Early Riser

StellaAnn · January 2014

My 18 month old wakes up every morning at 6am at the latest. Usually earlier. Basically he is my alarm clock and then every morning is a circus trying to get myself ready for work with him getting into everything and whining for my attention (he has never been good about playing by himself). I end up throwing my hair in a ponytail most days and doing my makeup at work. Anyway, no matter what we do he wakes up at this time. No matter if i put him to bed at 7:00 or 8:00 or later he still wakes up at the same time. I've tried skipping naps, thinking he will sleep more at night. Nothing. Still up before the sun rises. I also feel bad for my parents when he stays with them when I have to travel because he has them up at the crack of dawn. Any tips? If you tell me it will pass and they eventually sleep later I can deal with it knowing that this too, shall pass. But the thought of going on like this forever will drive me insane.

jnnfrrose6 · January 2014

DS doesn't sleep past 7 for me. During the week, I just take care of what I need to before I go to him. He isn't screaming bloody murder and he knows I will be in there soon, so he can wait until mommy is ready to get out of his crib. I do try to limit my routine so he isn't waiting too long for me, so for now he just babbles to himself and his lovey until I get there. I can't imagine this not being a phase, though. At some point, he'll sleep later, even if it's not until he's a teen

BLPL101 · January 2014

Don't skip naps. Sleep begets sleep. It's the opposite of what people think but it's true. My mom was a toddler teacher and she's given me a lot of advice!

izziebee · January 2014

Can you let him cry a bit while you get ready? You may find that if you do he will learn to either sleep in longer or he'll learn to play on his own a bit. He's safe in his crib so him crying a little isn't going to hurt him. My DH travels often and I have to get myself plus my 2 kids ready in the morning. It's inevitable that someone is going to be left to cry on their own for a bit in my house, there's just no way I can get to everything.

janinekrause · January 2014

My daughter was getting up early for a while, and I rushed in there because I didn't want her to wake up my older one. One day I decided to leave her even though she was whining/crying a bit. Low and behold, she went back to bed. She was still tired, but once we went in, she was wide awake.

Is he crying when he wakes? Have you left him for a bit?

emberlee3 · January 2014

DS was up at 4:30 every day for the first 2 years of his life. I was losing my mind until I bought an OK to wake clock. I set it for 5:30 at first, and it worked like a charm. Now he can tell time, and the rule is that he stays in his room until 6. We also got him a sound machine because we realized street noises were waking him up. DD usually sleeps until 6 (also with sound machine), and I try not to go get her if she wakes before that. At the very least, I get dressed, put on makeup, and start the coffee maker before I go get her.

You could try the Sleep Lady Shuffle, which recommends treating every wake up before 6 a.m. as a night waking. Some find that delaying breakfast helps because then LO's stomach does not wake them early if it's "programmed" for breakfast at 6:30.

earlyspring1 · January 2014

I hate to say it, and I always swore I'd never be this parent, but if I'm not finished getting ready before they wake up, 15 minutes or a half hour of Barney is an absolute lifesaver. I try not to do any tv for the rest of the day to make up for it.

pb_bride · January 2014

There are a few things you can do that may help your LO wake up later.

1) make sure his room is dark and doesn't get bright morning sun first thing in the morning.

2) make sure his room is quiet and not getting lots of street noise (or even your neighbor's alarm clock if you live in an apt)

If you are doing the 2 things above already, then you can start with waiting 5-10 minutes before going in. Say he wakes up usually at 5:50am, then wait until 6am before you go in. Do that for a week. When you go in, open the curtains and let the sunlight come in. By doing this, you can slowly "reset" your DS's internal clock. Once he starts waking up at 6am, push it a bit later to 6:15am etc.

DS was waking up around 5:30am every day for over a month. I used the above strategy and was able to slowly get him sleep until at least 6:30am. GL!

vamomtobe · January 2014

I third not going in - we had gotten into the habit of going in as soon as we heard DS no matter the hour, because he would get really upset really quickly and then it would take a looong time to calm him down. So we'd been having mornings as early as 4 am. That was a mistake! If I hear him now earlier than 5, I don't go in, and he'll fall back asleep. I'm totally jinxing myself here, but within the past week, he hasn't gotten up for the day earlier than 5:30, and this morning, we actually woke up to our alarm clock at 6 am instead of DS! I was confused when I heard the alarm clock. It was so awesome. And definitely don't skip naps, the sleep begets sleep thing is so true in our experience. Good luck!

thatgirlnicki · January 2014

My son goes through phases of really early wake-ups. He usually up by 7 am on a typical day, but will have periods of waking before 6 am. We have found that he is often hungry and giving him a snack before bed usually helped him sleep later right away. I never thought of delaying breakfast as somebody else mentioned, but that's a good idea too.

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