do you think he is an early waker or just in a habit?

[Khyan & Sahria's mum]

Khyan has been starting his day at around 5.30am for a fair few months now but in the past 2 weeks has decided that 4.50am on the DOT is the perfect time to wake. When this happens he is bright as a button and calls us over and over and over again until we come. If we don't go to him he will try and climb out of his cot (very dangerously) or start to scream.

As the wake is at the EXACT same time each morning - do you think it could be habit?

Should I try wake to sleep and if so do I stir him 1 hour before? Isn't this a sleep cycle though and if I do that won't he still wake 1 hour later which will be his normal time?

The other question is that he still struggles to go to sleep without us in the room, could this be a problem ? although he obviously can settle in the middle of the night because he doesn't wake us unless he is teething or getting sick but maybe when he wakes in the morning and is not really tired he can't just lie there until he drifts off again.

OR... am I just unlucky enough to have an early riser and I just need to deal ?

Please help I am pregnant and I have images of child 1 in bed at 7pm child 2 with DF at 11pm then bf at 3am then awake for the day with child 1 at 4.50am and then child 2 awake not long after that - that's a whooping 4.5 hours sleep for me  ! Yes I know I'm melodramatic and I have plenty of time but I think those early preg hormones are working overtime - LOL !

[elfin]

Hi Michaela,

As you know we have struggled as well with the early wakings on and off.  Myles would kind of go through stages of waking very early (4:30am!) for a few days, but then he seemed to go back to his normal time of 6:30am, which is fine for me because I love the early bedtime, and with dh up early as well for work there is just no way I can expect him to sleep any later.  I found I was just dealing with it as it happened and get him up because he would scream the house down.  However, during the last episode i put my foot down.  I stayed firm that we were not leaving his room until 6 at the earliest.  When he woke I would go to him and tell him that it was still nightime and time to sleep.  I would pick him up if he wanted me to, which he would because he would be screaming at this point.  I would just hold him, and as he continually asked for things, like milk, to go downstairs, for daddy, for the dog, etc.., i just kept telling him no and that it was time to go to sleep.  He would cry and carry on all the while I was holding him, but once he realized his only option was to go back in his crib and cuddle blankie he would.  This happened for a few days, and some he would actually go back to sleep, and others he would be quiet for a few minutes and start back up again, upon which I would do it all over again.  That was about 3 weeks ago, and since then he has woken between 6 and 6:30.  This isn't to say that another episode won't pop up again, but this is what i will continue to do if it does.

Hope this helps a bit!

[Florencia]

I've tried the wake to sleep method and recently i had to add a slight modification

since ds is still having reflux issues, and ped told me that reflux is tougher on cold/dry weathers, he might be having issues about keeping an empty stomach and that was the reason for early waking.

So I went 15 mins prior the usual waking (he was waking 7 or 710 am but ds has a really late bedtime, as late as 10 pm or 930 so 7 am was DEFINETLY not an option!)... so i went in his room when he was still sleeping and plug the bottle to his mouth. i was surprised to see he dried the bottle in seconds! he didn't seem hungry when waking... anyways, the first days, he would wake and be all cheerful but i stayed lying in the floor next to his crib saying night night, time to sleep, etc. He'd sleep again till his usual 9 am!!!!!!!!! now im sneakin in the room, pluggin the bottle and leaving. He's waking at 930 or 10!!!!!!!(knock on wood before i jinx myself LOL)...

Anyways, jsut a thought. If your ds is having issues of reflux/heartburn due to dry weather, that might be bothering hence, causing the waking at exact same time because of digestive timings. Worth a shot, sp. since you have plenty of time or trial/error and see what settles #1 before #2 comes along! (congratulations, btw!!!!!!!!!! )

HTH

[sacmommy]

My dd was going through an early phase last month, and I tried everything I could possibly think of, including later naps, earlier naps, shorter naps, longer naps, earlier bedtime, later beditme, etc.!!! I finally tried wake to sleep, which I think did help. At the same time, I was working on her room as well ~ she has asthma, so we added a HEPA humidifier, removed all stuffed animals, etc. I recall your ds has had health issues as well, so you might want to check out his room. But I would definitely give wake to sleep a try: For 3 days, go in 1 hr before (so 3:50 in your case) and gently resettle (if I wasn't careful, I would fully wake my dd and that would be it, so be careful ~ when she was just 1 year, I had to much more solidly wake her, but not this time around). Even though you have 3 bad nights of sleep, it's certainly worth trying.