Wake to sleep - how do I do it?

[Daniel's mummy]

My 7.5mth ds is currently in the habit of waking up anywhere from 6am to 6.30am.  I realize this is not such a bad thing but would like to try to get him to sleep til 7am if possible.  Every now and then he does so but I just can't work out why he does some mornings and then not the rest.  He used to wake up at 5 - 5.30 but we moved his bedtime to 8pm and now his waking has moved an hour later which is great.  I guess that if we moved bedtime even later it may shift wake time but I don't really want him going to bed any later than 8pm.

He generally naps well during the day (an hour and 15mins in morning and the same in afternoon).  He goes down so easily at night and usually we don't hear from him til 6am.  Am I asking too much of him or is it worth trying wake to sleep?  I talked about it with my dh last night and he wasn't convinced.  I think he's afraid that Daniel will just wake up even earlier and then not go back to sleep. :?

OH I should also mention he's not hungry when he wakes.  He just seems to want to get on with the day.  I never give him his bottle befpre 7am and he's happy with that.  I do notice quite often that he's rubbing his eyesquite soon after getting up so I think another hour would do him a lot of good (and me too )

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.  I'm not really sure how you go about the whole thing.  How much earlier would you advise I wake him?  How much should I wake him?  Is it enough to just make him stir or does he have to wake properly? 

Hazel

[Ade]

Personally, I think the fact that your DS sleeps a good 13.5 hours at 7.5 months is very fine.  I wouldn't ask for more  , but that's just me, of course. 

If you'd really like to try wake to sleep, you should gently touch or stroke him enough just to stir him a little so that he drifts back to sleep easily.  If I didn't remember wrongly, the time to do it should be around half an hour prior to his waking up.  In your case though, if your DS already has sufficient sleep, I think you might actually run the risk of waking him up for the day.  :?  Sorry, not much help, I know.  Just my thoughts.

[Jaime]

i agree - i think it does sound like your lo is getting enough sleep.  can you just let him play in his crib and then go get him at 7am?  if so, you may want to try that and see if he'll start sleeping later naturally.

to do wake-to-sleep, you usually want to try and go in an hour before the habitual waking, when your lo is in deep sleep.  stroke their head (or whatever) until they stir.  that's all you want them to do - not wake up entirely.

HTH

[futurity]

You have my son! He is also 7.5 months old and wakes at 6am on the dot every morning and has been doing so for ages although I know he can go until 7 as he has done before so I entirely sympahise!  My DS wakes with a huge poo so I have been trying to sort that out but no joy yet so I was thinking about this wake to sleep thing and came across your message.  Have you tried it yet...has it worked?  I worry that he would wake up entirely for the day which would be a nightmare as the 6am waking is disturbing the whole house as it is (I have a 3 1/2 year old son as well)..5am would be even worse!!

[Daniel's mummy]

futurity - I have to say I've not yet had the guts to try wake to sleep!  From most of the replies I got I figured maybe I was expecting too much!  He sleeps through the night so maybe I should just be content to get up at 6 :?   If it gets any earlier I may try.  I think the reason I'm a bit warey is that it's not exactly the same time every morning.  It varies quite a lot between 6 and 7.  I think he is actually maybe just ready to wake up, so if I did go in at 5, chances are he would just make that the start of his day! :shock:   

Let me know if you try it though as I would be interested to see how it works.

Hazel

[Deb_in_oz]

just try to remember that they are little people and just as they (and you) eat different amounts on different days, they also will vary their wake times.

sometimes it can be as simple as having had a laid back day and then getting enough sleep to recharge from that, so they are ready to go at 6 or so.  other times it might be that as they come into a light sleep they need to do a poo and that is it - they are up!  or even they wake at 6:30 that day and are interested in playing with their fingers!! it is all normal and part of them growing.  it is a different story if lo wakes at 3am and thinks he is done with sleep for the night - then you just want to resettle them so they don't get the message it is playtime.

as much as we would all love late start to the day babies don't realise this - only the textbook ones read BW and try to start at 7 - 7:30  :lol:

[futurity]

I was hoping you had tried it    as I didn't want to be the first one to give it a go!! With my son it is exactly the same time every morning...he was going back to sleep after change of nappy and his milk but for the last few mornings it is like he has adjusted having less sleep as he doesn't go back to sleep and sings/shouts until I go in at 7.  In his case I am sure he is stirring at 6 and then doing the big poo and then not going back to sleep as a few weeks ago (before all this started) he would wake at 7 with a clean nappy.  Not helped that he is teething which I think explains the smelly bottom!  I'm not sure what to do...maybe if I happen to wake up at 5 myself I may go in and try it but I don't know if I can face setting the alarm for 5...I would if I knew it would work but I would cry if he woke for the day at that time!!

[GraysonsMommy]

What has proven to work for us is to leave him in his crib after he wakes, to play a little bit by himself.  I am using 15 minute intervals and Grayson actually seems to be adjusting just fine to the new wake times.  I hear him get up and coo and play, so I leave him for fifteen minutes longer each time he seems to have adjusted.  To be more consistent, you can do this for three days and then increase it by fifteen more minutes for three more days, etc.  And I am feeding him right when he wakes up too, so this is moving his feed and wake time up a bit.  It works!

Jessica with Grayson - 16 weeks