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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:
13lucky · 09/07/2009 14:54

I'd like to join you please! I'm afraid I haven't read all the posts but I get the gist and this is definitely the category for me! Pinchypants - sounds very similar to me. I have a three year old dd who is amazing at sleeping - wakes up early-ish (or so I thought until I had ds!) but goes to sleep at 7pm for about 11 hours and then still has a 2 hour nap EVERY day. Lovely. My ds, on the other hand, does his own thing. Literally. One day, you'll think, crikey, he's got it. The next, it'll be 3am waking again...what's that all about? This morning it was 3.30am, yesterday morning it was 2.30am. Nothing seemed to work until I got him some milk. But he hasn't had milk in the night for months. I'm absolutely shattered and like pp said, the pre-school drive is hazardous! Good luck everyone for tonight!

fizzyem · 09/07/2009 15:11

Scene: Dropping ds1 off at nursery.
Me: Erm, he might be kinda tired and cranky, he was up really early this morning.
Lovely nursery lady: Oh? What time?
Me: Oh, 3.30...
Her: [falls over].

I can count on one hand the number of times I've been able to get either ds to sleep past 6am ... usually more like 5 ... and if one sleeps the other is awake ... and they always scream bloody murder. I've heard some children wake up and play quietly. How do you make this happen? It's been five years ... do I win???

heather134 · 09/07/2009 16:37

My goodness. Sorry to hear all this!! Not meaning to rub it in but my 22 month old son sleeps 8pm til between 9.30 and 10am. Also, often has a sleep in middle of day for 1-2 hours. I am clearly blessed.

radio4play · 09/07/2009 17:40

I feel your pain... after not going through the night until she was one, my little girl woke up at 5 every morning for much of the next year... unless we were in a strange house, in which case it was at least an hour earlier - HELL! Our record was 3:30 whilst on holiday; some holiday!!! She grew out of it around her 2nd birthday (so there's light at the end of the tunnel!) One thing to help in the meantime is putting a CD on when they wake up - "In the Night Garden" was what first cracked it for us (very soporific!) but anything fairly calm and gentle is good (e.g. Winnie the Pooh or Angelina Ballerina). Good luck and remember it won't be forever!

Original poster
artifarti · 09/07/2009 17:53

13lucky and fizzyem - wow, 2.30am and 3.30am! You are definitely in contention for the prize today!

heather124 - I'm afraid on this thread, you lose. But you are clearly blessed, indeed, yes.

Liking the CD trick radio4play. DS is a bit of an ITNG fan (although not sure I could stand to listen to it down the monitor for too long!)

OP posts:
HerHonesty · 09/07/2009 18:36

heather124 was that post really necessary. perhaps you should start a competitive long sleeping thread.

well today i had a slight improvement. 5.40 am!!! woohoooo

MrsJamin · 09/07/2009 18:37

DS went to 6.22am this morning - not bad at all and I would be quite happy to settle with it. He went to bed at 6pm tonight after virtually no sleep with the childminder, so hopefully this means a long night's sleep rather than troubled sleep as he went to bed so tired.

heather134, not sure that's particularly helpful contribution - like posting on a 'having difficulty conceiving' thread about how you just fell pregnant so easily! good for you but I'd keep quiet.

Indeed 13lucky and fizzyem, you are both unfortunately up for the prize. Poor you guys. DS has only done 3.30 once (earlier in the thread) and it was a killer day.

radio4play - nice idea, I'm willing to try anything! I just wish these were the days I was still BFing so I could just do that to get him back to sleep.

HerHonesty · 09/07/2009 19:39

congrats mrsjamin. did the extra sleep lift the fog that seems to dog my days?

Original poster
artifarti · 09/07/2009 19:42

6.22, MrsJamin - what a little cracker!

You do realise there's a 'three strikes (ie past 6am) and you're out' rule on this thread? Or a 'one strike and you're out' for anyone who posts "Oooh, my DC all sleep fifteen hours a night and even then I have to poke them awake with a sharp stick just before the start of Loose Women."

OP posts:
HerHonesty · 09/07/2009 20:01

ha ha artifarti. really really really hope one day this thread will be just a distant memory...

13lucky · 09/07/2009 20:27

I think I should surrender and let fizzyem have the prize as he did eventually go back to sleep at 5am after I gave in and gave some milk...not that it was much use to me as I couldn't get back to sleep until 6am and dd1 was up at 6.30am!

melmog · 09/07/2009 20:37

Just when I think I can legitimately feel sorry for myself someone comes along and ruins it!

13lucky and Fizzyem, I take my hat off to you both.

Here's hoping it gets easier for you. I won't moan any more. Honest.

wrinklytum · 09/07/2009 20:51

Oooh,A thread to moan on.

DD 3.5 has just recently started waking at 5am after a year of me being off work due to dh poor health.

Blackout blinds are pants.

We have just moved her from cot to bed in the last month (SN, hence her being in a cot so long) and she has figured out how to get out of bed,open her door and hang off the safety gate yelling "Aaaah,aaah,aaah" at ever increasing volume until I go get her.

I have to say I am beginning to get a fear of that blardy C-beebies montage "It's Cbeebies hip hoooray" or somesuch that they put on between 5;30 and 6am.I mentally replace the words with "Its Cbeebies...F%%k right off".It amuses her for a few minutes watching it then she starts leaping on me and squashing me and trying to prise my eyelids open.

wrinklytum · 09/07/2009 20:53

Meant to say...bang in time to coincide with me going back to work after a year off...

melmog · 09/07/2009 21:18

Oh yes, I hate that repetitive tune they have on. It's better than Lapitch and Corduroy on some other channel dd flicks to. It's all wrong at that time in the morning.

I'm at the stage when I look forward to Tikkabilla as it means the day is starting for the real world too!

isittooearlyforgin · 09/07/2009 22:23

can't believe you guys are terming 2.30 as morning! it is definately still night time!!

aboveaveragemum · 10/07/2009 05:47

Yay MrsJamin! And some extra-strength coffee for the rest of us (apart from smug lady). 5.30 this morning! Whoop! Whoop! Though he did wake briefly at 1.30am - so maybe that was why. Or was it because I left the hall light on for once? (desperate for anything to make it happen again!).

By the way, totally off topic but I know some of us have ds's the same age (10 months). Mine has started whacking me round the face- patting me lovingly but very energetically. I've been trying to say No, and to show him how to do it gently, but when it's at 5am I'm not in my best patient mum mode. Any tips? Anyone else? Should I start a competitive whacking thread? But itùs only here that I feel understood!

isittooearlyforgin · 10/07/2009 06:40

aboveaverage - can sympathise - is one thing being woken up at 5, another to be whacked around the face for your troubles! My ds was very whingey when he woke this morning at 5 which made me want to scream "Then why are you awake?!- you're obviously tired, I'm tired, let's all just go back to sleep" alas, to no avail!!
I would do just what you have but also start putting baby straight down if he you have been holding him - same sort of response for biting during bfeeding.

Original poster
artifarti · 10/07/2009 06:53

Morning All! [snatches coffee from aboveaveragemum and bangs pans loudly outside the house of Heather134] - 5.30, that's an improvement! Agree with isittooearly about the slapping-deterrent. DS went through a 'hilarious' phase of biting my jawline with his four nasty gnashers. Perhaps just say no, put him straight down, keep it boring so he doesn't think it's a game.

5.20 for us. Boring. Think he might have been a bit cold as he pooped on his sleeping bag yesterday so had to wear a very light one. And it's relatively nippy here this morning. Last week in the heatwave he was sleeping later, so might have to start swaddling him in tinfoil or something [joke, obviously...]

We're off to a wedding tomorrow and so DS will probably be going to bed later and in our minging travelodge luxury boutique hotel. So that will no doubt be in-ter-esting...

OP posts:
isittooearlyforgin · 10/07/2009 06:58

do you suppose it is too early for gin? Surely would make either me or him sleep?

Original poster
artifarti · 10/07/2009 07:03

Never too early for gin. I'd give the tonic a miss at this time though...

OP posts:
isittooearlyforgin · 10/07/2009 07:07

good idea! wouldn't want to over do it!!
Only an hour more of cbeebies before i can crawl back to bed and dh (who has day off) can reasonably be woken up to take over!!

MrsJamin · 10/07/2009 07:34

6-something this morning, I think he only didn't go back to sleep because he'd done a huge poo.

I wonder whether cbeebies could put on a special early-wakers program at 5.30am, being a bit more sympathetic and giving us reminders that "this too is just a phase".

OrangeKnickers · 10/07/2009 09:13

Can I join in too? We had a pretty good sleeping baby in the first year, with Amby and swaddling. We moveed him to a big bed and he's now 2 and thinks that 5am is morning. Whch is terrible! I know some of you have it worse but 5am for me is a killer.

We get up at 6am to get ready for CM/work anyway but the lack of the hour kills me.

He goes to bed at about 7pm then is asleep at about 8pm. I used to be able to leave him but now it's 'mama mama mama mama!' and I have to stay till he falls asleep.

We got a bunny clock - the kidsleep one and used it with a sticker reward chart. It worked well for about 2 weeks but now we are back to 5am. There are spanish style security blinds in ds' room so it's inky black.

I was thinking that mayeb it's because I work four days a week and ds was getting up early to spend more time with me, so am relieved to see that SAHM mums suffering the same [selfish emoticon].

I am considering making 5am the family wake up time. Jesus.

sorry for long post!

melmog · 10/07/2009 12:30

Bugger. Back to half four this morning. Nothing works!!!
At lease it was my turn for a lie in.

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