Early morning wake up

[KimS]

I almost feel guilty asking for some guidance on this, since overall my 1 year old son sleeps so good, but...I'm tired! He wakes up between 4-5 AM about 50% of the time and is wide awake and ready for the day. He goes to bed every night no later than 6, and falls right asleep with no crying. He naps OK, a total of about 2 hours during the day (nap times are 8:00 and 12:00). I just can not seem to get him to sleep past the 4-5:00 am time. I have tried a slightly later bed time, but all it does is cause him to sleep that amount of time less, it does not impact his wake time. Our schedule does require that he would have to get up around 6:15 anyway, so I end up just getting up with him since it's so close that that time already. Any suggestions, or should I just be happy that he sleeps like he does?

[jgriffin]

Welcome to the Board!

Have you tried room-darkening shades? It could be that the sunlight is waking him up that early. Is he ok just hanging out in his crib for a bit on his own? I put E to bed with a sippy of water and a book (and a varying number of stuffies), and unless he is crying I don't go into his room until about 7-7.30. He usually just babbles to himself and plays until I go in, so I can often get a little more sleep, or at least get a start on the morning.

HTH!

Jen

[eliasmom]

DD has gone through some stages where she would wake up around 5-5:30am and unless she is sick, I don't go to her until 6:45 or 7:00 (mostly 7:00). She talks and giggles and plays with her stuffed animals for that time. Sometimes she falls back asleep. If he has to get up at 6:15, maybe see what he does if you let him hang out until then.

And ITA about the later bedtime not making them sleep any later. The rare times when DD is up past her normal bedtime of 6:30, she wakes up at exactly the same time in the morning ;)

I would say that your son is clearly getting enough sleep to function properly and he is napping well, so the issue is whether you want to try to sleep later for your own comfort/enjoyment/ability to function. I don't do well before about 6:30am, so that's my cutoff unless there is some reason to go to DD earlier. BTW, sometimes she doesn't want to leave her crib when I go to her in the morning after she has been playing and chatting with herself - she just wants me to hang out in her room. It makes me laugh.

[DrSally]

Ds used to and still does wake up around 4-5 but goes back to sleep until 6ish. I think it might be one of those natural waking times for kids. He used to put himself back to sleep by turning on his FP aquarium, but now he calls for me to come back and cover him up. I just say "lay down", and quickly cover him up. I know the struggle of trying to get them to sleep at least until 6am. I'd say your son is getting enough sleep overall. Something I read recently, was when it is time to wake up, open the shades and sing a good morning song--have a morning ritual. This way, their supposed to figure out that they get up when it's morning, not when they're fussing.

[KimS]

Thank you all for the replies I've gotten back.

I wish I could say he is happy to stay in his crib when he wakes up, but he is not. He does cry, so we eventually go in to him. If it's closer to 4 than 5, I nurse him (briefly) in his room, then put him back into his crib and leave. He sometimes is happy to play for 20-30 mins, but other times, he just cries until I go back in. I do my best to leave him until at least 5. If he does make it to 5, the routine is to come into our bed and nurse, then play.

I know that the recommendation is to go to him when it is time to get up, but I really do feel bad since often he's wet through and has a messy diaper! Who wants to sit/lay in that for one hour!

Since I try to follow the principles of Dr. Weissbluth, I wondered what folks thought about trying for a 5:45 bedtime, instead of 6. Or, is the morning routine I've been following just reinforcing and encouraging what I don't want???

[DrSally]

You could try it,but it seems awfully early. IKWYM about feeling bad about not going in. If he's wet and his diaper is messy you hate to leave them in it. So, he's wet through his pj's at 5am? Have you tried the huggies overnights? I wonder if that would help him feel more comfortable. For a long time, DS wanted to be nursed at 5am too and sometimes would go back to sleep and sometimes not. If he got up earlier, he would go back. If they've taken most of the edge off their sleepiness, a lot of times they can't get back to sleep. IDK, I would just try a few things, but give each some time to see if they work. I like Weissbluth too, but I don't think your DC is overly tired. If it were me, I would be tempted to shift everything later--like try a 7 pm bedtime and naps a little later too. I know that's not what he says, but I think their needs change as they get older.

[KimS]

I don't think he's overtired either, he's so darn happy all the time! And just to share this story, last night my mother in law was going thru his nightime routine and and he actually pointed to his crib. After putting him in, he fell asleep without a peep! This is pretty common, so I think for now, I'll just live with the ealry wake up. Maybe in a few months time, I'll reconsider the slightly later bedtime, because as you wrote, their needs change. Thanks too for the tip on Huggies overnights, I will definitely give them a try.

[masha12]

I don't know how it is going for you, but have you thought about moving the bedtime back gradually to see if he sleep later?

6 p.m. seems early for a 12 month old, (although I'd kill to have my kids go down 6 p.m., if they'd still sleep until 6 or 7).

[KimS]

Like you point out, 6 is early, but I have begun starting his night routine around 5:40, so he is usually asleep by 6 now. But nothing seems to change his wake up time! I have though JUST started to let him cry if he wakes up before 5, as long as the crying isn't one of those desperate ones. Yesterday he fell back asleep until 5:30 after crying 20 mins and today he didn't wake up until 5:30. So he's getting almost 12 hours straight a night, I sure don't think I can ask for more than that! I'm just going to go with it for now and as he gets a bit older, try 15-20 mins later to see what the impact is. Thanks for the message :)