Morning Wake Up Time, or Not?

The boys have a varied wake up time, if I let them go on their own. Usually averages 7:30, but it can be anywhere from 6:45-8:00 (could be later but I always wake them up by 8). Some sleep books say you should have a hard and fast wake up, because that helps them get on schedule. Others say to not wake a sleeping baby if you can help it. So I'm kind of lost.

The only reason I can think of to wake them is to make sure their feeding schedule stays on track (they go about 3.5-4 hours) and to preserve their 6:30/6:45 bedtime. (No, they don't sleep straight through, I'm not that lucky!--they're up around 11/11:30 for a bottle). So is having that 8 am cut off ok, or should I always wake them up at 7:15 or whatever?

(and this is why parenting is hard, they say to trust your instincts and I frankly have none. Reading every sleep book on the planet pretty much erased them.)

 

I alway let them sleep as long as they can. My schedule was flexible in that they would eat when they got up and then 2 hours later when they went down... but I didn't have a strict, up at 7, down at 10 schedule. I always figure that if they are sleeping they needed it and I didn't want to disturb them.

 

i never wake mine up if they are sleeping....i let them sleep! I schedule it GREAT, I agree 100%, but they need to learn to be flexible at the same time! I am a stay at home mom so they do not have to get up at a certain time. There are times when we have to be somewhere (doctor's, etc.) and we just adjusted throughout the day so they are still on track for bedtime!

 

At that age- LET THEM SLEEP

Now when they get to be 13 months old like mine and you hear them jibber jabbering at 5:55am and you dont let them get up till 6:30 - leave them be LOL

You have parenting instincts -- they told you to come ask those of us on TS

 

We always had a wake up time, but it was more of a "anything before 7 am is treated like a middle of the night waking". If it was 7 and there wasn't a sound, I'd give them another 15 min or so. Then I'd quietly turn off the sound machine and slowly open the curtains. If that didn't work, I'd turn on the bright overhead light. Last resort was whispering their names and rubbing their backs. I'd start quietly/slowly and increase a little at a time til they woke up. If I had to do it that way, I made sure the bottles were ready. That way I could just change diapers and feed them so the feeding schedule didn't get too off for the day.

 

QUOTE(ktfan @ Apr 11 2009, 09:58 AM) [snapback]1268691[/snapback]
We always had a wake up time, but it was more of a "anything before 7 am is treated like a middle of the night waking".


this is what we do as well. i really like having a set wake up time & now that we've been doing it so long the girls rarely sleep past 7:00am. their bodies have adjusted & set that as their start time for the day. i use common sense too though - for example, if they had a really bad night for some reason & had less sleep than they're used to, i usually let them sleep as long as they want to in the morning to compensate. i nurse them when they get up & then i continue on with the rest of the schedule for the day.

 

I would let them sleep in -- why wake a sleeping baby (or babies in our case, right?). I finally decided to use the sleep books as a good reference, not follow them word by word. Our babies aren't robots, they are humans. Right? Just follow their cues and their own schedule will develop. I promise the middle of the night feedings will go away too. Just let them sleep in - mama can sleep in too.

 

I have to admit I am a schedule addict so the boys eat every day at 7am whether they want to eat early or late. They STTN so I am so scared to deviate in fear that it will screw things up.