Support and Chat thread for parents of Early Waking Toddlers #2

[Colin Macs Mom]

Continued from http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=107489.0

Good luck!

[Melsy]

Thanks Jessica.

You would think after 4 years of early wakings that I would just accept that this is who my child is and give up trying to get a sleep in.    But I don't!!  I always live in hope!!!     Not today though.  5.15am.  Sigh.    We bought him a trampoline for his birthday, set it up yesterday, he had a good jump on it in the afternoon, I had fingers crossed when he was in bed by 7pm (he was pretty tired after being in the sun yesterday) and when I heard him at 5.15am.........well I just felt so......down.    And now my champion sleeping baby #2, who for the past 5 months has been sleeping until 8am has now decided that that is a waste of time and now wakes at about 6.15am.     There goes my fantasy that at least ONE of them would love to sleep in!

Hope everyone else is having more luck than I am!

Melissa

[newmom11]

okay, i've commented on here before but now i'm just confused and need some advice.  i have a 14 month old who has always been on the "less than average" side of sleep needs.  he's always been about a 6:30am waker, with about 10.5 hours of night sleep.  we've been on one nap a day for 2 months, but for the past month i've noticed that my son is sleeping less and less at night.  we are usually more like 9.5 hours at night and a 2 hour nap a day.  so less than 12 hours of total sleep...i feel like that's very little for a 14 month old...plus i've noticed that he's become a little fussier and touchier lately.  this could just be the new toddler phase we are entering, but i have to wonder if it's sleep.  his wakings are now more like 6am or even as early as 5:30.  i'd say we average about 5:50 everyday.  i could understand a 5:50 waking if my son went to bed at 6:30 and slept for almost 12 hours, but he's getting up at 5:50 after only 9.5 hours of sleep.  please help.  i am very discouraged and at loss as to how to solve this.  i need so much sleep and i hate waking up discouraged EVERY morning from a toddler who gets up way before my husband's alarm even goes off for the day.  thanks

[BensMamma]

Hi Everyone.  I'm new to this thread and could use some support and advice.  My 10 month old has always been a habitual EW'r, yet every day I continue to try to get him to go back to sleep with PU/PD...or lately, a bottle of milk since he's been sick and not eating much the night before.  It doesn't work though, he just lies there and plays, and sometimes cries until I turn on the light and get him up.  I'm concerned because he's getting dark circles under his eyes now, and he rubs his eyes a lot during the day like he's tired.  He gets an average of 10.5 hours per night, and only 2 hours during the day (2 one-hour naps).  I've tried moving his bedtime earlier, but that resulted in even earlier wakings, so now we're back to 7 p.m.  I'm afraid that 12.5 hours for the entire day is not enough, but I don't know what to do.  This morning he woke (crying...always crying) at 0515, and when I laid him back down, he rolled around until 0550, then started crying again.  I gave him a bottle and laid him back down, but he just cried and sat up/stood up more.  So, I did PD for the next 30 minutes until he was crying so hard that he threw up!  I don't feel good about this.  Is there another way to help him sleep without upsetting him so much?  Should I just let him get up when he wants, and then work on extending his naps instead?  Any advice would really help.  Thanks.

[RACHPEM]

WE are sstruggling with ew what seems like forever.  For about 2-3 months now we have been getting 4.30 ish wake ups and short naps and I have no idea how to put it right.  It went really wrong when we attemped btc and have not been able to get back on track since.  Maya has never been a good napper/sleeper and has only just sttn at 20 months!!! I cant cope with 4.30 much longer I am going out of my mind.  I have tried almost every combo and keep thinking maybe she just needs less sleep than the average kid.
Any suggestions?
Rachael x

[Sima]

Rachael, ((((Hugs))))
4.30 is soooo early...I feel for you. 
Going by the clock resulted in OT for us.
What is her schedule now?

Since my lo is same age, wondering if I can think of anything.

[Melsy]

Getting earlier and earlier here.     Was 5.20am yesterday morning.  5.10am this morning.  In desperation I have just splashed out $600 on blockout blinds (to go with his already block out curtains  ) but I am willing to do just about anything for sleep!!!

Mel

[charlibabes]

My DD is nearly 3 and has never needed much sleep.  She is usually 11 and quarter hours but recently slipped bck to 10 and half again, meaning 5.30 waking!  Do you know what I found has helped enormously?  banning TV or cutting down to 30 mins a day.  I read somewhere about how it inhibits melatonin levels which are needed for sleep/  In one study some children had tv and PC's removed totally, and their melatonin production increased by 30%!!!  It has certainly helped with DD and I bought her a kids CD player instead.

[james030405]

Melissa, I think our children are thinking alike.  I too, thought that after 3.5yrs of EW's I would be able to handle it.  During the winter, we were getting 6am wakings, which for us was a sleep-in.   But now we are back between 5/5:30am with my 20mth who also has been a fantastic sleeper waking at 4:30/5am.  I have tried everything, from blackout curtains, to milk, to letting them sleep with me,but nothing has worked.  I now just get up and start my day. By that it usually means an early cup of coffee while they have milk and a play and I watch the early morning news. 

I am back to thinking that I will just have to change the way I do things during my day.  Instead of catching up with friends during the morning and starting our playdates at 9:30am, we might have to do ours in the afternoon.  By 10am, he often looses it because he is tired and my little girl is ready for a nap around 10:30am/11am.  So I am thinking that the mornings can just be our time and go to the park early, go to the beach and have playdates etc in the afternoon with our friends. 

The only think that worries me is that James is starting kindy next year - he will be almost 4 (he has stayed at home with me until now) and although it is only a 5 day/fortnight, and from 9am-2:30pm, I am wondering if he is waking at 5am how he is going to get through the day without major tantrums?  I guess time will tell.

I do try and keep a positive spin on these EW's though.  We will never be late for school, we can go to the beach early out of the very hot sun (we are coming into our summer), we can have the parks to ourselves, they will still needs naps during the day for longer  I am hoping that this will help me.

I do like reading that there are other children around the world who are waking at these times as NONE of his friends are waking this early.  The earliest they wake is 6:30am and the latest is 8:30am.  Oh well, just glad to have something in common with other mums.

[Melsy]

James's mum - Are you sure James and Aidan aren't twins??     Aidan is also due to start a 5 day fortnight kindy next year and I too am really worried how that is going to go.   

5.10am today.      

Where abouts are you??  I am in Aus.

Melissa

[james030405]

Maisy, I'm in Brisbane, what about you?

[Melsy]

I'm in Brisbane too!!!     Have PM'd you! 

melissa

[Troi]

Hi Ladies, I usually find myself posting on here with questions, however as a mother of a serial early waker (5.30am latest for about 10 months) I thought I would let you know of my breakthrough.  It started when he was around 1 year old.  He would wake at 5 ish and scream the house down - nothing would comfort him so we would be up for the day - tired.  I tried everything, putting him to bed later, earlier, reducing naps, increasing naps (never been a good napper either) and nothing worked.  He used to sleep in a sleepingbaggy thing as recommended.  Well about two months ago he got his first duvet and pillow and off came the bag - he loves it.  Now, we are sleeping until 7.30 - 8 each day.  I let him nap for about 1 hour at 1pm.  I know its a long shot but just thought I would let you know.

Just remember - teenagers don't get up at 5am!

[nevviemama]

I was reading this thread and wondering Troi - what age did you introduce the duvet/pillow - was it 1 year or a bit later? My lo has always been on the low end of sleep. Up to 11mos we had short naps (30-45 x 2, sometimes skips the pm altogether and that means early bt) and multiple nw's. We started pu/pd and wi/wo at around 10mos and finally started to get 12hrs at 11mos. At first, we kept her bt of approx 6:30 (give or take 15-30min depending on naps) and she was sleeping until 6:30/7 am. But for the last 2-3 weeks (she is 12.5mos) she has been waking early - at worst b/w 4-5 and at best around 5:30-6. At first I fed her thinking she's hungry, as before the 11mos mark she'd still had a nf (and had stopped waking for it on her own). But now I don't know and I've probably created a bad habit. When I feed around 5, sometimes we'll get another hour and sometimes not. I put her to bed early when her naps are bad or skipped, but she still wakes at the same time so she doesn't get the compensation sleep. She is getting some circles under her eyes, and she always wakes from naps and night sleep crying (but is an extremely happy and amicable baby all day). Doesn't that means she's still tired? Wondering if I could try your solution. If anyone else has any advice too, would appreciate it!

[newmama12]

Hi everyone! I also have an early waking (almost) 19 month old dd. It's tough and I'm a morning person, but sooo not a 5:30am morning person!
J has rarely slept past 7am. She doesn't really have a normal wake time. It's all over the place. She'll do weeks/months waking at certain times and then it'll change again for another few weeks/months. She had been doing 6:30am for a long time. Now, for the past, almost 4 weeks she's waking at around 5:30am. Some days, like today, it's earlier 5:15! Other days it's closer to 6am. It's frustrating b/c she's not a good napper either. She takes 1 nap and it's normally anywhere from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours. Rarely longer than that. It's difficult b/c I don't know if she's ot or ut or what. I've tried earlier bedtimes, later bedtimes and she still wakes at around the same time each morning. We did do a later bedtime over this past weekend. In bed at 7:30pm and sleeping around 7:45p. She did sleep till 7am both mornings. But we did the same thing last night and she was up at 5:15 this morning. She does have a cold, so that could be playing into it. Although, she's been doing this for weeks now. She does seem to be showing signs of getting her 2 year molars. So maybe?? Or maybe she's just an early waker!