EARLY WIDE AWAKE CLUB!! WANT SUPPORT? JOIN US!

[Katet]

Rina we used to have cookatoos in the gum tree in our Garden, we pretty much back onto a National park, so get heaps of them, but for some reason pretty much only in the evening... or at least cos I grew up right on another National park (back yard was bush there) I am mostly immue to it & so now are the boys

I know what you mean about Childcare, I had much the same problem with ds#1 at that age, I ended up telling them to try putting her down for a nap after 1 hour if he slept 45mins at the previous time... he often had 3-5,  30-40min naps on the days he was there when he was little.

[rinajack]

She used to do that at care too.  But now she cried if they put her in the cot and she doesn't want to sleep.  I actually think they are a bit lost cause she is so spirited.  I think she needs help to transition from A time to S time (she doesn't need it at home, but I think she does when she it out).  I have asked them to read to her to get her to relax.  They tried it once yesterday and it helped, but they just seem so inconsistant.  I have even been thinking I should lend them both BW and Raising your spirited child.

Out here we have load of cockatoos, galahs and crows - all the noisiest birds!!!

[Jyates]

Hi not sure if i qualify but my dd wakes early aswell (what I think is early) Her normal waking time is about 6:15 ish once a week she may sleep till seven and twice aweek she wakes before 6. like this morning when she woke at 5:30 and when she wakes all she wants to do is play lol. But she has a noisey thing that is attatched to her cot which she plays with which keeps me awake too!!!

[clairewillsmum]

hi jyates, my husband is a fellow brummie too - when I can understand him! I know what you mean about things to keep them occupied - I have tried a soothing CD which hasn't worked for mine (ds2) yet but it helped ds1 when he was little. Another friend recommends classic fm for babies cd which she says certainly soothes her anyway! anyone any other ideas for things to keep them occupied which might give me just that little bit more sleep?!!! Nothing that could clank on the cot thanks, his room is next to ours!

[Lsmama]

Hi, all you early morning moms! I was just wondering if anyone BF/bottle feeds their babies when they get up at 5am? My 7month old has been getting up between 4-5am and, so far, we have just been putting our hand on him and trying to get him to go back to sleep. Sometimes it works (after 30min or more of trying) and sometimes not. I think that if I fed him, he'd go back to sleep for an hour or two. I'm afraid that if I do that, I'll be reinforcing this habitual waking. I'm also deathly afraid of daylight savings in a few weeks.

[JoC]

Hi Lsmama,
My ds was waking between 4,45 and 5.15, I did feed him at this time and he did go back to sleep straight away til 7. However, about 2 months ago (he is 13 months) i decided enough was enough. I did wi/wo for about 5 days and he started waking after 6-6.30 ish, even 6.45.
He was great for about 2 weeks, then about a week ago he cut his back teth and he has been waking about 2-4 am and screaming for hours, even after meds etc.
I am hoping the teeth will have cut thru enough now not to bother him so much, but he woke at 3.30 last night.

Think you may be better to get him used to sleeping later, if he is not hungry, sounds habitual if it is the same time each morning. Your lo is younger so you have to aseess if he is hungry.

jo

[Hayden and Violet's mom]

Hi,
I hope I meet the criteria!  My 7mth-old wakes 5:30-5:45 every morning.  Once in awhile he will sleep later but not very often.  I have tried everything!  I don't feed him before 6:45-7am, I have blackened out his window, I put him to bed earlier, I put him to bed later.  I give him less nap time, I gave him more nap time but it never sticks.  Does anyone else find that if you change up your routine a bit it will work for maybe a couple days and then they are back to early wakings?  That happened to me yesterday.  I was putting him to bed at 8pm and I moved it to 7pm and he woke 6:30 yesterday!  But today...5:30...but that is still pretty good for going to bed at 7pm.  It was suggested to me to give him his two naps and then the catnap in the afternoon before bed but it is a fight to get him to go for a nap in the late afternoon and he just wouldn't do it yesterday...so maybe that is why he woke early?  All the women in my mom's group feed their babies at 5ish when they wake and put them back down but I am not willing to do this as I don't want him to start waking out of hunger.. and besides..I don't think it would work for him as he gets all wired after a bottle.
Crystal

[andibig]

Crystal
Feeding Sasha when she woke early never worked for us either . and it wasn't a habit i wanted to start either. generally most LOs (if i remember) drop their catnap by 7 months which is probably why he is fighting it. when does he usually have his 2 naps and how long are they. might be just a case of consisitency of naps.
Saying that i decide after a while with DD early wakings to leave her (as she wasn't crying) until a certain wake up time. it did take a while for her to adjust her body clock but worth it in the end
HTH

[Hayden and Violet's mom]

Well, as far as the naps go, it seems like I have been all over the place the last month or so.  He was napping at 9:15 for 2hrs, 1ish for 45 mins or sometimes 1hr20min and then I would have to take him for a walk in the stroller for a catnap at 5-530 because it was really hard to get him down.  Then I read a whole bunch of stuff and got confused and decided I would hold him off until 10am for no more than 1.5 hours for a nap and then 2-3ish for second nap and then bed at 8pm.  Well that didn't work either.  So after advice from some posts on BW I was told to put him down no later than 9am for no more than 1.5hrs, second nap around 1 and then a catnap in the late afternoon and then bed at 7pm.  And if he refused to take the catnap then put him to bed at 6:30pm.  They said he is probably overtired and that is why he is waking early.  6:30 seems awful early to me though!  If I put him to bed at 7pm he seems to wake up around the same time, give or take 15min so I might as well just put him to bed at 7pm. 
When he wakes I try to leave him in his crib and he usually plays for a long time but then he will start to cry after awhile and I am not sure whether to leave him or just get him?  So are you saying you left your lo until the desired wakeup time, as long as there was no crying?
Thanks

[andibig]

Crystal
I agree that when they start to drop their catnap an early bedtime is really important. I know when DD dropped her catnap i once had to put her to bed at 5.30pm so 6.30 doesn't sound early at all (LOL). so if he does refuse his catnap then an early bedtime will prevent him from getting overtired.

In regards to the feeding I was pretty certain that her waking was not due to hunger. so i would gradually leave her for longer periods. as she wasn't crying i never felt the need to go to her.

[rinajack]

Novel approach to early wakings here.  We have decided to embrace the 5am wakeup and walk the dogs then, We live in a super hot climate, and this will very soon be the only tolerable time of day to walk them anyway!!!

Must remember to go to bed earlier!!!

Plus her magic bedtime seems to be between 6 and 6:30, so this will work for her anyway I think.  Both DH and I are naturally early risers and early to bed, so maybe she is like this too.

[Carys' mom]

Just venting...it's been another bad week. Dd has been up between 5 and 5:30am every day this week. It's just disappointing because we thought we'd turned a corner. She had 2 days in a row with a 7am wakeup , and then several days of 6:15am or so. I know she's still tired, too, when she wakes up. That's what drives me crazy. If she really only needed that amount of sleep, I think I could come to accept it, but she ends up a total grump when she gets up this early. And so do I, and then I feel like a bad mommy . Thanks for reading...

[Carys' mom]

Ugh - last night (or I should say early this morning) was not good. Dd woke at 3am, and we couldn't get her back down til 4am. She then slept til a little after 6am, which was good at least. We put her to bed an hour early last night hoping that she'd catch up on some sleep and not be so overtired. Hopefully despite the wakeup, she'll be better rested than she has been. Maybe someday her parents will get some rest too .

[Hayden and Violet's mom]

Could someone please post their routine for a baby that wakes about 5:30?  He is 7mths and right now he does't seem to want nap at all and makes a big fuss.  I am wondering if he is teething.....red cheek and ear and suddenly cranky during the day?
Thanks, Crystal

[rinajack]

Crystal it could be teeth, but you should also check the temp - if that is up, go to Dr it could also be ears.

If you think just teeth, try some panadol (tylenol?) 1/2 hr before nap to ease the pain for you lo.

My girl is 7mo too.  Her routine varies quite a bit.  At daycare she has only 2 x 45min naps in the day.  At home she has still only two naps, but each one is longer.  Usually anything from 1 hr to 3 hrs, with the average somewhere around 1.5-2.

Our days look something like

5-5:30 wake up.
6:30Bfast - solids and bottle
8-8:30ish Nap
11 Lunch - solids and bottle
12:30-1 Nap
3:30 Dinner - solids and bottle
5:30 bed time bottle
6pm bed for the night

But the last couple days her A times have been as short as 2 hr, and yesterday she napped 5.25 hrs total.  I am thinking teeth too.  Some get more tired with teeth, so when she gets cranky I put her to bed.  it seems to work.  Maybe your lo is getting overtired - try putting to bed at the first sign of crankiness.....and good luck

Everyone.  We have been having 4am wakeups because she had a very interrupted night when we went out on the weekend.  Today back to normal wake up time YAY (that was still 5:15 hehe).  So her long naps yesterday seem to have taken away the OVERtiredness.

Hope you are all doing well, so glad to be back.