EWs:Tips on teaching your child how to sleep past 5:30am :(

[Grants]

It's the second morning in a row that DH is getting into the cot with DS to try and teach him to sleep past 5am. DS has been STTN but he is waking up at 4:50am the last few days. Yesterday DH was awake and managed to catch him in the beginning of the wake restlessness, so he got into the cot and stayed until DS fell asleep again. DS slept until 6:10am after that. A miracle for us. DH did the same again today. It's only 5:10am now so we hope DS will fall asleep again. The question is: is this getting into the cot business at 4:50am a bad idea ? Are we starting a bad habit here ?

[shivi]

We tried that, at least as a method to catch up, but Oscar was already in the BBB by then, so a bit more comfortable.

I mainly remember this phase on hols in my parents alone with the two kiddies when E was 6 mths and Oscar 3 yrs 3 mths. This was actually the worst period in sleep for him. I used to go into his room and lay there with him (he was getting up even at 4am with the one hr time difference btw PL and IRL) and would sometimes get him to drop back off. On that holiday, me and my mum took turns going into him. Thankfully E was STTN for a long while before that (from 10 weeks, the little pet ;-) so it was just his sleep we were working on, as well as me staying up or getting up for the DF for E.

I would say, yes, its a prop but come on, you can't go on like this so if it works and DH is ok to do it, then go ahead for now.

S x

[anna*]

It's a tough one. When my LO was going through his looooooong period of EWs, I would for sure have done anything to get him back to sleep. Unfortunately, he never did. I'd say yeh, it's probably quite likely to become a 'thing', but if it gets you all a bit more sleep... maybe it's worth the long term pain for the short term gain?

Just an idea, maybe DH could do some kind of GW with it like to to start get in the cot and use a key phrase ('Go back to sleep, it's still night time'), and then lie on the floor right next to the cot, and then eventually just say it at the bedroom door? Maybe Miguel will get into the habit of going back to sleep and need less DH presence there?

[Grants]

Thanks ladies

 Good idea Anna about the GW. We have tried staying on the floor but not the GW. Staying on the floor didn't work. So DH thought that having the company and warmth in the cot would make a difference. Anyway... I'm sorry to say that it didn't work today. Yesterday was a one of DH walked in our room at 5:40am saying that DS was sleeping but after 3 mins he was awake again. By then Groclock was on.

Anna, you said you had the same problems with Stan . How did you fix it and at what age? I bet you are going to say that he stopped it by himself.  I have heard a few people say that their early risers decided to stop it one day out of the blue 

[anna*]

Stan was a chronic EWer from 10 months to 2 years. Never really woke later than 5am - his 2nd birthday was a real low, we started the day at 4.20am. He was in a BBB and once we got the Groclock plus a gate at his door, he started to go back to sleep. At 26 months he was getting a couple of hours MORE sleep in 24 hrs than he was at 14 months.

[shivi]

well Oscar never outgrew it, it did get better (6am rather than 4,30-5am) but he outgrew needing us for that first hour or two, thanks to training in that area

we were on a playdate that got out of hand and very late this evening, oscar in bed for just before 9pm....will see what this night brings. A car nap may be in order at the ripe old age of 5.5 almost ;-)

Swimming lessons 5,30 tomorrow evening so no chance of sleeping for the night before 7pm...

s x

[irish3680]

I have early risers too (5:30-6:30 am), once in a while later than this but that is occassional. I am an early bird and do much better with an early bedtime and earlier start to the day too. My kids have always preferred and done best with early bedtimes. For a long time I was trying to fix their EW and most of the things I did (later naps & bedtimes, longer A times before bed, shortening naps, etc) just made things worse. Once I accepted it and started making naps and bedtimes based on their earlier days, the amount of sleep increased and they were much happier and well-rested. For me the key has always been early bedtimes, everyone is in bed by 6 pm here. I have my time then and am usually in bed by 8:30/9 pm. It did take some time to get adjusted to this earlier schedule, especially because it is often "off" of what other people do but I know now that it's what works for our family and I go with it.  ;)It did take some training to get them to a point where they wait in their beds quietly until I get them up, but it has definitely been worth it. My 2.5 year olds routine is:

6/6:30: wake up, out of bed at 7 am
11/11:30: nap (usually sleeps 1.5 hours waking on her own)
5:30/6: bed

[Grants]

Thanks for sharing Shannon, your 2.5 YO has a really good routine. It's a bit more complicated over this side. My son is very irregular with his sleep and he is also low sleep needs, so he would * never * go to bed at 6 with 1.5 hour nap at 11:30. We also had loads of issues with NWs and he has just finally stopped having NWs. Phew!

Ladies,

I had an idea. What do you think about taking the groclock away for a week or so and re-start from scratch? I'm not 100% sure about it yet but I would like to know what you think about it. This morning he could have slept longer but as soon as he saw the sun, even though the sun is covered with a cloth, he wanted out the cot. It's hard to know what to do as he loves the clock. It's part of our BT routine to say good night to the sun. Plus it would be so hard for him to know what time to get up without the clock as it's pitch black until 6:50am. We are not asking much from him. We only need him to wake up at 6am instead of 5am. On week days DH has to leave the house at 7am, so 6am is a good time for all of us to get ready and have breakfast.

[shivi]

I have taken Oscar's away over the years and also moved the time later or earlier depending on my aim - realistic or not.

We had a 7.10 waking this morning, so just under 10 hrs sleep. But decent behaviour all day apart from one horrendous scream when collecting conkers with his sister and feeling hard-done-by when I found one for Emma :-((((

Swimming lessons 5-6, sandwich in the dressing room, glass of milk and they were both asleep well before 7. Its all I can hope for....an 11 hr night this way from him ;-)

We used to do crazy early bedtimes of 6,6.30 but when Oscar was at his worst (nap dropping and doing catnaps on way home from nursery at 1pm for 20-30mins only) and a 6pm bedtime we still got crazy EWings of 5-5.30.

S x