For about a week your child (approx 3 yrs), who is an early riser anyhow, has been waking early (15-30min). Today, your child wakes 1.5 hrs before usual. What do you do?

[chlobo]

So DD normally gets up around 6am. For the last week or so she's been waking up between 5:30 & 6:00. When she wakes up early my DH usually goes in and tells her its not time to get up or that her numbers don't match (on her clock) and she needs to go back to bed.

This morning, DD woke up at 4:30. My DH went in a couple of times to get her to go back to sleep but she just wouldn't. I feel like once it's obvious there is no point in letting her screen in her room. Might as well get up because we aren't getting any sleep anyhow. I think its obvious it was an aberration so taking a stand today won't matter and I'll end up with a cranky child all day.

As a side note DD just started preschool & we are having some separation issues.

[buttergirl12]

We had this problem with DS a few month back. He is in a twin bed now so I would just lay down next to him and he would eventually go back to sleep. If I didn't stay with him he would get himself so upset that he couldn't go back to sleep. He never sleeps through the night. Most of the time he goes back to sleep by himself. I think sometimes he has bad dreams or is remembering something that upset him. Maybe your DD wakes up at 4:30 and gets anxious about preschool and has trouble going back to sleep.

Manja
WAHM to J 10/2003

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[cbm]

It depends on the situation. I have done both no. 1 and 2.
When I do option no. 1, it is usually 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. If DS is awake at 4:30 and wants to get up I go along because I am already awake at that time. Usually he wakes up between 5:30 and 6:00 every morning.

I agree that if they are crying and waking you up anyway, there is no point in staying in bed.

Claudia
DS 12/18/04

[JElaineB]

I voted for the first choice, but a lot of times if we let him come sleep with us he will go back to sleep, but not always.

Jennifer

[bcky2]

this always starts to happen around a month befor the time chage. for some reason my boys get their sleep cycle so out of wack. i dont know what i would do if my boys got up that early though :)

[newnana]

Thank you for this poll! This is so timely. DD is 16 months and has been sleeping through the night since July. This week has been horrible, and yes, I realize it's only Tuesday. DD woke up last night at 12:30 screaming, which was really weird. DH went to comfort her and put her back to bed. She was quiet for about 10 minutes then started again. Repeat 2 more times until we let her CIO for over an hour. She then woke up an hour early this morning doing the same thing. DH went and got her and brought her to our bed so we could all get more sleep. Then he looked at me and said that this was the last time we are bringing her to our bed... um, who did that? Does this sound like the time change issue PP described or do you think this might be something else? Thanks!
Michelle

p.s. I didn't vote because obviously I'm clueless on this one.

[californiagirl]

I like to sleep without a small child in my bed, but in the early hours of the morning, it is more important to me to sleep than to sleep alone. So DD trots into our bed between 4 and 6 most mornings, and generally goes blissfully back to sleep until at least 7. Would I prefer to sleep to 7 by myself? Yes. Would I rather have cold baby feet on my thighs than have to get up at 5 am? You betya!

So personally, I don't see what the issue with bringing her to bed is. We tried it the other way. It resulted in perky baby at 5:30 or 6 am. Since I tend to have perky DH at midnight, this does not work for me.

[jesseandgrace]

I would suspect something else entirely, that either it is time for a later bedtime or to give up a nap if there is one, and that maybe the child has had enough sleep. My dd gave up her nap at two, and if she had one she wouldn't go to bed until 11:00pm. Opposite problem, but totally sucked, giving up the nap saved us.

[newnana]

Thanks for the advice, ladies. I personally love snuggling up with DD and being able to see her as soon as I wake up. DH is of an entirely different opinion. I know that if we had brought her into bed as soon as she woke up at 6, she would have easily slept until 7. But we will definitely consider pushing her bedtime back half an hour. She takes a small nap at school for about an hour and then doesn't sleep again until night. I never know how much sleep is right. She pretty much always sleeps a solid 11 hours at night and if she's really tired or getting ready for a growth spurt that creeps to 12. Maybe that's too much. No clue. Thanks for the information, I didn't mean to hijack!
Michelle

[jennifer13]

My 3 year old, also a 6am riser, and also just started pre-school and is also having separation issues- ok this isn't a complete sentence-- anyway, she is totally exhausted starting school (my DH and I think it's like starting a new job, where you're so tired because everything is new and different) and I know that being overtired can cause early waking, so scary as it is I wonder about putting your child to bed a little earlier than usual might help.

Hopefully that run-on sentence made sense. :)
Jennifer
Mom to Norah 5/23/03
and Leah 3/24/05

[mudder17]

I didn't vote because it does sort of depend. If it's after 6 am, DH has been getting up with her. But if it's more like 4:30 or 5:00 like it was this morning, he'll go in and tell her it's too early. Often, her early wakeups are because she's hungry. So this morning, at 4:30, he went in to tell her it was too early (she's also in a bunkbed now instead of her crib, so she COULD get up if the thought occurred to her) and then he actually walked her out of the room to show her the outside and how dark it was. Then he got her some cracker toast (those mini toast things) and said it was time to go back to sleep. Apparently she ate one of them and fell back asleep almost immediately. All told, she was probably up for 5 minutes. She slept until after 7, which was pretty darn good.

Anyway, oftentimes he can tell whether it's any use trying to get her to go back to sleep or if we may as well get up. These days, for early wake-ups, we don't risk the CIO thing because she may just get up herself and we don't want her to get to that point. We're pretty happy right now that when she wakes up in the morning and is ready to get up (sometimes she'll play for a little while or sing to herself), she'll stay in bed and call for Daddy until he comes get her. We occasionally do the CIO thing when we put her to bed, but that usually lasts only about a minute or so (it's token protests these days since we discovered that she does okay without a nap and goes to bed earlier). Hmm...I guess that means choice #1, huh?

(Oh, and I will admit that DH has gone in with a snacktrap before because she was complaining she was really hungry and it was 5:00 in the morning. It turns out she had a few chomps and then fell asleep for another 1.5 hours, so I guess she just needed a little bit to tide her over. Is it related to other things like anxiety or something along those lines rather than hunger? Could be, but we're just going with what works.)

Eileen

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33734.gif 30 months...

http://www.tickercentral.com/view/6wrn/1.png

http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/p/dev317pp___.png

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33732.gif for Leah

[fauve01]

I have to say that i agree with jesseandgrace that it's time to cut some sleep. when i read the original post, the first thing i thought was "time to cut out the nap" (or go to bed later if the nap is already gone).

i didn't vote because the situations didn't really apply to us--dd hardly wakes early. i doubt she'd scream if she did--she'd read or something.

My DD will be three in two weeks and we have her nightlight set on a timer. she is allowed to get up when the nighlight goes off. i can hear her--"mama, the light went off; it's morning time." we just started this last week when she started sleeping in the big girl bed and she could roam (she doesn't leave the room-- yet). when she was in her crib and woke too early (rarely!) i would just go in and tell her it's still night time, it's not morning time and she had to go back to sleep. then i'd say night night and leave. she never put up a fuss; just said night night mama, and went back to sleep. She has a pile of books and animals in her bed that she entertains herself with before she falls asleep and when she wakes at her usual (acceptable) time.

My friends who have kids still napping at three are all complaining that their kids wake too early, but my friends are not willing to experiment with cutting the nap (my dd dropped her last nap at 19 months!). not that it's your dc's problem, but it's something to think about.

edited to say, have you tried an earlier bedtime? i know the Weissbluth sleep book says that sometimes earlier bedtime will help. sometimes it does in our house, even at age 3. overtiredness would cause more restless sleep in some cases.

good luck and hth~
Anne + DD 10-03

[newnana]

Thanks for the advice. DD is 16 months, takes one nap at school, goes to bed at 7:30, and typically rises at 6:30. That was before this week.

So last night I took the advice of some of the wonderful ladies on this board and putshed her bedtime back half an hour to 8:00. She slept until 6:00. Much better than the rest of this week had been!

But... The other thing I did was dressed her warmer last night. It hadn't occured to me that the house is a smidge cooler right now with the fall creeping in. I'm wondering if that had something to do with it as well.

So tonight we'll try warmer jammies again and back to her normal bed time. If that doesn't work, we'll go back to 8:00. Who knows.

You are absolutely right, Anne. When DD sleeps more, she sleeps better. When she's overtired, she sleeps terribly. We'll see how tonight goes. Thanks for the advice, ladies!
Michelle
(again, sorry for the hijack)

[crl]

Well, I didn't vote because I couldn't figure which one to vote for. DS went through a wake up at 4 am phase at about age 2 (can't really remember anymore). With my child, if you let him get up once at 4am, he will keep doing it and even try moving it earlier and earlier. Sounds like your DD is not this way so what we did might not be that relevant.

I eventually got an alarm clock for him and set it for wake-up time (first 5am and gradually moved it later). He was/is absolutely not allowed to get up before the alarm went off. The only exceptions were/are fever, vomit or leaking/poopy diaper. I did not give him any food or his milk because I did not want him to get use to eating then. He always has water in his bed with him so he can drink if he is thirsty. I would stay in his room with him, but not talk to him or interact, beyond my initial check to make sure he was okay. Eventually I changed it to not staying with him. Now I just go in and check on him and say something like "quiet until your alarm goes off."

So, it's not crying it out, but I do not let him get up early either.

[crl]

Well, I didn't vote because I couldn't figure which one to vote for. DS went through a wake up at 4 am phase at about age 2 (can't really remember anymore). With my child, if you let him get up once at 4am, he will keep doing it and even try moving it earlier and earlier. Sounds like your DD is not this way so what we did might not be that relevant.

I eventually got an alarm clock for him and set it for wake-up time (first 5am and gradually moved it later). He was/is absolutely not allowed to get up before the alarm went off. The only exceptions were/are fever, vomit or leaking/poopy diaper. I did not give him any food or his milk because I did not want him to get use to eating then. He always has water in his bed with him so he can drink if he is thirsty. I would stay in his room with him, but not talk to him or interact, beyond my initial check to make sure he was okay. Eventually I changed it to not staying with him. Now I just go in and check on him and say something like "quiet until your alarm goes off."

So, it's not crying it out, but I do not let him get up early either.

[chlobo]

We actually think the situation was caused by an excessively long nap.

However, at 4:30 in the morning you have the option to lie in bed and let her scream or get up. I don't think getting up would be inappropriate. My DH, on the other hand, felt that it was part of lesson teaching, that she needed to go back to sleep. How does one go back to sleep when ou aren't sleepy?

[chlobo]

We actually think the situation was caused by an excessively long nap.

However, at 4:30 in the morning you have the option to lie in bed and let her scream or get up. I don't think getting up would be inappropriate. My DH, on the other hand, felt that it was part of lesson teaching, that she needed to go back to sleep. How does one go back to sleep when ou aren't sleepy?

[crl]

Hmm, well if those are the only options, I'd get up. I've really worked for option three with mine, which is stay in bed and don't scream. (This has ultimately led to him actually sleeping more.) Of course, we were dealing with a repeat offender, not a one-time thing like this. . . .

[crl]

Hmm, well if those are the only options, I'd get up. I've really worked for option three with mine, which is stay in bed and don't scream. (This has ultimately led to him actually sleeping more.) Of course, we were dealing with a repeat offender, not a one-time thing like this. . . .

[SnuggleBuggles]

I'd just make dd play in her room by herself. I keep ds' room safe and full of lots to do quietly. The rule is that he has to stay in his room till we get up. Works great for us. We can sometimes get 1-2 extra *hours* (if he woke up super early). we at least get 20-30 minutes extra every day. This strategy may only work for us since we have been doing it since he was a little baby.

An alternative is a "nest" in your room. She can get up early BUT she can't wake you up. You provide a sleeping bag or such by your bed for her to sleep there. The preschool director suggests this to the parents and many seem to like this method.

GL!!!

Beth

[SnuggleBuggles]

I'd just make dd play in her room by herself. I keep ds' room safe and full of lots to do quietly. The rule is that he has to stay in his room till we get up. Works great for us. We can sometimes get 1-2 extra *hours* (if he woke up super early). we at least get 20-30 minutes extra every day. This strategy may only work for us since we have been doing it since he was a little baby.

An alternative is a "nest" in your room. She can get up early BUT she can't wake you up. You provide a sleeping bag or such by your bed for her to sleep there. The preschool director suggests this to the parents and many seem to like this method.

GL!!!

Beth