If your DC wake up super early...

[DietCokeLover]

Do you feed them then? Or do you have them wait for a more reasonable time?

DS is so mad at me right now because I won't let him eat til later. I don't want to have him get any way accustomed to eating at awful times of the morning.

[daisymommy]

I depends on how early it is. My kids are early risers too (6 am, even during the Summer, ugh). So I give them a small bowl of dry cheerios/cereal and a sippy cup of milk to tide them over. They always still eat a full breakfast later. That way I get an hour of peace to drink coffee, check the BBB and my email, and peel my eyeballs open :) They watch PBS during this time.

I make breakfast around 7:30.

I figure even if it cuts into how much breakfast they eat later, its no different that if they had eaten a bowl of cereal at the table.

[ourbabygirl]

We give DD a cereal bar (she wakes up anytime between 6/ 6:30 and about 7:30). Around 8 or so we do breakfast.

[septmama2b]

I have two very early risers some days. I compromise with a yogurt smoothie or milk, and a snack cup of o's and raisins as soon as they wake up. This helps a lot when the wake up is at 5am. Then around 8 or 9 we have breakfast. Mine are almost 3, and 19 months, so they are both in super picky eating stage, more often then not dinner is the lightest meal of the day so they are pretty hungry.

[egoldber]

What is early?

[Green_Tea]

I feed them whenever they're hungry. Maybe not something big - a cheese stick or a banana or granola bar - but I figure that making them stay hungry is not going to solve the problem of them being awake. I try hard not to fight food battles. If I'm hungry at an odd time, I eat a little something. If I don't, I get cranky. I figure the same applies to my kids.

[elliput]

This morning, my kids were awake about 5:30am, I gave them a bowl of cereal before 6am. IMO, if they are hungry when they first wake up they should be fed. Also, I try to eat within an hour of waking- no matter what time I get up-so I don't think I should treat my kids any differently. About 9am, we will most likely all have another small meal.

[KpbS]

Mine drink a glass of milk in the morning. On school mornings DS1 is supposed to start his when he wakes up 6 am and DS2 usu wakes up around 7:15 and starts his. Summertime and weekend breakfast is at 8 am.

[carolinamama]

DS2 wakes up early and the first words out of his mouth are "I'm hungry". I think he truly is so I go ahead and feed him, even if it is just a z-bar or cup of dry cereal and raisins.

DS1 is not an early riser and does not like to eat until he's been up atleast an hour or more. It's like pulling teeth to get him to eat before school but I usually manage to get him to eat atleast some toast or a cheese stick.

[lizzywednesday]

DD won't go back to sleep if she's hungry, so, yeah, I feed her if she's up before 8am.

Most days, this means she nurses for a bit and then settles, but sometimes it means we go downstairs and have scrambled eggs.

[DietCokeLover]

What is early?

This morning it was 5:30. But, when I meant early, I was speaking in relation to what time they normally wake.

[hellokitty]

DS2 is a stinker. He wakes up btwn 5:30-6am on most days (even when he is still tired) and then he will wake up DS1, b/c he is bored and wants someone to play with him, ugh. I almost always have bananas in our fruit bowl. The kids know that when they get up that early, it is quiet time. They are to go down to the playroom and play quietly (usually lego or books), and if they are hungry, they can help themselves to a banana. I fix them bkfst usually be 7:30. I also stopped trying to feed my kids bkfst first thing in the morning, b/c they just wanted to play first. I find that letting them wake up slowly and play a bit before letting them eat is a lot less frustrating for everyone.

[vonfirmath]

I feed my son when he's hungry.

He has a particular time he's allowed to wake up. If he wakes up before that, we redirect him back to bed. If he was REALLY hungry, we'd probably give him something he could eat in bed then he'd have to go back to sleep anyway.

Once he's up for the day, though, I feed him when he's hungry.

[Seitvonzu]

my child is "allowed" to wake up at 6:30 , or rather "when the clock turns green"-- she is often up before this, but she knows if she comes into my room i'll just say "is the clock green?" and she'll be back to her room... so. yeah.

oftentimes, even after the clock turns green , she won't come into my room ... she'll just go downstairs and if i call to her she says "i'm doing my own thing!" :):) (should that be a bag over my head as i'm in bed for another hour? perhaps!) a couple times she's called out "mommy ! i'm hungry!" BUT morely likely she GETS HERSELF SOMETHING TO EAT. she is 3.5.... i've actually discussed with her that she should come get me if she is hungry (since our deal is that she can be up at 6:30)-- i'd prefer to get her something to eat rather than coming down to split lemonade (that she was trying to pour) or random bits of chicken nuggets on the table ;) (her selection of food seems to be whatever she first sees in the refridgerator)

sorry to ramble-- short answer -- after 6:30am, i'd feed her. (earlier if she was truly telling me she was starving,had a super light dinner, was sick, etcetc)

[BabbyO]

DS is a grazer, especially in the morning. Most mornings (weekdays) he gets a glass of milk first thing in the morning to tide him over until he gets to the sitters where he has oatmeal and/or banana or other fruit. I think he tends to have milk around 7 am (or whenever he first wakes up), banana around 8-8:30 ish, and oatmeal a bit later. Or maybe I have the banana and oatmeal mixed up.

Weekends are definitely more grazing with milk first thing in the am...and then some fruit and bites of mommy & daddy's cereal/toast, maybe oatmeal or eggs.

I really don't mind the grazing in the morning. I just always have fresh fruit on hand and he's a happy boy.

[bubbaray]

I feed them when they wake up. Just like I feed me when I wake up and I feed the dog (usually the first up) when he wakes up. IMO, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I feel horribly sick if I don't eat pretty much right away when I get up. I don't want my kids feeling that way just because I would prefer to sleep longer.

[crl]

I try not to feed little ones early because it can cause the early waking to become a habit. In fact to break ds of the habit of waking at 4am (when he was a toddler), one of the things I did was gradually delay giving him milk or anything to eat until a more civilized hour (6am).

Catherine

[crl]

I feed them when they wake up. Just like I feed me when I wake up and I feed the dog (usually the first up) when he wakes up. IMO, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I feel horribly sick if I don't eat pretty much right away when I get up. I don't want my kids feeling that way just because I would prefer to sleep longer.

But if you wake up at 4am, do you hop out of bed and eat breakfast or do you roll over and try to go back to sleep?

I try to avoid making a pattern of eating if I wake up in the middle of the night because I know that doing that can turn the night waking into a pattern. So I see early wake ups for kids in a similar vein.

Maybe I feel this way because older child spent a couple of months waking at 4 am every day and in combination with his generally poor sleep habits i was running a serious sleep deficit, serious enough to effect my ability to function. There were days I did not drive because I was afraid I would fall asleep at the wheel.

All that said, dd's wake up time for months was 5:30am and I did feed her right away. But that was her regular wake up time so it was not early in relationship to her usual wake up time.

Catherine

[snowbunnies300]

Ok, so jealous with parents who have kids that can get up and get their own morning snack or not need supervision while they play with toys. My 3 ADS kids just can't do either.

[bubbaray]

But if you wake up at 4am, do you hop out of bed and eat breakfast or do you roll over and try to go back to sleep?





No, I don't eat in the middle of the night.

Some days, yes, I'm up at 4am for the day. If I've tried to go back to sleep and can't, then yes, I'm up and I have breakfast.

Not sure how you took my comments to imply that *I* or others in my house eat in the middle of the night? I never said that. Your post came across as quite critical.

[DietCokeLover]

I try not to feed little ones early because it can cause the early waking to become a habit. In fact to break ds of the habit of waking at 4am (when he was a toddler), one of the things I did was gradually delay giving him milk or anything to eat until a more civilized hour (6am).

Catherine

This is what worries me, as we have had a very rough sleeping history with DS - woke no less tha 12 times per night til he was 11 months old, periods of waking around 4 am for months, etc -

For what it's worth, I fed him dry cereal with a glass of milk at 6:45. And, my reluctance to feed him was not so I could lay in bed more because I was up with him so my DH could sleep. I just don't want the pattern of crazy sleep to get reinforced in any way.

[crl]

No, I don't eat in the middle of the night.

Some days, yes, I'm up at 4am for the day. If I've tried to go back to sleep and can't, then yes, I'm up and I have breakfast.

Not sure how you took my comments to imply that *I* or others in my house eat in the middle of the night? I never said that. Your post came across as quite critical.

I certainly didn't mean to be critical. And I don't see how my post was critical. You were very definitive that if your kids wake up hungry you feed them and implied that it was, hmm, cruel maybe, to do otherwise. I just explained why I try not to feed kids when they wake up early. And for ds 4 am was not "the middle of the night". It was morning. For two very long months.

Catherine

[SpaceGal]

I would hold my kids off a bit. My kids watch PBS int he mornings and then usually around 9:30 we eat. My kids usually wake up around then 9-9:30am but if they wake up earlier we wait till "normal time". If not i tell them they can go lay down and sleep more or be quiet, watch tv or read or play....quietly.

[lhafer]

I certainly didn't mean to be critical. And I don't see how my post was critical. You were very definitive that if your kids wake up hungry you feed them and implied that it was, hmm, cruel maybe, to do otherwise. I just explained why I try not to feed kids when they wake up early. And for ds 4 am was not "the middle of the night". It was morning. For two very long months.

Catherine

My DD1 has never been a good sleeper, has always been up between 5-6am every single day for the day, and she snacks. I cannot get her to eat a full meal. Ever. I've tried withholding food/snack to make her more hungry. She will still eat 5 bites at the meal and say she's full.

So far parents who wait a bit to feed your kids that wake early (whatever early is to your family) - what if the kids are waking up early BECAUSE they area hungry? I'm know my DD1 wakes up hungry.

[eh613c]

When DS1 wakes up super early, I have him lay down in his own bed or our bed (I know that's creating another habit). I have him eat his breakfast at a normal time between 7:30 and 8.

[crl]

My DD1 has never been a good sleeper, has always been up between 5-6am every single day for the day, and she snacks. I cannot get her to eat a full meal. Ever. I've tried withholding food/snack to make her more hungry. She will still eat 5 bites at the meal and say she's full.

So far parents who wait a bit to feed your kids that wake early (whatever early is to your family) - what if the kids are waking up early BECAUSE they area hungry? I'm know my DD1 wakes up hungry.

Well, my point is that waking because you are hungry can be a habit. If I wake up at 2 am and eat for three nights in a row, on the fourth night I will likely wake up hungry at 2 am.

In my case ds was waking at 4 am. I moved his milk 15 minutes later, waited a few days, rinse and repeat until I got to 6 am. He started sleeping until 6 am.

I don't care at all if other people feed their kids when they wake up early. Not my business. Not critizing. I was just making the point that hunger can be a habit. So if my kid wakes up early, as in earlier than usual, I try to hold off on feeding for a bit to try to avoid creating the habit of being hungry.

Catherine

[L'sMommy]

Yep, we feed DS if he wakes early and asks to eat. Our situation is a bit different in that he's been underweight since birth (at one point was not even on the growth curve) so we bend over backwards to get calories in him.

[Green_Tea]

I think there's a big difference between feeding a kid at 4 am when they have an established pattern of waking at that time and expecting to be fed, and a kid who wakes up early and is hungry. I would not indulge a 4 am snack routine. But if on occasion my kid woke up an hour (or even 2 hours) early and was hungry, I'd feed them. If they continued to do so, I'd assume that they maybe need a nice protein rich snack right before bed to help make it through and hopefully put an end to the early wake ups.

In our house, if there's daylight and they're up, I wouldn't hesitate to feed them. So I guess that means anytime after 5 or 5:30 is fair? I wouldn't make a kid who work up at 6:30 wait to be fed at 8:30 simply because that's their "normal" meal time (not saying this is what the OP did, just saying I wouldn't.) If you're up and it's daylight, I'll feed you.

[hillview]

DS2 wakes up early (530) often. And we feed him at about 630 most days. We snuggle for a bit and then I get dressed etc and he watches a show. If he came in at 4 am hungry once I might feed him and then make sure he gets a snack before bedtime (DS1 gets a snack RIGHT before bed and sleeps often til 6 or sometimes 7). If he did it a second night, I would tell him it was too early for eating and to go back to bed.

I need to set some things out for self serve ... I always mean to do that and then forget.

[georgiegirl]

I'm usually the hungry one...lol. DS is an early riser (averages 6am, and anything beyond 6:30 is a gift), but he's not super hungry in the morning...maybe because he's still nursing. I do offer breakfast by 6:30 or 7:00 though.