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Original poster

Competitive early waking thread

290 replies

artifarti · 25/06/2009 13:57

Aaaarrgh! Between 5 and 5.30 since April. Every bleedin' morning. Nothing works. He laughs in the face of blackout blinds and curtains. I hate the Teletubbies even more now.

Can't wait for the Season of Mist and Mellow Fruitfulness and really dark mornings in the hope it changes (it has to change, surely?!)

It's not just me is it?

OP posts:
Indith · 26/06/2009 13:48

Oh and erm, SPB.....got any plans for walking around the woods near yours in August? House buying moving along nicely

MIAonline · 26/06/2009 14:11

Seriously you need to get some gro anywhere blackout material. It is a portable black out blind. I have curtains and a black out blind, but it still wasn't dark enough. Got some of these a couple of weeks ago and it has really worked. Just put them up each night (they are meant for travel) We have got an extra hour every morning! Worth the £30

Original poster
artifarti · 26/06/2009 14:31

MIA Thanks for the tip but I lined his (already thick) curtains with blackout material and then put up velcro blinds. We did get an extra hour - but from 4.30 to 5.30, which was better than nothing but not quite the effect I was after! Suspect I need to rid the guttering of chatty sparrows for maximum effectiveness - any ideas anyone?!

OP posts:
StealthPolarBear · 26/06/2009 16:46

A "No sparrows" sign?
Fantastic news Indith Just in time for my maternity leave!

MIAonline · 26/06/2009 16:55

Hmm, yes an extra hour is great, but I can see your point that 4.30 to 5.30 is hardly the desired wake up time

StealthPolarBear · 27/06/2009 05:34

4.15 this morning
after lots of feeding and pleading I finally got hm to lie down and go back to sleep at 5.10 - only for him to wake me up again at 5.15. He now won't leave me alone for 2 minutes, he will be watching CBeebies when it starts at 6 so I can have a drink and a minute to myself

sazlocks · 27/06/2009 06:43

feeling better already - we had a 5.45 start this morning which feels like a positive lie in compared to some. Only mitigating factor is that I am just past 9 weeks pregnant, feeling rough as &^%$ and it was my turn to get up booooooooooo

melmog · 27/06/2009 09:14

StealthPolarBear. You poor thing!
It was my turn for a lie in today so all is well. You have a nap while he's watching telly.

monkeyfacegrace · 27/06/2009 09:22

Right, I cant join in cuz my two are solid 6-7.30 sleepers, but I just wanna say well done to you bunch of poor mummys, I couldn't do it, so here is a pat on the back from the wimp that is me!!

Original poster
artifarti · 27/06/2009 10:10

SPB, poor you, that is ridiculously early.

5.50 here this morning but we seemed to have gained this advance by his complete refusal to nap during the daytime unless I'm pushing him round the park! Which is fine until the promised heatwave kicks in and then I'm toast (quite literally.)

OP posts:
dinkystinky · 27/06/2009 12:07

DS2 is an early riser too - 5.10 this morning (was 4.45 last night) with a nice line in chuntering away for an hour and a half between 2 and 3.30ish... sigh. He's only 4 and a half months - am really hoping this night waking and chuntering stage will end soon...

StealthPolarBear · 28/06/2009 07:38

Well DS went to bed an hour later last night as we were out (about 9 or 9.15ish) and didn't wake up until 6.30
Can't believe I never thought to try that! We'll see how he is tonight - going to make sure he doesn't sleep today.
He did wake for a feed at 2.40 for anyone getting too
Hope that fact that I am the first poster means the rest of you are having some sleep too!

Original poster
artifarti · 28/06/2009 07:41

SPB - that's interesting as we had friends round on Friday night and so DS went to bed half an hour later because he was showing off (only 10 months old and already works a crowd!) - yesterday he woke at 5.50. Last night, usual bedtime of 7pm and he's back to waking at 5.20. So, I think we will also try the later bedtime tactic and see if it's that or just a coincidence. Hurrah for your 6.30! (less so for your 2.40...)

OP posts:
StealthPolarBear · 28/06/2009 07:49

oh no, I was kind of hoping this would sort it all out. Can't really handle a later than 8pm bedtime!
I'll let you know tomorrow

dinkystinky · 28/06/2009 15:38

SPB - another 5 am wakeup here. Pesky child - its a good thing he's so adorable or I'd be putting him up on ebay!

Original poster
artifarti · 29/06/2009 08:31

Well, yesterday he had sea air, exciting new faces and places, no excessive napping and a late bedtime of 8.30. And the result?

5.10 this morning.

He is teething at the moment, poor mite, and so completely refuses to nap during the day unless pushed. The absolute last thing I need this week is a heatwave.

I really really want autumn to come now.

[big miserable sigh]

OP posts:
StealthPolarBear · 29/06/2009 10:20

Think I need to leave this thread before I get pelted with eggs...

Original poster
artifarti · 29/06/2009 10:24

Did you have a good morning then SPB?

OP posts:
StealthPolarBear · 29/06/2009 10:51

I did I'm afraid to say - T slept through from 8.30 to 6.30 - not even a whimper during the night! That might be the best yet.

Original poster
artifarti · 29/06/2009 11:09

Aaaah, you give me hope!

[nevertheless, pelts StealthPolarBear with eggs...]

OP posts:
StealthPolarBear · 29/06/2009 11:38

the only thing that happened was the 1 hour later bedtime than usual on Saturday.
So last night was half an hour later than usual but it seems to have reset the early waking.
Don't get too - he'll be back to 4.15 tomorrow

moocowme · 29/06/2009 20:53

coming on a bit late in this thread but DS 21mo got up at 3am this morning. i have drugged him tonight as i must get more sleeezzzzzzzzzzzzeeepppp.

mejon · 29/06/2009 21:25

3am .

DD is nearly 3 and has been waking early for a couple of months. Coupled with now waking in the night several times a week and trying to come in to our bed, I'm quite shell-shocked as she used to sleep through until at least 7 or 8 am.

Sadly, putting her to bed later hasn't worked one bit - bedtime is now 45 minutes later than it used to be and she is waking earlier than before. She had a couple of later nights last week due to one thing and another and was still awake and raring to go with the birds. Can she really only need 9 hours sleep a day??!!! (She doesn't nap during the day and hasn't done for 2 years or more)

aboveaveragemum · 30/06/2009 17:51

hello artifarti! I had a feeling this thread might have your name on it! Did I say something a week or two or go about ds waking up nearer 6am-ish, nothing I did? Ha! ha! Ah. 4.55am this morning. Do you really think autumn will be a cure-all? I've a feeling my ds is just born to rise early - and sleep early. He goes down at 6.30-45pm ish and whether it's earlier or later seems to have no bearing on what he does in the morning.

But, hey, remember when we thought they'd never sleep through?!! Ds still has about one night a week when he wakes up and has a bit of a shout, but we can usually leave him to it and he drops back off after a minute or two. Which is great, but with the early mornings I'm in bed at 9.30ish and have no life to speak of....ah well. Was never much of a night owl anyway.

Fingers crossed it WILL get better for all of us soon!

aboveaveragemum · 30/06/2009 17:54

by the way, we have electric blinds so ds sleeps in what is effectively an inky-black box. It's the birds, I swear it's those bastard birds...