My son is 13 months old.. He was a terrible sleeper until about 6 months then got better;-) Yah... But he still wakes up at least once a week in the middle of the night. I usually give him a bottle. (We are never sure if he is cold, teeth, growing, hunger or stomach?) If I give him a bottle of milk or water he usually goes right back to bed. We live near a noisy company that starts working (making noise) at 5am. So my son wakes then and now even when they are closed he wakes at 5am. IS this all normal? My husband and I argue every morning because we are tired! He thinks that he shouldn't go to him in the middle of the night and wants to let him cry in the morning until 6am or 7am. I feel like we should go to him when he wakes. Babies want to sleep, I can tell he just isn't fussy when he wakes but has a need. Right now he has an eye tooth coming down so he isn't eating much either.
Do any of you have the same situation?
LDS,
This is very normal for one his age. The waking up at 5am was taught to him by the annoying neighbors. My daughter is almost 2 and does the same thing almost every morning. If it's before 6 am I leave her be. If it's between 6 and 7 am I'll go get her and we both go back to sleep in my bed. If I'm lucky she'll sleep till 7:30. Most mornings now though she'll either lay quietly or play in bed with me.
Hope this helps,
Melissa
We get up at 5 every weekday, because I have to work - and even though I would love to sleep in on the weekend, kids just don't understand sleeping in on weekends at this age and will get up at their "normal" time. It will probably be that way until he turns three or four.
ALL babies in my playgroup wake up between 5 and 6 in the morning, every morning - so I'd say it's perfectly normal.
If you are tired at 5 AM go to bed earlier! If I am not in bed by 9:30 I am crabby and tired the next morning too! Going to bed early makes a world of change for me, I have more energy, more focus and more patience for both hubby and an active toddler.
Eye teeth are really horrible and can sometimes be worse than the molars... However, it also sounds like this nearby noise is keeping your son awake. Have you tried a white noise machine? Or maybe just a fan going in your son's room? Maybe something like this would help... Unfortunately my son was also a terrible sleeper and I tried everything, but in the end nothing worked and he started sleeping through the night at 16 months when his molars were finally all the way through... I feel your pain! Try the crying it out if you want, but we tried it unsuccessfully several times. It might work for you, though! Good luck!
Hi,
Just a suggestion re the noise - could you run a white noise machine or a fan (we use a fan pretty much every night) to cover the noises?
It will be hard to recondition him to sleep later but you could try making his bed time earlier an see if that helps (sounds weird but yes it sometimes works that way) or trying to make it later to get him past the early morning wakeups.
We have a child who is 4 now who never slept much for the first 2 years and she still sleeps with us because it was the only way that ended up working for us. We always thought her waking was hunger thirt or uncomfortable too and it was hard never knowing and we always went to her and that's why she ended up in our bed. I know many parents that do the cry it out and it's worked for them but it didn't work for me or for my daughter so we just stayed sleep deprived for awhile longer.
Her sleep cycles were just really light and she would wake up all the time. The good news is she sleeps 10 or 11 hours straight now but it sure took a long time (until she was 3)
Good luck.
D.
My husband & I have had the same arguments before. So Sorry. It's great that your recognizing that it's because you're tired. Some things that worked for us and our son. I found out that my being helpful didn't always help my son. I would turn on the frog that played 6 min. of lullaby's. Studies say to keep the room similar to when he wakes so he can self soothe back to sleep. When the music he fell asleep to wasn't there at 5a.m. he cried. We still did our night time routine but left off the music. Plus, we put a blanket tacked over the window under the curtain. (He has a night light.)Then I read that babies and toddlers need 12 hours of sleep a night plus a 1.5 to 3 hour nap. I adjusted his bedtime from 9 to 8:30 and eventually to 8p. Plus, around 13 months we switched him from napping at 11:30 and again at 4p. to one nap at 1:30 after his lunch at noon. Plus, at this age I read that no tv before bed even our show. Extra exercise always help my son too but not right before bed a bit earlier so he can wind down. Plus, you're right teething, growing pains and adjusting to new schedules were always a factor. I don't like giving meds but occasionally we offer something if heavy drooling, chewing on fingers, extra whiny and clingy during the day. Those are our clues. I hope this helps. I try not to talk much at 5 a.m. and let him drink milk while I change him and put him right back to bed and say it's still night night. I think my son sometimes tries to wake up early to see my husband before he leaves for work. Some days I just give up and have him lay in bed w/ me while daddy gets ready for work then I let him watch 20 min. of PBS so I don't have to get out of bed immediately. Good luck and best wishes.
It is normal for your son to wake uip at the crack of dawn!! I didn't get to sleep in for about 3 years after I had my son. He was always awake, bright and early around 6am no matter what if it was a weekend or not. Now he is 5 and he reminds me of a teenager... he'll sleep in until 9am if I let him! LOL I think you're just going to have to deal with your baby waking up early. Babies get into a routine, and it's hard to change it. If he is usually awakened at 5am because of noise, his body adjusted to that time. I now have a 18 month old daughter. Her crib was in our room until she was 1. She did often wake up at night, and I would just help her find her pacifier, and she would go right back asleep. I never turned on the light or took her out of bad to prevent a bad habit of her always getting up at night for me to hold her. Now that she is not in our room, she sleeps like a rock all night.
Chamomille tea lightly with honey is wonderful for the whole family and affordable. Chamomille is soothing and a calmative. Helps with teething as well. My 16 month grandson uses it regularly. Honey should not be given to kids under 12 months. If you are not the tea type you can purchase chamomille in supplement form. I recommend homeopathic and herbal remedies available at New Seasons Market (natural grocergy) on Cornell or Cedar Hills Blvd.
Best wishes to you and your family, :-)
Hi. Our two year old son still wakes up in the middle of the night once in a while. We put him back in his bed, gently but firmly say "night night time" and give him a kiss, and leave the room quickly. We don't give him any interaction or any reason to want to stay awake. This is also what we do when he doesn't go to bed at night right away, or at nap time. If needed we just do it over and over until he stays in bed and goes to sleep. At first we had to do it many times (like on Super Nanny) but now we hardly ever have to do it more than once. He goes to bed at 7pm and usually sleeps until 7am. For a while after the last daylight savings time he was waking up at 5am or 6am. We adjusted the timer on our heating system and now he sleeps until 7am again. I think when the heat came on in the morning it was waking him up. If the noisy company is waking him up is there a way to move his bed to a part of your house that is further away from the noise? Or maybe get thick blackout shades for his windows to help block out some of the noise and light? You could also put some new toys in his room and see if he will play with them for a while when he wakes up early so you can get a little more sleep.
5am is normal for him and to wake up at the same time everyday is normal too and actually better for keeping your sleep rythym. What time does he go to bed? Is your son cranky at all? If not then he is getting enough sleep, even going to bed at 9pm is 8 hours for him and more if he goes to bed earlier. It sounds like you and Dad might need to go to bed earlier even on the weekends to get your rest or take a nap midday when your son does. You could also get him a noise machine so he can sleep through sounds. As for waking one might a week, who knows what the reason is but at least it isn't every night and going in the make sure it isn't anything serious is a good idea. My kids are big enough they come to me now but when they were small I would go to them if I heard them fussing because they didn't usually fuss. I believe in letting kids cry but my husband could never sleep through it and he was even more cranky, I have a feeling yours would be too. Plus you don't really want to learn to sleep through them crying because you might not wake when it is serious. Oh and if you let them cry then you should check them every 15 minutes or so to make sure they don't need anything so you would get less sleep anyway. You guys could also take a B-Complex for your energy levels, it takes about a month or so to feel back up to snuff. Oh and my husband and I get a ton more sleep now that the TV is out of the bedroom. Good luck, everything is more significant when you are tired, concentrate on you so you can keep your patience.
get the book "Baby Wise". It works!
Be thankful that he is only waking up every once in awhile. I have twin boys that are almost three and maybe get one night a week where they don't wake up. Just keep up with putting him back to bed. My boys just usually want to be covered up. Good luck!
