

Try moving nap, dinner time and bath and bed routine by an hour or so later, it may take a week or two but she'll eventually get in the routine.
When she does wake up and cry you're best to ignore her until you want her to get up as well, because if you go in as soon as she cries then you'll be confirming it's morning time, if she cries for too long then go in, settle ehr and go back to ebd yourself. She needs to think it's still nighttime.

BeauLocks · 29/02/2008 10:02

Go to bed at 9. Ds2 (2.4) wakes at 5 every single morning. We go to bed early.

Original poster

GColdtimer · 29/02/2008 12:36

My word, she goes to bed at 7.30 and she is so ready for it by then. Perhaps I should just move it later. Or just accept it and be in bed by 9!

You are right VS, if I go in there is no way she will go back to sleep.

So no magic solution then

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castille · 29/02/2008 14:28

I'd try to ease her into a later bedtime. As VS says, it probably won't have her instantly waking later, but over a period of time it should help - after all the number of hours she needs isn't going to change that fast so it should have a positive effect eventually. Don't let her sleep longer during the day though.

If your DD needs less sleep than average (less than 12 hours, say), adjust her bedtime so that wake-up time is what you want it to be rather than put up with crack of dawn wakings.

My elder DD only needed 11 or so hours as a toddler so didn't go to bed until 8.30 or 9. We got less of an evening, but more of a morning

DaddyJ · 29/02/2008 14:53

It's a bit counter-intuitive, I know,
but a strategy that has helped others is to move
bed time earlier!

Start bed time routine at 6, settle her by 7 latest -
that could work.

frumpygrumpy · 29/02/2008 15:05

I solved it. My DT1 used to regularly wake a 5am. I bought the Richard Ferber book.

She used to doze off on the school run, maybe just for twenty mins/half an hour. the book suggested this had become part of her nights quota broken by breakfast. I did everything to stop her dozing off and it worked within about 2 days. It worked for me but I can't promise thats what the problem is/solution is for you.

I would try reducing her afternoon nap to an hour. Give it at least a week to see.

have blackout blinds?
heating isn't kicking in then?
covers glued on?

good luck. Do get the book, it has loads of information about sleep patterns. its here

Nappyzone · 29/02/2008 20:54

My ds 15 months is waking about half 5 - 6.15 also and i am royally wrecked so you have all m sympathies!! He goest to bed about 6.45pm/7 when he is shattered and wretched. We tried resettling him on the morning but he kicks off for england so ends up in with us till about 7 where by he sits up pokes us in the head, dives on us and generally annoys us to awake state. He did used to sleep till 7/ 7.30 or even 8 and i have no idea what has changed? He has one day sleep 1 and a half to 2 hrs a day 12-2 or 1-3. He has also woke odd times through the night and needed a bottle to settle him . Last night i introduced super about half 6 to stop ridiculous nightime feed and it worked last night but he still woke at 5.30 grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

jacsingh · 29/02/2008 21:59

My DD is 24 months and is also waking without fail at 5am every morning. She has always been a terrible sleeper at night & we have tried several solutions. She is now in her own bed and sleeping in a room with her siblings so leaving her to cry it out is not an option for us. When she wakes she makes her own way to our bed and I have tried resettling her back into her bed (rapid return technique) and this has reduced her wakenings but if I for one night give in & let her sleep in with us she lies in the bed shuffling around until I cant stand it any more and get up. I feel like the walking dead & with 2 other children to look after feel absolutely shattered permanently. DD usually has a nap around 11 for anything upto 90 mins so will consider trying to cut this back and she already goes to bed with her siblings around 8-8.30pm so no solution there. I have been told repeatedly that she could be waking because she is cold but I cannot see this as the case. Sorry not much advice here only wanted to let you that you are not suffering alone. Please let me know me know if you find a solution. xx

rachaelsara · 29/02/2008 22:01

My little dd's have fairy lights on a timer, and they aren't allowed to wake us up until the lights go out.

Nappyzone · 29/02/2008 22:03

I am wishing his babyhood away lol till the day he understands he is a monster lol !

frumpygrumpy · 01/03/2008 11:19

There have been many sleep issues in this house and my advice would be to trim the day sleeps to no more than an hour, always awake before 3pm. And continuity. You can't send a mixed message. If children are up when they shouldn't be, I deal with the issue in their room, in the dark and very very quietly. If you don't want them sleeping in your bed then never allow it. I can't sleep with children in the bed so I always let them in in the morning for a cuddle and stories etc.

Adopt Mary Poppins attitude during the night "its sleeping time darling, good night" and repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat. It does work eventually but you have to have continuity and prepare for a long haul.

Nappyzone · 01/03/2008 20:09

I was prepared last night but d and vommiting came back - urghhh!

Original poster

GColdtimer · 02/03/2008 07:44

Thanks for all your messages and sympathies for all of you with poor sleepers. I think I am badly off and then I hear about all of you with more than one to deal with!

I cut her nap back to an hour yesterday, put her in bed at 7.30 and she was asleep by 8. She woke at 6 so much better.

Thanks for the link to the book frumpygrumpy, I will have a look at that. DD has always been a bad sleeper and if I am ever going to contemplate number 2, I really want to understand a bit more about sleep patterns!

OP posts:

choklit · 02/03/2008 08:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Wallace · 02/03/2008 08:08

My ds2 started waking early when the clocks went back (from 5.30 to 4.30!) and we had 3 months of that. Luckily he has recently been waking later.

I wonder if your dd will start waking later when the clocks go forward?

Nappyzone · 02/03/2008 12:50

i cant wait for the clocks to go forward!!!

Swaliswan · 02/03/2008 13:25

Another vote here for an earlier bedtime. Our DD definitely sleeps later in the morning when she goes to bed quite alert. This also means that her naps the next day are better structured so that she is going to bed less tired the next day and you get into a good cycle.

MrsMattie · 02/03/2008 13:31

Sympathy from me, but we never managed to solve it, it solved itself. Around the age of 2 yrs old he started waking up at 6am-ish, then by 2 and a half it was 7am or later sometimes. Nothing we did or didn't do. Sorry, that's not much help is it? But light at the end of the tunnel, hopefully...

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