switched to big boy bed and now this is what is happening

[dmills]

I posted a few days ago about the switch to the big boy bed and you all were very helpful.  Now after about 5/6 days sleeping upstairs in a new room and in a big boy bed...he has decided to start waking up about half an hour earlier...10 til 5AM and also cries twice a night for one of us and asks to be rocked.  I know he must need some comforting right now with the transition, but we have decided not to rock him.  Instead we lay him back in his bed and stroke his back for a couple minutes...then leave.  That usually does it.  Is this the right move?  Any suggestions?  I don't know what to do with the earliy waking.  When he was in the crib, I would say"It isn't time buddy, and lay him back down once or twice...but in the bed he just gets out and throws a complete fit.  HELP!

[mari]

How old is he?  I think that you do have to try and let him know that it isn't time yet and lay him back down.  I hope that he gets the message, it's probably the change to big boys bed and his new found freedom.  I might keep Alex in her cot until she is 18 years old!!!!

[mrsrobbo]

We are havong this now too. Bradley has been in his bed for a while now, and these past few nights he wakes up twice. he doesnt want anything he just wants us. All I do is go in, shhh him, stroke his head, and tell him its still sleepy time. that usually does it. But he is waking earlier too now. He never did, but its only recently, I think he is teething again too....if you find anything that works, ket me know!

[Diegos Mama]

How old is your child?  I did a little reward system with my son when he was old enough to understand.  Earned a gummy vitamin in the morning if he stayed in his bed all night until we got him in the morning.  I'd leave a basket of toys and books on the foot of his bed when I went to sleep so he could play with them if he woke early and couldn't fall back to sleep.

[Diegos Mama]

Is he going to sleep at 10:00 and only sleeping till 5:00 am?

Is he napping okay in the bed?  We always do naps first in the bed for about a month, before adding nighttime sleep too.

[Diegos Mama]

I think I'm loopy!  I just thought of one more thing.  I also kept the crib set up and if my son woke early or didn't stay in bed I popped him back in the crib.  Sometimes I'd find him in there in the morning as he'd climb in by himself and fall back to sleep.  So, maybe make it more of a gradual transition?

[dmills]

DS is 26 months old.  It seems like he just needs some reassurance in the middle of the night.  In the AM, he is just ready to go.  I thought about the crib idea, but we are really steering clear of it, because he loved it so much.  I don't want to start another "addiction".    I like the night light idea that I read elsewhere, but I am just not sure he would comprehend staying in bed until it goes off in the morning.  We do go to bed early, as I get up and go to the gym at 5AM.  I just liked getting home by 6:20 and having him just waking up.  I am sure my dear husband liked that as well. 

[dmills]

Diego's mom...a quick question...Do you think that if I offer him the books and turn the light on slightly when he wakes a little early that he will then wake every morning early to do the same??

[Diegos Mama]

What time is he going to bed, waking, and what is his nap like?

[dmills]

Bedtime is between 7:15 and 7:30 each night and we have a strong routine.  I am type A, so everything is a routine:)  Nap is between 12 and 12:30 each day.  He goes to an in home daycare provider during the week (I teach) for 4 days and on Tuesdays he goes to my parents.  They all lay him down at this time also.  At our house(on the wekends) and at the in home provider he will nap for almost 2 hours.  At my parents, he naps until they wake him at 3:30, so almost 3 hours.  He is still in the pack and play there.  Not sure if that makes the difference.  He use to wake in the AM at 6:20, but now it is anywhere from 5AM to 6AM.  Never later!  We also rid the paci about one month ago, so he has had a lot of transitions. 

[Diegos Mama]

Hi again:

Okay.  What's happening to you, may be what happened to my Emilio.  How old is your son?

Emilio, shortly after his second birthday began 5:00 AM wakeups too.  The culprit? TOO MUCH SLEEP!  If you look here:  https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=46.0  you'll see that for a two year old, the total sleep time is 13 hours, with it heading towards 12 hours as they progress towards three. 

Emilio was sleeping 11 at night, then 2-3 hours during the day for naps and I always have to wake him for naps.  So, I implemented what Tracy calls, "Robbing Peter to pay Paul."  I decreased his daytime naps to 1.5 hours, and put him to bed .5 hours later in the evening (more like 8:00 pm rather than 7:30).  He's added that hour I shaved off to the morning and is now sleeping to 6:30ish again. 

This has worked well for my two year old.  If your son is younger than two, it's probably a bit premature, though I bet if you do fiddle with naps and bedtimes some you'll find a solution.

[dmills]

Thank you.  Jackson is actually 28 months now.  I have toyed with the idea of a later bedtime, but he goes down so easily around 7:30 that I figured he needed to still go down at that time.  He actually doesn't nap more than 1.5 for us, but you are right he does nap longer at daycare/grandparents.  Maybe we will give it a try.  I know so many people have bigger issues than this, so I hate to complain.  Honestly, I was just curious what brought on the change.  I did the book idea yesterday morning and that kept him in the room until 6AM when I decided to go and get him.  He was happy as a lark to get to read.  He just doesn't seem to need more sleep at that point.  I swear he is an early bird, because I woke to workout with him every morning at 5AM and continue to do so with this pregnancy.  I swear when they are in the womb, they get to know our schedules.