Other early risers? Solutions?

[Anonymous]

OP here - to the immediatly prior poster, that is exactly what we do now. Sometimes it works and sometimes not. Sometimes he wants to start his day immediately and go downstairs and throws himself on the floor by the closed bedroom door and screams. Also, now that we have the new baby, I am using a breast pump to feed him and I was trying to get a pumping in before the toddler wakes up, at about 5:15. If the toddler is up by then when I need to do that having him play in the room hasn't worked. He knows I'm up and wants to play with me and cries inconsoliably and pulls on the pump and will have nothing to do with his father. Its quite a situation! Would be so much easier if he'd just sleep until 6 AM, or even 5:45!

[Anonymous]

You know, the other thought is that he may be acting out so much as part of his "transition to being a big brother" routine. I don't have 2 kids (yet) but it sounds like his desperate need for your attention might be part of the disruption of the new baby. Not any bright solutions, but maybe an explanation?

[Anonymous]

My 9 month old has been getting up at 5:10 a.m. on the dot the past two weeks. His 3.5 year old sister is always up by 6:30 at the latest. We've tried all kinds of different things for both of them and nothing has worked. We simply seem to have early risers. I can also commiserate!

P.S. It seems like everyone I talk to has kids that sleep late except for mine.

[Anonymous]

Your husband needs to get over it! 5:30 really isn't THAT bad, and it will not last forever. Your child is sleeping 8 hours straight thru, I would be celebrating! I dno't think you can make your child sleep later, it will happen over time, but for now, bring him in your bed and cuddle. good luck with the husband.

[Anonymous]

Reviving this old post to see if there are any new thoughts ... my nearly 19-month old has been waking earlier and earlier lately -- this morning at 5:20 -- and we're not sure how to handle it or if there are any ways to get him more sleep in the morning. He clearly needs more sleep since he is now falling asleep as soon as he hits the stroller to leave the house for the day and is falling asleep in the stroller at the morning walk at day care, but none of our usual get-him-back-to-sleep tricks are working any more. Did anyone try the "wake-to-sleep" approach mentioned here? Any luck?

[Anonymous]

absolutely NOTHING worked. finally now at 2.5, we explained that mommy and daddy would not come until the sun comes up. he cried for 1/2 hour at 4:30 and then at 5:15, but now he is waking up at 6 or 6:30. we just had to wait it out and do a little cio (which had never worked before!). i feel your pain!

[Anonymous]

OP here - nothing worked really for us except daylight savings time. That was a lifesaver. I wonder what will happen when we go back to standard time though?!

[Anonymous]

That's funny, OP - I'm the 12:30 poster, and we'd been having this problem before daylight savings time, then that helped for a while ... and now he's back to the early time on the new time. We're SO tired !

[Anonymous]

We have (now had) an early riser too - 5-5:30AM. My husband had a hard time handling it as well. We would leave her in her room until 6AM, but no one was getting any sleep because she was calling "mama dada" over and over again. We finally put a small table lamp on a digital automatic timer and told her that we weren't going to come in to get her until the light went "pop." She caught on in less than one week, and now even if she wakes up before the "pop" at 6AM, she stays quiet instead of calling for us. The beauty of the timer is that we will eventually start moving it back incrementally (say 6:15, 6:30) and have her sleeping in a bit later. Worth a try!

[Anonymous]

PP here...forgot to mention that our DD now sometimes sleeps past the "pop" as well!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have (now had) an early riser too - 5-5:30AM. My husband had a hard time handling it as well. We would leave her in her room until 6AM, but no one was getting any sleep because she was calling "mama dada" over and over again. We finally put a small table lamp on a digital automatic timer and told her that we weren't going to come in to get her until the light went "pop." She caught on in less than one week, and now even if she wakes up before the "pop" at 6AM, she stays quiet instead of calling for us. The beauty of the timer is that we will eventually start moving it back incrementally (say 6:15, 6:30) and have her sleeping in a bit later. Worth a try!

At what age did this work for you? I have a 10 month old early riser. I'm positive he wouldn't "get" anything like that yet, but just curious at what age he might? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

We didn't implement it until around 22 months, but I think she would have gotten much earlier. It's just yet another routine to become accustomed to like knowing that reading books and brushing teeth leads into bedtime. Light goes on = mom and dad coming in to get me. Might be worth a try if you are trying your best to not go to him until a certain time (6AM/7AM like some books suggest). Maybe he'll make the connection earlier than you think.