[waldorfknitmama]

Hey night~time parents!!! Here's a new question for you all. . . How does your family wake up in the morning?? Like what is your situation? Is it working? How would you like to change it? Do you even want to change it? What's working? What isn't??

Here's my situation:
DS1 (3yrs old) finally is sleeping in his own bed, weaned (21mo) and is mostly sleeping through the night

: in his bed is on the main floor (in which his new baby brother will share when he's older) and DH and I are upstairs with 4mo DS2 in his craddle by our bed. Our DS2 is an excellent sleeper (sleeps through the night, doesn't poop at night, settles down super quick, is an effecient and quick nurser ect.) And so in the morning (he sleeps a short amount during the day and sleeps tons at night) I wake him up at 8:30am everyday, it works out great, he is in a great mood and smiles when I wake him and just is ready to start the day!

My DS1 is another story all together

: He is just sleeping through the night and is in his own bed ect. ect. so in that respect it is going great!

However, I'm not certian he is getting enough sleep or something because every morning he wakes up (he goes to bed at 7pm wakes up at 6:30 or 7am, and no naps anymore) screaming, whining, frusterated, mad, tempertantruming ect. And this continues until mid-morning. He just is in a bad mood

and I am super mad, I would just like he to be happy when he wakes up.

So what I'd like to happen, is for him to sleep in until at least 7 everyday, and I'd like to force myself to wake up earlier so I can prepare for my day and then wake him up in hopes he'd be happier than if he was screaming for me (we have a baby moniter).

Does anyone have anything to add that's working for their morning routines?? Any advice for helping a non-morning child??

What do your mornings look like?

 

[MommaShark]

Mine's been falling asleep too late and takes naps - no solutions here just a hug. He takes a 2-3 hour nap and sleeps from 9-7.
We all sleep in the same bed - our alarm clocks don't faze him.....DH gets up at 4, I get up at 6:30.
good luck,
v

 

[Llyra]

I'm the last one up. DH gets up at 5 and leaves shortly afterward. The three kids sleep in the one room, and they all get up I think around 6:30, and then they hang out in there and play until they get noisy enough for it to wake me up. The one hitch in this plan is that by the time I wake up, they've been up for like a half hour, and they're all hyped up, and I've only had my eyes open two seconds, so I tend to get cranky at them. I'd LIKE to wake up earlier, so that I can be focused and ready for them, but I treasure my late nights-- they're the only time I get to be alone.

 

[haurelia]

My input is limited, but I'll share. I have an 11 week old boy, and am not back to work yet (I work a 7am-7pm shift and will go back two days a week in June). DH works afternoon shift, so by the time he gets home around 1am, my son and I are fast asleep. DS wakes up a few times to eat during the night, and then around 8am, he wakes for his first daylight feeding and our day begins. Since we bedshare, he just starts wiggling, so I quietly nurse him for 30 minutes or so. Then, I start nudging DH between 8:30 and 9. He takes DS to play and talk for a bit, then changes his dipe when he's awake enough to negotiate snaps

; meanwhile, I'm going downstairs to start the coffee, open the curtains, get some oatmeal on the stove. We eat together, and putz around. I usually shower after breakfast, or some days I go to work out while DH has DS. By 10:30 or 11, it's time to nurse DS down to sleep for a while, which doesn't always work out. I sometimes end up with him in the mei-tai to fall asleep after nursing while I do some random tasks or mess around on MDC (like right now!).

I LOVE our mornings, but am a little apprehensive about returning to work (for WAY more reason than the morning, but that's another thread). I will have to be up at about 5:30, so will probably try to nurse DS in bed until I have to get up and ready, and pray that he'll just slide back to sleep as he does with normal dark, nighttime nursing. I'm very thankful that I won't have to get him up and to some caregiver in the early morning.

 

[AkRotts]

I can soooooo relate!!

Only my youngest (23 months) is still co-sleeping. The twins who will be 3 in August sleep in their own room in their own beds. The twins pretty much sleep thru the night. They go to bed between 9-10pm and sleep until 8-9am. Caitlyn our youngest goes to be around the same time as the twins, but usually wakes before them in the morning and she still wakes up several times during the night.

Caitlyn ALWAYS wakes up extremely happy!! She has been a happy baby since day 1

Thank goodness!! It made things much easier for us since she arrived when the twins were only 8 months old and we already had our hands full

My biggest complaint about Caitlyn is that she doesn't need much sleep

She is the last one to bed every night and the first one up in the morning. If she has a nap during the day, she will be up VERY late, so most days I prefer she doesn't nap.

Camryn one of our twins is usually happy in the mornings, like Caitlyn. She sleeps thru the night most of the time and has been a very easy baby as well. Cam is our sleeper. She is usually the last one sleeping every morning. Like Caitlyn she has been a very easy baby, from the very beginning.

Carson our other twin wakes up grumpy, EVERY SINGLE MORNING!!! No matter how much sleep he gets, he is a grump. He has always been like this even when he was itty bitty and even when still co-sleeping. In fact, he did worse when he co-slept with us (the only one of the kids who did worse co-sleeping). Out of all three of the babies, he has by far been the most difficult. He NEEDS the most sleep and if he doesn't get it, WATCH OUT! He has to have a nap every day, or by dinnertime there is hell to pay lol.

I keep hoping that he will outgrow his morning grumpies, but that hasn't happened as of yet

 

[waldorfknitmama]

I'm really going to try to wake up ealier than DS1 in the morning. I'm going to try (I'm going on a limb here) to set my alarm for 5am. That way I can get up, meditate, cleanish, get ready for the dayish and try to gently wake up DS1 at 6 or 6:30am, my hope is that I can wake him up in a good mood (seeing my smiling face

) AND I'll feel better than being quickly awoken to sreeches and screaming. Anyone have success with this? This is going to take MAJOR self disapilne but if our day starts better than I'm going to give it a try.

Anyone doing this?

 

[jocelyndale]

If DS (almost 2yo) wakes up before 9, DH gets up with him. If I wake up and it's close to 9 and they're both still asleep, I kick or poke DH until he wakes up. He then sneaks out of the room and turns on his computer. If I can, I go back to sleep. Sometimes DS wakes up. I usually stay in bed stretching for another half hour or so, sometimes I sleep if DH doesn't have super-pressing work demanding his attention.

Frequently, DS wakes up shortly before 9, declares DH is a horsey. He then climbs on top andbounces around for a bit before sliding down off DH and the bed. He hands DH his glasses and asks for the door to be opened.

I roll the other way, hide my boobs, and bury my face in my pillow. I don't believe in mornings.

 

[~PurityLake~]

Quote:

Originally Posted by naturalmamaof1 Hey night~time parents!!! Here's a new question for you all. . . How does your family wake up in the morning?? Like what is your situation? Is it working? How would you like to change it? Do you even want to change it? What's working? What isn't?? What do your mornings look like?

We go to bed when we're tired, we get out of bed when we're done sleeping. We don't and never have followed any kind of a schedule.

My husband wakes to an alarm when he has to be to work by 8 am. If on that particular day, he's scheduled for work at 10, he doesn't set the alarm, not even if he doesn't go to bed until after 2 am, because he has never needed much sleep.

Sometimes the girls, one or both, fall asleep in my lap or on the couch while I'm still up on the computer or watching TV. I sometimes put them in bed then if I feel like it and if they are deep enough asleep. Sometimes moving them wakes them up and it's best to let them stay there for an hour before moving them.
Sometimes they stay up until I go to bed with them.
Sophia doesn't need as much sleep as Abigail does (even though she's nearly 14 months younger).
Sophia usually sleeps around 12 hours at night plus the occasional nap during the day (maybe one nap every other or third day).
Abigail sleeps 12-14 hours straight through the night, and almost never naps (long car rides sometimes make her fall asleep, especially if it's sunny out, which isn't often around these parts. Sunshine makes her sleepy.)
I need 9-10 hours of sleep a night to feel normal. Sometimes Sophia wakes up when I do, and we shower together. Sometimes Abigail wakes when I do and we shower together. Sometimes they both wake when I do and we shower together. If they wake before I shower, then we spend several minutes snuggling in bed first and Sophia nurses when she wakes up.

No, I don't want to change it.

 

[PeacefulSprout]

With a BANG!!!! 4 kids up and at 'em while mom snoozes with baby in bed, and dad works out in the living room with the kids crawling all over him! But Saturday is my 1 day a week to wake up with the kids, so I had better go to bed

 

[mamarootoo]

DD wakes up at around 6:30, and we all cuddle in bed till around 7:30, then DH gets up and showers while i get DD dressed, then i shower while he plays with her.

we haven't used an alarm clock in months. DD wakes up between 6:28 and 6:33 like clockwork! lol

 

[srs]

I have a grump too. On the rare occasion that I'm up before her, she usually wakes up (grumpy) about ten minutes later while I'm making coffee. I'd also like the self discipline to get up before her, because I usually feel better, but realistically it may not happen. DD seems to need less sleep than me and I'm tired a lot.

 

[vegemamato]

my partner and I co-sleep with the baby (14 mos), and the other two (8 and 4.5) sleep on futons in the living room.

So.. my partner sets his alarm for 5:15, snoozes until 5:55 (

, crawls out of bed by 6:00 and catches the bus by 6:09 for work at 7:00.. which, undoubtedly, wakes the baby every.time.

then, on Mon/Wed/Fri I nurse the baby until 6:15 or so, wake the older kids us, dress/feed/brush everyone, gather our belongings for the day and we head out (by 7am) for school. My daughter goes to a charter that's two buses away, 1.5 hrs.

On Tues/Thurs my mom picks K up for school at 7:45 so we have a bit more time, which is sucked up- literally- by the baby and her neurotic need to have nah-nahs always present

so, on those days I only have to get the 8 yr old ready, and the 4.5 yr old sleeps until about 10 or 11

our schedule works well for most of us, but the middle child is kind of left to follow whatever the rest of us are doing (since the school needs/baby needs are a bit more pressing). I would love it if we could relax a bit more in the mornings too- I am def not a wake-up-refreshed type of gal but luckily I have an espresso machine to keep me juiced through the day

(OP, could you try setting up a special area to 'wake up and go' in the mornings? we have art supplies, muffins, books, et cetera.. baths also seem to help when the kids wake up in funky moods, as well as a quick morning walk to the mailbox -even though the mail isn't delivered until 2pm

Hopefully you'll find a way to make sunrise a touch sweeter!)

 

[VeezieTG]

our whole family sleeps in one bed.

my bf wakes up at 7 to go to work. neither ds1, ds2 or myself wake up for that. i am sometimes vaguely aware that my bf has kissed me goodbye, but not usually.

at around 8:30 ds1 (3) wakes up and asks to go to his room to play, which i oblige. between 9:30 and 10 ds2 (14 mos) and i wake up. basically, as long as he's on the boob, he's out. today he slept in later (11:30) cos he was up alot of last night teething.

both my sons nap about 2 to 3 hours a day, together in ds1s bed, or the big bed, from about 1 or 2pm. then they go to bed at about 9:30 or 10 at night. i don't mind the later nights with them, cos they sleep late in the morning.

ds1 wakes up all smiles and ready to play in the morning. he is charming and happy. ds2 has to sleep all the way thru to 12 hours or he wakes up simply ANGRY! but he very very very rarely wakes up like that since i don't actually wake him up. unless we have an appt or something.

the only time my ds1 wakes up irritable, funny enough, is if he's slept the whole night in his own bed. it doesn't happen often lately. but i kind of figured out recently that he just wasn't sleeping as good in his own bed at night (maybe its the comfort of the bed, or just not having all of us there) but its so much nicer having him in bed with us and then seeing his smiling face in the morning... even if that means daddy gets a foot in the nuts once or twice in the night time. lol

lots of hugs to pps who are having troubles.

 

[mamadelbosque]

Ok, typically (this past weekend excepted which has been off cause' we've been away and DS' been up till 10ish the last 3 bloody nights with family), DS goes to bed ~8:30-9:00pm and sleeps till ~7:00am, with us. Honestly he's pretty much STTN now, finally, at 25 months. But he's still with us cause' we don't have a 'big boy bed' for him. Yet. We're working on that, believe me. Anyhow. As such, DS wakes up at 7:00am, happy as a frigging clam. Saying "hi!" and "good morning!" and jumping on us and headbutting DH.... and just generally being a little pest untill one of us (typically DH), gives in and gets up

He naps for 2 hours usually around 2:00pm.

Course' as noted, all of this has gone out the window the last 4 days now. DS was up till 10:30 on friday, 10:15ish on Saturday, and nearly 10:00 last night. And today his nap wasn't till 3ish... and he's STILL ASLEEP!

Which makes me worried for how late he'll be up TONIGHT. Course, he's probably just going through another growth spurt, so I expect to be upping his pant-size to 3T within the week... but thats another thread

 

[titania8]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jocelyndale I don't believe in mornings.

i am so with you on that one!