OMG!! What's with the early mornings????

[janelle]

I am a walking yawn at teh moment!!   My kids were sleeping until 7ish then daylight savings finsished and the clocks went back and hour >:(They started waking at 6am.  Over the last month though they have gradually been waking earlier and earlier.  Most days one of them is up by 5:30 am.  Yesterday was 5:15am and this morning Liam was awake by 4:50am closely joined by ILana at 5:15

I have no idea why they are waking so early but one inevitably wakes the other.  The problem is by 8am they are both soooooo grumpy and tired that the rest of my day is just miserable.  I have extended their bedtimes since daylight savings so they go to bed at 7pm and 8pm.  Liana quite often doesn't fall asleep til 9-9:30 and then is up by 5:30.  she doesn't nap so is only getting 8 hours sleep a day   Needless to say the minute she is in a car at any point in the day she is fast asleep.  Liam is napping horrendously because he is sooo overtired and  i am miserable.

Is there any way I can work to extend them???  The problem is if Liam wakes and I try and resettle him (which rarely works) Liana will be up and around.  If I try and get her back to bed Liam gets so worked up that I have no chance of resettling him.

HELP!!!  I feel like I am losing my mind.

[Layla]

Hi Janelle - having just gone through what you are going through, I honestly feel for you. I have been battling 5am wake ups for about a month now, since the time here went back an hour.

Jasmine was also waking at 5ish (her previous wake up was 6-6.30am). At 1st I pushed her bedtime to new time but I think this backfired lots and she started waking even earlier. I had to bring her bedtime write back to 5pm. If she woke at 5am at least she had 12hrs at night and was easier to keep awake in the morning. Her naps were at 9am and 1pm. I kept her awake till 9am, regarless of the time she woke up. This was extremely hard cause like your lo she was really tired by 7:30am. I then limited her morning nap to 45mins. This is even harder cause I am sure she would have wanted to sleep longer and make up for the lost nights' sleep. At the start though I did let her sleep for 1hr in the morning but for the last week have been cutting it to 45mins. Then 3.5hrs from the mornign nap, I put her down for pm nap. Her usual pm nap would start at 1pm but I had to stretch it to 1:30. Did this in increments... add 15 mins every 3 days. I kept the super early bedtime for ages - 5:30 the absolute latest. I noticed that when I'd go back to 6pm bedtime, she would wake up early again whereas when I'd give her an earlier bedtime, she would wake from 5:30 onwards. Her pm nap was totally stuffed as well, she was only taking a 30min nap and was absolutely knackered by 4pm. Kept her awake till 5pm and then bedtime. Kept the bedtime really early until her pm nap more or less extended. For the last 3 days she has been waking at 6:30. I have to say though if she wakes earlier than 6am, I gave her a dilute bottle of formula and then back to bed/ I know its not recomended but at this moment, its anything really just to give her the chance to catch up on sleep.

Isabella was also waking up at 5.30 when Jasmine would wake but I would leave her in the cot until 6:30am (her usual wake up time). I understand you probably can't do that since Liana is probably in a bed. Any way you can put a gate at her door??? Do they share a room??? At worst, I would put her on the old clock until the baby's time is sorted. I did this with Isabella and her bedtime is now 6:30pm in the chance that she will wake with the baby at 5:30, she has at least had her proper night sleep. I will change it back to 7:30pm when I am certain Jasmine's wake up time has changed back to 6:30 for 7 consecutive days (we're on day 4 now)

I would say Liana still needs her nap... any chance you can even drive around every day for the next week at her nap time to give her a chance to catch up??? Can someone help you with this??? Will she not take a nap at all at home??? Could you bring her bedtime forward to 7pm? She is probably too wired up to fall asleep and thats why it takes her so long at night.

Sorry for all the rambling
I know exactly where you are coming from. I absolutely hate the clocks going back and have never had a more difficult time than I did with the baby this time. Isabella adjusted straight away but Jasmine has taken 4 weeks.....


Let me know what you think
Layla

[janelle]

Thanks Layla.  They are both definately waaaaay overtired and needing to catch up on sleep.  I might try putting Liam to bed at 6ish and see if it makes any difference.  As for Liana I don't know what to do with her she is going through an interesting stage, wanting to drop her nap, not wanting to go to bed at night and some serious separation anxiety so I think I'll jsut have to wing it with her.  Anyway, I'll let you know how we get on with the earlier bedtime

[Layla]

Good luck Janelle. I did earlier bedtime for a very long time and waited 4 days to see any difference (improvements, that is). I would definitely give Liana an earlier bedtime as well, especially if she's up from 5.30 and is not napping. She really needs to be in bed by 6pm as well. Try that with her as well. She might be too knackered by nap time to even have a nap. Try for an extra long windown with her at bedtime and try for a nap every day. Even if she's not napping, give her some quiet time so at least she's getting "some" rest. Keep trying for a nap, I do think its a phase but definitely 8pm is waay too late.

Post back
Layla

[daybyday]

hey ladies...just lurking here...I am having the same problem somewhat...early wakings and one child waking the other....ack....the madness!!!!!

thanks for all the great advice Layla...