Monday, October 20, 2008
Early Bird
As a continuation of the sleeping discussion, do any of you have early birds? My 10 month old sleeps through the night, is a great napper, and puts himself to sleep with ease, but he typically gets up between 5:30 and 6:00am. At that point he is up for the day until nap time. I would love for him to extend his nights a little longer! He goes to bed at 8pm and we've tried making his bedtime a little later, but he has a hard time staying awake later and it doesn't seem to affect his wake-up time at all. Maybe he is just a natural early bird, but do you have any tricks to get your children to sleep in just a little bit longer?
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9 comments:
Wow- my son was the exact opposite. He slept in every morning until 9:30 or 10, (which when he was younger was awesome!), but would not settle down until atleast 10:00 at night! No matter what we did, like getting him up earlier, shortening naps,etc., nothing helped. If we laid him down at 8:00 he would lie awake in bed, get up out of bed and play until 10:00 hit! He has been a night owl ever since and he is now 5! So, I hope this is not discouraging but our son has just always been a late bedtime kid. He goes to bed now by 9:30(not by choice) and is up around 8-8:30, so it has changed slightly in the past couple years. Good luck!
You HAVE to get the book "Healthy Sleep Habits Healty Child" by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. THIS BOOK SAVED OUR LIVES! It's mainly about being consistant and putting babies to bed early. Sleep begets sleep! My 1 year old has been sleeping through the night since 4 months old. He goes to bed at 6:30 and wakes up around 8:00! Good luck!
My daughter was the same way as your son. She went to bed around 7:30 (and it was hard to get her to stay awake that late) but would then wake up at 6 or 6:30. Once she started walking and therefore using more energy she has slowly but surely extended her sleeping time. Now she still goes to bed around 7:30 but sleeps until 8:00 or so. I don't know if it will work that way for you but maybe... Until then, enjoy your evening hours, go to bed early-ish yourself and greet the morning.
I totally second reading "Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child". Try putting something dark over the bedroom window so it doesn't get light as early.
my little one is up before it's light!!! i feel your pain!!! She hears her uncle getting up for seminary and gets up and comes to our room. so fun! She goes down between 7 and 7:30 and is up sometimes BEFORE six! She used to sleep 7 to 7 but now she's up earlier but i don't want her down later.
Both of my girls are in bed by 7 or 7:30pm, but they're also up by 6:30am. Since my oldest usually got up at 5:30 or 6:00 until she was about four, I'm thrilled! I will admit that it got easier once she was older, and I could just pour a bowl of dry cereal and a sippy cup of water the night before so she could eat and play until I got up. :)
I feel like the meanest Mom!! I always make mine cry back to sleep or stay until bed until 6:30. My pediatrician always said they shouldn't get up before the sun, which was fine with me. I have school aged kids who get up, so I'm fine with 6:30, but anything before that is too early for me!! Good luck--I know it's hard!
Reagan was the exact same, and still wakes fairly early. Normally by 7. Two methods we used to extend her from 6 to 7 are: 1) Not allowing her to eat breakfast until 7, that way she didn't wake at 6 out of hunger. 2) Slowly making her sing or play in her crib for a little longer each morning. First we left her for 5 minutes, then 10, etc... We could leave her for 30 minutes without her getting mad, and then she finally stopped waking so early because there was no benefit for her. Hope that helps!
I agree-- that same book that everyone else mentioned helped us too, and taught us that keeping kids up later doesn't help them sleep longer, but actually putting them to bed earlier! It's worked for us too- 6:30 bedtime and 8:00 wake up time. We also blacked out the windows which helps...if we're at Grandma's house, she wakes up as soon as she sees some light (6:30 or 7:00!!)
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