waking too early

[wools]

Does anybody have any tips on how to get my 19 month old baby boy to sleep until at least 6.30am. He usually rises at 5am to 5.30am. At the moment, we put him to bed at 7pm and he usually falls asleep between 7.30pm and 7.45pm. He has one nap a day around lunchtime of anywhere from 1 to 3 hours.

Do you use a blackout curtain? DD used to wake about 5.30 but we put one up at the weekend and she slept until 6.15 (i know, still early but a lie in to us!)

Wools, I'm with you on this one!

Except my ds is 4!!! and wakes at 5.20 am. We have black out blinds etc etc, we are both knackered.

Does anyone know the answer PLEASE!

Ssd - I'm with you too on this one! My DD is 3 and I'm 18 weeks preg with no 2 and feeling shattered! She wakes in the night to be tucked in again and her hair stroked which is just about doable but then its pretty much 5 on the dot and she is shattered - I have been taking an "easy" option of just pulling her in with me and going back to sleep but not sure if I'm making a rod for my own back.

DH works away in the week so I'm afraid I go for whatever gives me just a little more rest in the night! Was thinking of getting my little angel a bunny alarm clock a la Gina Ford and seeing how that works. We've had a long chat and revised her sticker chart and even promised a baby Annabelle if she stays in her own bed for a whole week .....bad mother? Moi??? SL x

silverlining, I always say do whatever it takes for a sleep!

my Ds has always been a great sleeper luckily he learnt to fall asleep on his own more or less from the word go. He does tend to wake up at about 5 but we have lots of toys in his cot and he just plays with them for a bit and goes back to sleep and usually demands to be up and about at about 8

Thanks flic23 - its always nice to know that when I am having a tough time out there there is someone who has a dream child! My DD has a room full of toys/books etc but when she is awake she is on the move into our room! and at the moment there is not a lot I can do to persuade her otherwise especially when suffering from pregnancy induced exhaustion and a DH working away - if only it was that simple! SL x

I thought I had a dream child - mine went 10 - 8 at around two months old, then 8 - 7.30 from about 5 months old!

Now as of last week he's up at 5...

I could cry!

My ds (12 months) wakes at 5 too. He's really tired and grumpy when he wakes but won't go back to sleep. I've tried giving him milk and settling him back down, but it doesn't work. I've tried just leaving him, but he won't go back to sleep. I have to get him up at about 6 and then he needs to go back to sleep again at about 7am for an hour or so before we leave for work/nursery. This always makes me late, but I can't send him to nursery without this extra nap as he will be far too tired and crash out at around 11am and then refuse to sleep for the rest of the day. Any ideas?

wools, is it a recent thing, the early waking? If it is then there's always a chance that the lighter mornings, birds singing is affecting him and you could try blackout blinds etc. or hope he gets used to the change and readjusts. If it's not a recent thing, seeing as the rest of his routine looks spot-on, there might be nothing you can do except let him get used to trying to entertain himself a bit in the early hours. Or you could try cutting down his daytime sleep just in case he's over-compensating there.

My dd's 2.5 and has been quite erratic re. morning waking. Up until 1 year old she was great but now it can be anything from 6-8am and I never know why or when she's going to wake up. Yesterday was 6.15am, today was 7.30am. And yet nothing was different in her routine from one day to the next. So ultimately I think there's only so much you can do.

5am is impossible though isn't it? She's never (yet!) woken quite that early. If she does then I always lie down with her and refuse to let her up until she's slept a bit more. She'd be hell all day otherwise.

otto, your ds is doing a classic thing Richard Ferber talks about in his 'Solve your child's sleep problems' book. He's finishing his night during his 7am nap rather than at 5am when he's hit a period of lighter sleep and got confused that it's morning. Ferber says you have to cut out that early morning nap, even though it'll mean tears for a week or so. I don't know if it works but the rest of his book is pretty good and I think this problem's been resolved on MN by this suggestion a couple of times.

The only things I have found to work are leaving them to cry (for younger ones) and training not to get up (for older ones). Can't get it as late as I'd like but ds1 (3yr 3m) is at least pretty good at not disturbing us.

Thanks mummylonglegs. I do have the Ferber book, but don't know how to solve this with the nursery. I have tried not letting him have that nap, but he just falls asleep during the morning at nursery which then means he refuses to sleep later on in the day and is an absolute nightmare when I get him home. I may try the Ferber solution over Easter when we have four days at home and hope I can get it to work during that time.

Well, my dd is now over 2 years, and she's been going 7-7:30pm to 7:30-8am nearly since 1 year old. I follow Gina Ford quite closely. She has 1 nap noon time, from about 1-2:30pm. So perhaps.. 3 hours is too long? I am quite strict with her nap time, if she doesn't settle, I still wake her up before 3pm, so sometimes she might only get 1 hour's sleep.
She would stir around 6-7am.. I can hear her talking, but then she goes back to sleep until we get her.

Thanks ChocCake, will try your tip of cutting down lunchtime nap in the hope he'll sleep for longer in the morning.

I have never done Gina Ford (too strict for me!) but I have been trying to get my dd to sleep between 1 and 2 aswell... it is the only thing the seems to make any difference and even then not much!

I have to be really strict (which as I mentioned isn't me!), it seems if she sleeps from 12.15 to 1.30 or something it just doesn't work.

I am trying black out blind tonight... she woke up at 8am (!!) on Monday, 6.45 on Tuesday and 6am this morning! Who knows what it will be tomorrow!

I have managed to get my ds sleeping later with the Richard Ferber method. He suggests moving their morning nap time forward by 15 minutes per day until their waking time moves forward aswell. My ds was waking at 4.30-5am every morning, and ready for his nap at 9am. MOving it to 9.45, then 10am, just a bit every day did help matters a lot. It takes a couple of weeks, but I found it did help. He still cries in his sleep though, wish we knew why!

Ahah! My ds has also been waking up earlier than usual - about 5.30am. I put it down to the birds as I remember having this problem this time last year (I only remembered this when I was talking to a parent from work and getting a sense of deja vu as I recalled talking to the same woman about the same problem last year!!). From what I remember, it just stopped as quickly as it had started. He was also waking in the night - right on cue, he has woken now, so will have to disappear!

erika, your ds cries in his sleep.. i find if my dd does that, it's normally where she's been too tired (not enough sleep), or been too active just before bedtime.

oh my word I could have written this post myself, was just doing a spot of trawling for some info before posting a message myself. DS is 21mths has a good bedtime routine (in bed at 7.30) and sleeps well during the night but pretty much wakes at 5.30 on the button - you can set your watch by it. He has done this for months, occasionally he will sleep later though but no clue why. Has black out curtains (has since birth), has cut down to 1 day time sleep, of about 2hrs, (although I've read that lack of sleep can mean babies don't sleep as well at night?!?). I am at my wits end, and I am exhausted. I know he is still tired when he wakes cause he wakes up crying, where as if he's slept out he wakes up talking. Having read through this thread, looks like we're stuck with it . Gosh just previewed that and what a ramble!!!! sorry but any ideas would be very much appreciated.

what time is he ready for his nap during the day? I find that this does influence what time he wakes in the morning! If you push it later into the day, it will take a couple of weeks, but it did eventually work for me. I hope it might work for you!

Sam here guys! I guess its reassuring to know there are others out there too. DD (20 mths) wakes 5-5.30am and will not go back to sleep. Have tried CC, have tried bringing her in with us, plenty of toys in her cot, have tried giving her milk and then putting her back down. Nothing. She's just ready for the day. I understand what everyone says about making sure her nap is after lunch at 1pm but having been up since 5am she is normally tired by 11-12. Its a viscious circle. She only has 1-1half hour sleep in day so not overdoing it there. Guess we just have to live with early birds until they learn to amuse themselves or get to understand the use of bunny ears clock!

It took me about six months to sort ds early morning problems. Wasn't helped by the fact my health visitor told me that babies wake up when they want, and you can't do anything about it. I was convinced that ds was just an early riser, but he is waking about 6.30 - 7 ish now, instead of 4.30 - 5. I know some children are just early risers though. I really feel for you. My ds still cries in the night, but that's a different story! I'm sure he just doesn't want me to have any sanity

choccake, thanks for your comments. My ds seems to be sensitive to everything. If he hasn't had enough sleep during the day he cries at night. If he's had too much, he cries every couple of hours in the night. If he's got a messy nappy he cries. The thing is, he goes to bed really well, he even waves to us as we close the door, and I couldn't ask for any better than that.
During the day he's really sensitive as well. Any noise that other children make, even the slightest squeak he screams. He is slightly better with older children, but I don't take him to playgroups any more because it just really upsets him. Anyone know what i mean?