I don't know how much longer I can handle these early mornings!

I've posted this a few times lately, but it seems as if everyone just keeps saying "It's a PHASE" or "He'll grow out of it" type responses. I'm hoping SOMEONE out there has some advice for me before I go completely CRAZY!

My DS has decided that 4am is a grand time to wake up. He lays in his crib PLAYING. Keep in mind, it's pitch black in there & we've removed ALL toys to try to prevent these early morning play times, but he just babbles & squeals away. He's happy & content, just like he used to be when he woke up at 6:30am!

These are the things we've already tried, to no avail....

1. Leaving him be (which generally escalates to waking my other DS, both of them 'talking', & then both of them fussing....with a bad morning for both)
2. Taking him to the PNP downstairs & letting him CIO (which got us no where except him completely a mess from screaming 2 hrs until we took him out)
3. Rocking him (which typically puts him right to sleep, but doesn't at this time of day lately...usually just makes him mad)
4. Bringing him to bed with us (again, used to put him to sleep, but not anymore!)
5. Putting him in his swing (our last ditch effort as we're trying to phase out the swings, but I was AMAZED when I did this & he didn't bat an eyelash! He always sleeps when we put him in the swing!)
6. Cutting out a daytime nap (boy did that back fire...he was up NUMEROUS times fussing in the night then)
7. Pushing back bedtime (again, back fire...hard to go down, up throughout the night, etc)

He USED to go to bed between 6:30-7pm & get up for the day between 6-7am. That was fine with us. He doesn't get up for a bottle during the night & even the past week with these early wake ups, hasn't taken a bottle til his normal time (7:30am). My DH was desperate to get him back to sleep & tried feeding him a few days ago, to which he barely took any & was still awake.

I just don't understand what happened that flipped a switch in him. We've resumed his regular nap schedule (after our attempt to see if that'd help) & he goes down for those without a peep. Same with bedtime...no fussing, no nothing. We've been making sure his last nap doesn't go later than 5:30pm, but that's more so to worry about his bedtime...which has never been an issue. It's amazing that he goes down for all his naps & bedtime without a fuss, yet can't put himself back to sleep at 4am!

He IS teething (just popped his bottom 2 through, but they're still not all the way through/up) but I'd think if THAT were waking him, then he'd wake up fussing, right?

I'm going insane. This morning, I drug my other DS into our bed, shut the nursery door, & put the monitor to just light up to noise so that I could 'see' he was still babbling in there, but my DH & DS could sleep peacefully without having to hear my early riser. It's really effecting my other DS, who's usually the sweetest baby...and now he's cranky & I think it's because of getting woken up too early!

I just don't know what to do anymore. I've tried everything everyone has told me. It's been a week. Most everyone said it'll last a few days & he'll get back into his groove again. We can handle a 6am wake up (which was still earlier than he usually did), but not 4am. It's ridiculous. I'm going completely INSANE over here....someone PLEASE HELP ME!

 

Sorry to hear that your little one is waking so early. Mine do the same thing. They didn't use to, but they are both teething and I believe that may be the culprit. First of all, my little guys are in separate rooms with noise machines (they typically do not wake eachother up). Do you have another room where you could separate them? Do you use noise machines?

Granted mine are a little older, but I've enforced a "in your crib til 6am" policy. I hear at least one of them by 4:30 and they just know that they have to lay in there until mommy comes to get them (which is always at 6am). I expect them to be cranky in the morning but surprisingly, they're not. They are up for 2 hours and then usually go down for a long nap at 8am.

Hope this helps and hope that you find a solution.

 

Separate them any way that's least disruptive for the good sleeper and let your 4 am party guy CIO (or "BIO" - babble it out). Maybe you could put the bad sleeper in the PNP for the night, so you don't have to transfer him there later? Don't go to him or try to get him back to sleep (unless it sounds like something's really wrong, like he's hungry or poopy), you'll only encourage the early waking. It will take time and consistency, but he WILL figure out that it's just not worth waking up that early! If nothing fun happens, he'll stop waking up. I recently did VERY successful early morning CIO with my babies, who were waking up earlier and earlier and earlier (6:30...6...5:30...).

Good luck! I hope he gets the message soon!

 

The only way I knew that Will was teething was his waking up at 5 AM (or earlier) and not going back to sleep. I finally put this together when the secong bunch of teeth came through. If he isn't crying, then this phase may need to run its course. I feel like a dog saying that, but that's what I did and it took about 2 weeks. Turn the monitor down and go back to sleep. Like a pp, I have strict "in the crib policy". They can lay in there and do handstands for all I care, but they aren't getting up.

 

The past few days we've just left him be in there & I think we'll start separating them if this continues much longer. I REALLY hope it's from teething & that it'll be over soon. We now don't take him out of his crib before 6am (the past 3-4 days) but I am such a bad sleeper myself that I CANNOT seem to sleep through his babbling. My DH easily can, but I'm getting exhausted! Ugh .....

Oh, when I checked on him this morning, he was completely upside down in his crib. How he got there, no clue! I got him all snuggled in with his blankies again & then left the room. I KNOW he fell back to sleep somewhere around 5:45 b/c he was quiet til around 6:45. Hey, I'll take what I can get (of course, I had put my other DS in our bed for some sleep & then had to deal with his snoring as I tried to get back to bed ...he's got a stuffy nose from his teething too!)

 

YEAH! Slept til 5am, played himself back to sleep, & woke up at 6am, but played in his crib til 6:45am! Not sure if he woke the other, but if he did, they BOTH were in their cribs til 6:45am! Perhaps we're getting back into the swing of things! Of course, we're leaving town this weekend, so I'm sure that'll set us back & we'll be back to square one next week !

 

No advice, but we've been there. You could look back through my posts and see similar pleas for help. As long as he wasn't crying like there was anything wrong, we'd always just leave him to play, talk , whine, fuss himself back to sleep. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't. Even now he occasionally wakes up early and plays for a while and falls back asleep.

I really really tried to avoid removing him from the room or creating another habit that might be more difficult to break (for him & us). Sometimes his sister would wake up, but usually, she'd sleep right through his early morning party.

Good Luck!
Suzi

 

QUOTE(nurseandrea02 @ Feb 14 2008, 06:41 AM) [snapback]621374[/snapback]
YEAH! Slept til 5am, played himself back to sleep, & woke up at 6am, but played in his crib til 6:45am! Not sure if he woke the other, but if he did, they BOTH were in their cribs til 6:45am! Perhaps we're getting back into the swing of things! Of course, we're leaving town this weekend, so I'm sure that'll set us back & we'll be back to square one next week !



Sounds like a move a in the right direction!!! Mine were early risers until we went to one nap, they went from waking at 6/6:30am to 8am!!!!

 

The same thing started for me when my boys were 5 months old. DS2 started waking up at 4:30 and talking or cring. He eventually would wake up DS1 and All **** would break loose. We tried everything as well. Leaving them to cry, putting them in bed with us. Eventually we used the swings for awhile but at 9 months and 20 and 25 pounds we had to do something diffrent. I started changing them then feeding them and then we go in to a rocker lounger till mommy is awake enough to deal with them.(I sleep on the couch in front of them) Just this last week they have started to wake at 6 am YAAH!(at 10 1/2 months) But I still keep them in their rockers. So 5 months later we are just starting to get a little more sleep.
I know this wont help alot with your struggles, but at least know you are not the only one dealing with this problem. Keep your chin up I'm rooting for you.

 

I may have answered this before but I do not see it on your list so I'll throw it out there cuz it has worked for me.

Act 'as if' it's the middle of the nite. It's a trick but you pretend like it is one in the morning- feed him, no talking, dark and BACK TO BED. I know it's a long shot but it works for us! They still can't tell time THank god!