Early waking is causing a nightmare situation!!!

[nigele]

Tom has been waking between 4:30 and 5:30 each day and is SO grumpy (I'm grumpy, too, having to wake up at that hour and deal with a grouchy toddler!) I know he's not getting enough sleep. He falls asleep in the car if we go out in the morning long before his regular naptime. I don't know what to do. Putting him to bed earlier is only making him wake up earlier, putting him to bed later doesn't make a difference. I thought he was sick or teething and took him to the doctor last week but he is healthy. Argh... Any suggestions before I pull out all my hair?

[egoldber]

What do you do when he wakes up? Occasionally Sarah wakes up that early and I go in and tell her its not time to get up yet and to go back to sleep. 99% of the time it works.

I know this may not work, but its worth a try!

HTH,

[atlbaby]

Lisa,
I second Beth's suggestion. Arielle doesn't do this in the early morning, but if she occasionally wakes up early from her nap I tip toe in and whisper that it's not time to get up yet and tell her to go back to sleep. It usually works. I'm sure my whispering has nothing to do with it, but I do it anyhow. :)

Sorry I can't offer more advice. I know how frustrating it must be to KNOW your child needs more sleep and not know how to fix it!

-Rachel
Mom to Arielle, 10/30/01
and Daliya, 10/27/03

[Momof3Labs]

I'm right with you, Lisa. In fact, I pray for the 5:30am days lately because they beat the pants off of the 4:45am days! We've tried putting Colin back to sleep, telling him to go back to sleep, and so on, but when he's ready to be up, he's UP.

In our case, though, I think that the bottom eye teeth are causing the problem - they are taking forever to pop through but I think that we're finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

[lisams]

Oh man, we are dealing with the last bottom eye tooth to poke through and it has been HORRIBLE! She's cranky, waking like crazy, and wanting to nurse all of the time. I can actually feel the point under her gums - it's soooo close.

Sending some sympathy your way!
Lisa

[Karenn]

One of the tricks that seemed to have worked recently for Colin was making his naptime shorter or earlier. It wasn't so much that he wasn't getting enough sleep, but that he was getting it at the wrong times, so we sort of shifted some of his naptime sleep into nighttime sleep. (At least I think that's what happened- it's all really just one big guessing game I think!)

[jojo2324]

Lisa, do you leave toys in the crib? I leave some books in his crib, and that buys a little bit of time in the mornings. Also, I keep a special toy out of the crib, and give it to him in the am when he wakes. Then I stumble back down the hall. :) Even if it only gets me 15 minutes, it's still something!

I feel lucky with a 6:15 wake-up now, compared to you!! What happened to the good ol' days, when 7:30 felt too early? :P Good luck, I really feel for you!

[nigele]

I do go in to his room in the morning and tell him to lie down and go back to sleep but it doesn't work. Once in a while he will lie down and get quiet for a five minutes or so but just when I think I can go back to sleep, he starts crying again. I've even let him cry for stretches but he won't go back to sleep. Thanks for the suggestions. Please keep them coming - I'm willing to try anything at this point!

[nigele]

Ooh - maybe I'll try that. Currently, Tom naps for an hour and a half and when he wakes up, he nurses and dozes for up to another hour. I'll try to keep him awake instead of dozing and see what happens. Thanks for the tip, Karen!

[nigele]

Well, actually the only thing he wants when he wakes up is to nurse. He gets really annoyed when I try to give him a toy instead. I'll try leaving a toy and a book in the crib tonight and see what happens. Thanks!