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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:
SparkyFartDust · 30/06/2009 18:01

hello artifarti. I remember you from a thread some time ago about non-sleeping babies. I came onto that thread a broken woman and then again to brag say that my DD2 had sorted herself out and was going through the night.

This was a brief reprise and she's now back on form shouting the odds most nights, throughout the night. She also specialises in dawn waking.

MrsJamin · 30/06/2009 18:11

Ooh can I join? 18 MO DS has been early waking since his birthday (pretty much), at the moment it's 4.30ish, the average over 6 months is probably 5.30 though. I think I had one 3.30am but I was probably too sleep deprived to register the memory properly. Tried everything, early to bed, late to bed, wake to sleep, no carbs at tea time, shh "it's time to go to sleep", complete blackout, NOTHING WORKS. perhaps I need to be more supportive to others for whom this nightmare parenting challenge has just begun.

Original poster
artifarti · 30/06/2009 19:32

aboveaveragemum - we meet yet again. Yes, you can guarantee if there's a thread whining on about sleep, it will have my hand behind it. Did I also see you on a thread recently about your little lovely standing in his cot and refusing to nap? Yep, we have that one too at the moment! Ours were obviously fashioned from the same mould. Oh, and it was spot on 4.55 here this morning too. Now, I don't think that DS is a natural early riser (well probably 6am early but not 5am early) as he was so tired this morning that he refused his breakfast and was back in bed for two hours at 7.40. It is the bastard birds...and the standing...and the sitting...and the crawling...and the teething...blah, blah, blah...

SparkyFartDust - night wakings and early risings?! Now, that is really not fair. Poor you.

MrsJamin - I'm sure I remember your name from a thread ages ago saying you had found the cure for early waking and it was protein at supper. Have I gone mad?! (I have tried it BTW and you're right, it doesn't work!)

The only thing that made DS sleep 7-7 for three nights was staying at my mother's. So I might have to go and live with her. (I'm tired but not quite that tired...)

OP posts:
aboveaveragemum · 30/06/2009 19:51

Oh yes, the standing up wailing nap refusal thing... Well actually we do seem to have cracked that one - but it did involve lots and lots of shouting at bedtime over two nights, then he just stopped doing it... or rather he stopped the shouting, just went back to going to sleep quietly by himself. After falling asleep on his knees on night two (which I still feel terrible about) he seemed to just click that you DO need to lie down to fall asleep. Well, when I say cracked it... I too have resigned myself to naps outside in the buggy BUT have just figured out that if I park up under the trees with 10 minutes of ds falling asleep then he stays asleep! And this after 10 months of pushing him around for an hour a day (I never managed to get more than one nap per day in the cot). I'm actually reading books! Maybe worth a try? Timing is everything though, leave it 12 minutes and you're buggered. I'm sorry to hear you're going through it too, though. And am very scared to hear about the 18month old still doing the 5am thing. I think that'll be us in 8 months, because although ds is probably at his best if he wakes 5.30-6ish, at 5am he's very much into the day, and can keep going for a good 3 hours. Bah.

MrsJamin · 30/06/2009 21:06

Yes artifarti, that was me, I should know better than to claim a whole early waking theory on 2 good nights' sleep! Spoke too soon, didn't I?

MrsJamin · 01/07/2009 07:49

5.30 here. Can anyone do any earlier?

Original poster
artifarti · 01/07/2009 07:52

5.34 here. This constitutes a good morning!

OP posts:
melmog · 01/07/2009 08:09

5.20 today for little one but she went back in her cot with a bottle and dropped off again. (I don't care how naughty that is!)

Big one up from 6.10.

Woohoo!!! Best lie in in weeks.

aboveaveragemum · 01/07/2009 09:00

4.50

I win. (boo)

MrsJamin · 01/07/2009 12:07

well done aam, you won today's prize of unbearable heat (if you are in SE/E England).

mejon · 01/07/2009 14:07

I had a 4.50 this morning too. She did come into our bed and start to drift off again but I ended up disturbing her again whilst attending to the cat who was tap-tap-tapping at the locked cat flap with increasing thumps trying to get out. I can guarantee if DD sleeps through, the cat will wake me up !

Original poster
artifarti · 01/07/2009 14:28

at your cat mejon. I wish babies were as easy to train not to get me up early as cats are. Our cat used to get up at 5am, smash through the door and jump on us...so we fitted a lock on the inside of the bedroom door and piled up cushions on the other side to stop him scratching! Wonder if that would work for DS (maybe when he's a bit older...)

OP posts:
MrsJamin · 02/07/2009 07:20

Right, I must win this morning. 3.36am.

HerHonesty · 02/07/2009 09:04

mrsjamin oh no thats awful. we were 4.20 this morning. so knackered we both forgot it was our wedding anniversary.

Original poster
artifarti · 02/07/2009 09:09

5.55am. His best since Easter. Almost not early waking.

But if it's any consolation I woke up at 4.20 and couldn't get back to sleep and his naps are a bloody nightmare at the moment!

MrsJamin - That's a shocker. Today's prize must surely be yours.

[slinks off thread to rugby tackle DS who is standing in cot rubbing his eyes but refusing to nap]

OP posts:
melmog · 02/07/2009 09:09

Oh no Mrsjamin. That's terrible. We were up at that time but managed to get them both back to sleep so dh had a lie in til 5 and I did til 8!

No one is napping today. I'm going to be doing a lot of poking with a stick if I see eyes closing.

HerHonesty · 02/07/2009 09:16

does the not napping work, how do you keep them awake?

aboveaveragemum · 02/07/2009 09:18

4.45am - so you do get the prize MrsJamin! Poor you. I'm going to try limiting daytime sleep a bit, as that did seem to be working before... arti!

Original poster
artifarti · 02/07/2009 09:22

I tried the limiting daytime sleep and he woke before 5am! There is no rhyme or reason to what he does. He didn't go to sleep last night until 8pm as he was arsing about in his cot - but then the other night he didn't go to sleep until 8.30 and woke up at 4.50.

I think the no naps can work well, especially for toddlers. I know friends that have had success with the poking with sticks technique.

OP posts:
janjas · 02/07/2009 09:22

hi everyone, please can I join in! DD, aged 2.11, who used to be a good sleeper, now wakes at 4.45am (exactly!) every day for over a week now. I'm putting it down to the hot weather but I feel like the living dead! Can I ask, when your LO's wake so early do you try and get them back to sleep or do you just give up and accept that morning has started? Ive tried every morning for the last week to get her back to bed and all but one morning it has been a battle and she has point blank refused. She doesnt seem tired during the day (which is a bit worrying) so is happy on the amount she is getting. I'm worried that its going to start to be a habit!

Also, has anybody else tried the bunny clock? If so, does it work? Thanks!

melmog · 02/07/2009 09:25

Grapes from the fridge dropped onto dd1's bare tummy by 'accident' worked on tuesday when I saw her eyes close!

Will let you know if I manage it. Dd2 still needs a sleep but yesterday had 3. Dd1 doesn't really need one but in this heat she gets wiped out.

Going to de camp to the cool playroom and do puzzles and stuff to keep them going.

mejon · 02/07/2009 09:39

MrsJamin that is truly .

Slight improvement of sorts for us today. DD still woke in the night (she never did so as a baby or in her cot) so I went and sat and held her hand until she dropped off again and crept out. She came in again at 5 and I certainly wasn't getting up then so I took her back to bed, did the hand holding thing again whilst I lay on the nest of pillows/spare duvets on the floor and dozed(in case she falls out of bed as she's not tucked in in this hot weather!) and I was back in my bed by 5.30. She slept until just before 7 - so it can be done.

MrsJamin · 02/07/2009 10:16

It was so early because DS's room was still 29 degrees at that time he actually felt like he had a temperature poor boy, so he wasn't tired enough that he had to sleep. Blasted thick victorian walls. He's going to sleep in our room tonight as it's cooler.

Those of you who limit day naps, what ages are your children? DS at 18 MO seems just too young to drop his nap and he's perfectly hideous if he has less than 2 hours nap. I can't wait until he can understand more about it being night-time and that everyone else is asleep.

melmog · 02/07/2009 10:57

Mrsjamin. My dd1 is 3 in August and dd2 is 16 months. Dd2 is asleep now but only going to let her have an hour and then maybe half an hour this afternoon.

I tend to make sure I've got something nice and snacky for when I wake her as she can be horrid too.

Dd2 will definately start flagging at 4ish so that's when I have to be vigilant!

feralgirl · 02/07/2009 21:41

Ooh, for everybody who suffers as a result of dawn chorus hell, when DS wakes for a feed at 4am (which he always does) I whack on some white noise, really loud, to drown out the bastard squawking delightful birdsong. I downloaded it from Amazon onto my ipod and it's worked a treat for me. Without it he's guaranteed to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed by 4.30, with it I usually have to wake him at 6.30. I also have it playing through the monitor so that the feathered little feckas don't stop me from going back to sleep too.

Certainly beats the alternative which would have included an air rifle...

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