Do you wake your baby?

[shem2005]

Just wondering if you wake your baby to start the day?

We have always woken DD at 7am everyday, even when she was younger at fed at 5am.

She hardly ever wakes up by herself, i don't think she has for about 2 months (she is now 4 1/2 months). Sometimes i will go in at 7am and she is awake but i have not heard from her.

Just wondering whether i should be strict with the wakeup time or allow her to wake up by herself?

[stasztk]

I have always allowed my babies to wake themselves. I have heard that you should wake them to help them get used to being awake during the day and sleep during the night.

[Deb_in_oz]

it' s really up to you how strict you want to be - you might say that if she is not up naturally by 7:30 you will go in and wake her, or keep doing as you are and wake her at 7 every day and hope that you are "setting her internal clock".  that worked for us for ages and then around 5 - 5 1/2 mo old olivia started wakinhg at various times betwee 6:30 - 7:30 of her own doing.  we rarely are faced with having to wake her now as she will definitely be up by 7-7:15 and usually it is around 6:45, so i say enjoy the luxury but do what you feel comfortable with.

[Aarismom]

Deb is right, waking them at a certain time tends to set their internal clock and set their biorhythm for the day. It also sets up a sort of predictability for your day (unless your lo takes short naps when she's supposed to be taking a long one!).  Think of it this way: if you get up at a certain time every morning regardless, eventually your own "internal alarm clock" gets you up automagically that time before the real alarm clock goes off. It only takes a few days. Babies work the same way.

I try to get mine up by 6:30 every morning. However, occasionally she'll wake and want to start the day at 6, and sometimes we don't wake up till 7 and she's still sleeping. So really, as long as most days are relatively routine, it doesn't harm them at all to go out of routine for a few days. But I've found the more routine your normal days are, the more likely you'll have "good sleep days", although nothing you do makes every day perfect. 

Just my 2 cents

*HUGS*
Sonya =P