please help, DS waking up a little too early... what would you do?

DS is 12 months old. He goes to sleep at about 845 pm. If he sleeps till 730 or 8 am, he wakes up happy...but he has been waking up more like 630 am.

I run downstairs, start warming up a bottle...go back up to change him fast - just take the overnite diaper off and put on a new one - go down with him to get teh bottle and get back to his room fast - no talking or anything, and keeping things as dark as I can so he still thinks it's "sleepy time."

He takes the bottle - 5 oz - and has been falling back to sleep...the only problem is i can' tget him back down in the crib. every time i try, he wakes up screaming. SO, i end up holding him until about 8 am. He wakes up happy... but I'm not happy! I don't want to create this habit, and my arms are going to fall off one of these days.

What would you do? We are considering letting him CIO in the am if he wakes up before 730 am.

any advice? i really hate CIO.

Re: please help, DS waking up a little too early... what would you do?

DS is 12 months too and sleeps from 8:00-8:30pm until about 7:15-8:00 am. He takes about a 2 hour nap each day.

Does DS nap? How many, and how long?

ETA: Is him room warm, is it dark, even in the am? We have room darkening shades. Do you have any toys on the crib for DS to entertain himself with?

Message edited 4/13/2009 10:31:47 PM.

Re: please help, DS waking up a little too early... what would you do?

I never warmed DD's milk, and at that age I would let her take the bottle into her crib in the morning. She would go right back to sleep.

Re: please help, DS waking up a little too early... what would you do?

If he's anything like my son he may just be awake for the day then. We can let him CIO all we want in the crib in the mornings....he doesn't give up - and he won't go back to sleep.

ETA: If you want to do anything I would try putting him to bed earlier and maybe he will sleep later.

Message edited 4/13/2009 10:37:07 PM.

Re: please help, DS waking up a little too early... what would you do?

DS USUALLY takes two naps... one aroudn 11 am, and another around 5 or 6 pm. The first nap could be anywhere from an hour to 2.5 hours. the second nap is usually an hour.

If his first nap is 2.5 hours, that's his only nap for the day.

We do have the room darkening shades, but it's still kinda bright once the sun comes up. And once he hears cars, etc. on the street, i think he thinks it's time to get up.

I tried leaving a toy or book in teh crib a couple of times... but he just wakes up, stands up and starts screaming, pointing to the door...waiting for one of us to go in. He never even noticed the toy or book.

Re: please help, DS waking up a little too early... what would you do?

So even w/ the one nap those are still his sleeping hours? I would try to eliminate the 2nd nap and put him to bed a little earlier.

Re: please help, DS waking up a little too early... what would you do?

I would eliminate the second nap. My DS started taking only one nap at around 12 months. Sometimes it is only an hour and he is a little cranky by bedtime, but I think if he is waking up that early, he probably doesn't need it.

Our schedule, pretty much since about 13 or 14 months is:
6:00 - 6:30 am wakes up
12:00 nap (can be anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours)
7:00 - 7:30 pm bedtime

My son is also one of those babies that once he wakes in the morning, he is up for the day. I would love it if he slept even an hour later, but I am grateful that he is a good sleeper overall, so I just deal with the 6 am wakeup call.

Re: please help, DS waking up a little too early... what would you do?

My DS is almost 10 months old and I have a similar problem.

When we first moved him into his crib at 7 months he slept 7:45-7:15.

I don't know why or when but for some reason now he gets up at 6.

He isn't a wonderful napper. But I take it all in strides.

We have CIO in the AM hoping he'd go back to sleep but he won't. I suppose this is just his schedule.

He was never a great sleeper so I am just thankful I have a kid that sleeps through the night.

Re: please help, DS waking up a little too early... what would you do?

I think I could have written this post myself, so I appreciate you posting and hearing people's responses. Ella takes 1 our nap in the a.m. and one in the p.m. I have noticed she sleeps better at night if she skips the morning nap. I might just try to eliminate it.

Re: please help, DS waking up a little too early... what would you do?

Thanks for your posts, everyone...

We tried a little CIO this morning to see what woudl happen. He woke up at 715 (late for him!)... cried for one minute. Then five minutes later he cried again for one minute.

He woke up for the day at about 750.

it was so nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we'll see what happens the next day or two.

If it doens't work, i think we will have to try putting him to bed a little bit earlier and deal with the earlier wake up.... or maybe try eliminating the late afternoon nap....

Thanks, again!

Re: please help, DS waking up a little too early... what would you do?

I was going to suggest CIO. DS goes through stages (has since about 11 months) some weeks he will wake at 8:30 others at 6:30. I wont go into his room until at least 7:30. He has a few toys in his crib so I let his fight it out...he usually whines a bit and then dozes off, sometimes he wakes plays talks then falls asleep again.

After a week of "CIO" he will generally go back to his normal wake up time of 7:30.

ETA: I wouldnt mess with his naps just yet. I have a feeling its probably jsut habit the reason he is waking. he knows you will come, get him, give him a bottle etc...he just likes to cuddle wiht mom which is probably why he is waking!

We went throught a night time period with DS where he was waking (no bottles) just for me to sit with him. He wouldnt let DH do it, it had to be me and I swear I would barely pick him up and his eyes would close. we--well really I-- had just let him get into a bad habit and he was taking advantage of me!
GL!

Message edited 4/14/2009 9:42:02 PM.

Re: please help, DS waking up a little too early... what would you do? UPDATE!

CIO seems to have worked!!!!!!!!!!!!
For the most part DS has been waking up between 730 and 8 am, and we are all much happier!

Of course, as someone one here recently said, now that I announced this publicly he will start waking up early again.

Re: please help, DS waking up a little too early... what would you do?

I used to let DS cry a little and then he started to fall back to sleep. Now, if he wakes up, he might play for a little while until I go in and get him. Unless he is screaming I let him settle back down again.

DS also still takes 2 - 2 hour naps a day at 13 months. My 3 year old - now that's a whole different ballpark:)

Re: please help, DS waking up a little too early... what would you do?

...and since I posted last night about our success with CIO and how DS is now waking up between 730-8 am, this morning he woke up at 650 with a big BM.