Can't handle the 5am wake ups anymore!

[LindaB]

Seriously....Isabella is up between 5:00 and 5:30 EVERYDAY! It doesn't matter what time she goes to sleep OR how many night wake up's she's had. I'm ALMOST at my wits end here. This morning it was 5:15. How can I get her to sleep a LITTLE bit later??

Linda

[debo620]

Hi Linda, can you post her typical day with the 5am wakes? and how old is your daughter?

[LindaB]

Isabella will be 2 years old on September 1st. Sleeping through the night is still hit or miss for her. When she wakes in the night I usually give her a bottle with about 5 ounces of milk in it. She'll drink that and go right back to sleep, but then by 5:30 am she's up for the day.
We usually leave her in her crib until close to 6:30 am. Then either DH or I will get her, change and get her dressed and bring her into our bedroom so she can play/watch tv while we get ready for work.

Breakfast : 8am
Snack: 10am
Lunch: 11:45 am
Nap: 12:30-2:30
Milk: 2:30pm
Snack: 3:00 pm
Dinner: 5:30 pm
Bed: 7:45-8:00pm

[debo620]

ok, a few things:

I would think she is a bit overtired right now and hence the early wakings. with a 5am wake and a 8pm bedtime, that is a very long day.

I would actually bring you schedule forward a bit and just work slightly with the 5am wakes. I would think that 6am could be a considered a reasonable wake time, so maybe choose that time as your goal.

wake 6
nap 11:30-1:30
bedtime and asleep by 7pm at the latest.
she may keep waking as early as 5/5:30 but she will be getting more sleep and I think that as she becomes better rested, she will sleep a little later--maybe til 6am, and then you can slowly stretch back to a 7:30 bedtime.

I think at 2yrs old 12.5 hrs total would be about right.

[LindaB]

When we try and put her down for a nap earlier than 12:30 she plays and plays and doesn't fall asleep until then anyway. I think her body is so accustomed to the 12:30-2:30 naptime that she easily falls asleep at that time. I do agree about the earlier bedtime though. By the time we get home from work and have dinner it's close to 7. We always start the bedtime routine (bath, story, milk, bed) shortly after 7 anyway. It's just hit or miss when she falls asleep. Last night she was in her crib by 7:50pm and asleep by 8:20ish. Maybe tonight I'll aim to have her in the crib by 7:30, that way even if it takes her 20 minutes to fall asleep it'll still be before 8.

Also, I can handle the early mornings if she didn't still wake during the night. That's the killer.
Linda

[Layla]

Linda, my Isabella cut her nap to 1.5hrs around the age of 2. You might want to try cut her nap to 1.5hrs so that she is more ready for bed & those hours add to nights.

I agree with Deb in that you should try & work with the early starts for a while (so earlier nap & bedtime). What does she do leading up to the nap? Do you do a windown routine at all? What does she do leading up to bedtime? What about doing a longer wind down at night so she is more ready for bed. Does she watch any tv?

Who looks after her? Could they give her dinner at 5-5.30 so that when you get home, you could read some books & in bed....

[LindaB]

She naps at the DCP's house. She usually waits about 20 minutes after finishing lunch and then just puts her down to sleep. She's so tired by that point, she falls asleep instantly. Before bedtime we do our normal routine. Bath, Story, Milk, Bed....it has worked well for us.

I have her picked up and home from daycare by 5pm but then I have to get dinner ready - she has to eat! She's usually done dinner just before 6. I guess I just have to be more consistent with starting the bedtime routine by 7pm. I just feel so bad because it's so bright and sunny out, I feel like I'm cheating her out of her summer.

It also doesn't help when you have a mother and MIL who frown upon you for putting your baby to sleep by 7pm. "What do you expect? You put her to bed so early! Of course she's going to wake up at 5am!"

Linda

[Layla]

Dinner - yes, she does have to eat. Can you try to make dinner the night before. That might mean that one night you will be doubling up on dinner but that way dinner is already ready so no need to spend time preparing it. Or could you prepare her dinner on the weekends & freeze the portions & then in the mocrowave for a quick de-freeze???

Nap - you say she is so tired by then she falls asleep instantly... that would make me think that she is capable of falling asleep sooner. You don't have to make a HUGE jump (like 1.5hrs earlier) in 1 day. Start with nap 30mins earlier every 2nd or 3rd day so that her body adjusts accordingly

guess I just have to be more consistent with starting the bedtime routine by 7pm. I just feel so bad because it's so bright and sunny out, I feel like I'm cheating her out of her summer.

Well thats the choice you need to make. If you thinks she's missing out... then you could put her down at 7.30pm but these 5am wake ups won't go away until she is better rested. We're coming up to spring now & I will probably go through the same feelings. I try to give Isabella the opportunity to have ALL the fun she wants/needs during the day but come 7pm, she needs to go to sleep. Sleep is just as improtant as play/having fun. She doesn't know what summer, autumn, winter or spring is... she won't know that she is missing out. If she's at daycare, I am assuming they are giving her lots of opportunity to have a great time & be a baby who plays all day long (other than nap time). We have been conditioned to think that summer means being out on the beach & enjoying the sun until its gone... but honestly, she won't know any better.

It also doesn't help when you have a mother and MIL who frown upon you for putting your baby to sleep by 7pm. "What do you expect? You put her to bed so early! Of course she's going to wake up at 5am!"

No it doesn't . In one ear & out the other & don't tell people what is happening at home. I have been there & the best thing is for me to say everything is ok & then work out things on my own. I STILL get told that 7pm is too early, she's already 2.5, she needs this & not that... don't let them get to you. You are the mother & you do whats best for your child & your family. I can't imagine you enjoy waking up at 5 in the morning.... so the only way to correct this is to offer her an ealier nap & bedtime.

Layla

[mumofoscar]

Hi Linda
just wanted to say the advice the ladies are giving you is spot on. I have a serial offender with EW's with my ds and my dh was a non believer about the earlier bedtime to "fix" the early wakings. All I can say is that he is converted now, and knows when the early wakings happen again, if we go back to an earlier bed time, and we do about an hour earlier, he will go back to later wake ups. It can be hard to get them into bed early, but with the recent spate of EW I kept missing the boat on the early bedtime for one reason or another and they did not go away until I did early bed time, and after two days, bingo, later wake ups- but the EW's had only gone on for 5 days.