Saturday, September 8

Up and at 'Em!

Now that James is finally (thank you Lord) sleeping through the night, he has developed a new habit... waking up way too early! The waking up too early isn't NEARLY, not even CLOSE to being as bad as being up numerous times a night. However, it is still somewhat frustrating. He usually gets to bed between 8:00pm and 8:30pm. He'll sleep ALL night (thank you Lord, so very much for sleep) but then wake up around 6:15am. If it is past 6:30am, we will get up with him, but if it is early than that we let him CIO until we are ready to get him. I read somewhere that if he is consistently sleeping a 10 hour stretch, I should just try to slowly move his bedtime back so that the 10 hour sleep would be from 9-7 instead of the current 8-6. Well, I tried that, but it made NO difference. In fact, it just made things worse because he was so grumpy and overtired by the time we were putting him down. So, we've just gone back to putting him down around 8:00am, and hoping that he'll learn to sleep later in the morning. He still has two naps a day, which is nice - and he is otherwise doing great in the sleep department. I just wonder if anyone else has had this experience, and if you had any luck in helping teach your child to sleep longer? Oh, I did also try to put him to bed EARLIER, but that also made no difference - and it was hard to get him to go down!

11 comments :

Janelle said...

so glad he's sleeping through the nite for you! and that pic is incredibly cute!!! :)
Kamryn did that exact same thing...so i had to cut out one of her naps. and it worked. we went down to one nap & she slept usually from 8:00 - 9:00. now that she's a little older, she's going down at 8:30-9:00 and up at 8:00. but still - that's a pretty good nite. and she still has a 2 hour nap from 1-3.
maybe only one nap might work?

Andrea said...

I know exactly what you mean! Tate is doing the same thing! He goes to bed around 7:30 though, but wakes up at 6 or 6:30 - sometimes he'll go back to sleep, but not usually! And he wakes up at that time no matter what time I put him to bed, so I figured I might as well put him to bed earlier and then he'd get more sleep. So that works...and I guess I'll just have to deal with the waking up at 6am until he knows what an alarm clock is! :)

Christy said...

I agree with Janelle...go down to one nap a day. Or shorten his two naps to an hour each? Also make sure he is active during the day. The more busy he is the more tired he will be!

Anonymous said...

I also have the problem of two little early risers. However, NOTHING I do seems to make any difference. They are just early risers and I'm just trying to cope the best I can until they reach adolescence and start wanting to sleep in (I can't wait!). I hope you find something that works for you, though. :)

Renee Shaw said...

It's just the stage that he's at. Preston woke up really early at that age too, it'll pass and he'll start sleeping later.
I know what you mean about the trying to keep up later hoping that they'll sleep longer...ya it only makes them grumpy!
You could try the 1 nap thing, but I think he's a little young for it...mind you all kids are different so it might work.
I have a friend who's kid used to wake up at like 5am every day! She was just an early riser...when she got to be a little older she would put crayons and paper in the kids room so that she could do that in the am before her mom woke up! lol But he's a little young for that now! Just some kids are early risers.

kelly ens said...

It may also just be a phase. Now that he's getting used to sleeping through the night, he may now need to learn to sleep later again.
Taeya went through a stage where she would wake up early, and if she was happy, we'd make her stay in the crib until 7 (she would wake as early as 6). If she wasn't happy, I'd try to pat her back and get her back to sleep, even if only for 10 minutes so she knew that she had woken too early.
I think that James is too young to go down to one nap - Taeya cut herself down to one nap around 13 months, which was early in itself, but she did it herself, so I knew that was all she needed (she still naps one good 3 hour stretch though). So I personally wouldn't recommend that, but that's just me! I would try putting him down half an hour early for one week and see if that makes a difference. It obviously won't make a difference if you try it only once because he's not used to it, so he wouldn't 'agree' to it.
Anyway, hope he starts learning to sleep longer :)

Nin said...

hehe......boy that little James.....he is so cute!!
What an answer to prayer that he is sleeping through the night! and such an encouragment to others who may be going through the same things you were going through.
The only thing I can think of to say is that Daniel has done that to a degree too. Although he hasn't gotten up THAT early! But his morning wake ups have fluctuated lots. And it seems that just when I get used to the time he gets up, he changes it.

Elina said...

I had that "problem" with Brendan, but then he just eventually started streching it from 6am to 6:15, 6:30, etc... and now we're anywhere between 7-7:30! Hooray! I do NOT do well before 7am... And its allowed me to slowly creep his bedtime back, too, the later he sleeps in... if I find he's consistently sleeping till like 7:30, then I creep it back 15 mins or so. Hoping the same is true for you guys and you're not up at the crack of dawn!!! (Truth be told, I didn't mind so much in the middle of summer when it was bright out at 6am... but even now, its not, and its really difficult to get goin' when its dark outside!)

Mrs. Stam said...

Glad to hear that he is sleeping better. I love the picture, those blue eyes are so nice!!!

Brandi said...

Wow he is getting BIG! Can't wait to start seeing you guys at mom's group again in fall. Hopefully we will be there on the same weeks more often than last year

Nin said...

I did get a chance to read the other comments until now...
I think every baby is different, and no box is big enough to cram all the babies into. As far as cutting his naps down to one, I think if he's showing you that it works for him, then go for it. I don't know that there's a "too young" or "too old" thing....as long as they're getting enough sleep and aren't cranky, that's all that matters. We have friends who have a FOUR month old who only naps once durring the day! She sleeps for about 12 hours at night, but only a 2 hour nap in the day. Their doc says that's totally fine, and that baby is FOUR months. I would hate to give up one of Daniel's naps (since I need them just as much to get my work done!), but if that's what you gotta do to get up at a decent normal hour, then I would do the same. I'm so not a morning person :P