So, Myer has never been one of those kids who sleeps in in the mornings. He has ALWAYS been awake before 6:00, except for a handful of rare occasions where he will "sleep in" until 6:30 or 6:45. This morning, for example, he woke up at 4:33. FOUR THIRTY THREE. In the AM!! It's like I never should have even bothered going to bed!
I heard the pitter patter of his little feet and my first instinct was to try and hide somewhere. Like, I don't know, in the closet or something? The laundry hamper? But of course, he would find me. In the pitch dark. Because of his superhuman mommy-location-senses.
I tried to stick him back in bed and pretend the whole thing never happened, but he was already WIDE awake singing "Bobby the builder!" at the top of his lungs and trying to stick his fingers in my mouth like he always does. What a lovely way to start a day, no?
Ezra was never like this... until Myer came along. He used to sleep in until 7 or 8 every single morning no matter what. But now, when he hears that Myer is up, he is up too, usually around 6:00 or 6:30. Apparently, he doesn't want to miss out on any of the 'sitting-in-the-dark-watching-cartoons' action! It's all so thrilling!
With this new baby on the way, I am feeling the urge to correct this early AM craziness. But I'm not sure how! I am at a loss! It seems like no matter what time Myer goes to bed, he is up before the sun.
Do any of you have kids that were this way? Any tips on how to get the bambino to sleep a little later? Or are some kids just wired this way? Have they located the internal alarm clock gene yet? Can I take him in for some gene-altering procedure where they set his clock back a couple of hours with some very small tweezers?
No?
If you haven't noticed already, I'm a bit delirious today.
Help me, Rhonda.
PS. I'm in LOOOOVE with this dress from Modcloth. One of you un-pregnant ladies should buy it and I will live vicariously through your adorableness:
23 comments:
He is so to die for cute, that if I HAD to be up at 4:33, I'd want that cute little face next to me!
Myer is beging to look more like Ezra I think! Cute!
oh my gracious. 4:30 am?!?! holy cow girl take a nap already!!! lol
That dress is adorable but not nearly as adorable as your little man in that firetruck! cheesin it up. hahaha
Oh man, my son started this for a couple months and luckily he's stopped. We just put him to bed super early to counteract the early waking. Also, making sure he got enough time to nap. It's weird, but our pediatrician has said that sometimes when they're overtired they actually start sleeping less. Makes no sense right? Anyway, I hope this helps a little bit.
I have friends who use black out curtains to help prevent the sun from waking their kids...but she has one that sleeps till 8-9, and one who, yes, gets up around the same time as your cutie pie Myer...
That dress is cute...but the problem is that you can only wear it when you're not pregnant, but if you're not pregnant, it will make you look like you are! There might be an exception if you are Emery-level skinny, but for most folks this dress is just an invitation for the otherwise nice old ladies at church to look at you with sparkly eyes and ask you if you have any new newa. And an invitation for you to sigh and hope fervently for this whole fake-maternity look to be over.
I love your fashion sense, Emery, and I'm so glad you share it with us, but I wish you acknowledged a little more explicitly how much your size makes finding cute, affordable clothes easier.
my middle son is the same way. my husband and i tried every tip we found and nothing works for us unfortunately. so, we either tell him to go play, turn on a movie for him, try to get him to snuggle, or just get our tired butts up. some kids are morning birds!
CUTE DRESS! I am just a few months ahead of you with my second baby, and I bought a dress with a similar silhouette at Target when I was about 12 weeks along. That gathering/panel thing in the front actually hid my little belly, oddly enough!
(I don't mean to be catty, but I think you should be defended a bit here. You can't please everyone with ONE dress and it doesn't seem like that's what you were trying to do. Thin girls have problems finding things that don't make them look like you have a boy body, so it goes both ways! Bah humbug, people! Give the lady a break.)
On to the toddler not sleeping thing... I totally feel your pain. The blackout curtain and nap suggestions are what have helped us too. Once we figured out the over-tired thing and made sure to get her normal naps in EVERY SINGLE TIME, my daughter started sleeping 12 hours straight through the night. It was miraculous for an exhausted pregnant mama, let me tell you. Good luck with everything!
My little man is only 6 months old, but I've read a lot about sleep - the reasons why would take eons to write - but I'm a bit obsessed with research on sleep, especially in babies/children.
So. From what I've read, and so far experienced with my little one, here's what I've learned.
We all have internal clocks, sometimes they get stuck and sometimes they are disrupted. It may take some tough love to help Myer get into a better sleep routine. Maybe offering something less stimulating than TV, like reading books or playing in their room at first, but then moving into something tougher...staying in bed until it's "time to get up". From what I've read, it may take up to a week of being consistent before you see a change, but sleep is worth it. And teaching your children healthy sleep habits is def worth it.
Check out Healthy Sleep, Happy Child if you're so inclined :-)
I hope you find something that works for your growing family!
I have no idea how to fix the sleep thing but he is too cute!! He reminds me so much of Noah and Ezra reminds me so much of Ethan I just wish they could play!! It seems like an injustice or something they can't be buddies.
My oldest son was like this. Woke up before the son every morning for a very long time! Then all of a sudden, around a year and a half old, he started sleeping until 7am! Wow, what a miracle. Haha!
we tell Tallulah (if she wakes up before the sun) to go back to bed until the sun wakes up...if that doesn't seem like it will work, we have a cd player with a cd that we play every night when she goes to bed, in her room, and we say "you need to stay in bed until the music is over." sometimes she falls back asleep and sometimes 39 minutes later I hear, "mama. I awake. music is all done" in a rather sweet obedient voice...at least you get that extra 39 minutes of sweet sleep. Hope that helps.
Emery: I hope you get a nap and a bubble bath today.
Edith: I really hope that Emery doesn't start emphasizing how thin she is all the time. That would be some terribly objectifying writing material, don't you think? I'm about 8 sizes larger than her myself, and I appreciate her ideas because they inspire me to find beautiful, unique clothes that work with my curves.
Beauty doesn't cap out at a certain size and is only truly realized through healthy self-confidence.
Ahh I really like the cd idea that is a good one! I am just starting the sleeping journey since my baby is still very tiny but, ironically even at 2 or 3 months I read that if you put them to bed between 7:30 and 8:30 every night they sleep 1 to 2 hrs longer in the morning.
I started making sure Bostons last feeding was at 7:30p and we lay him down at 8 and after 3 nights of this he sleeps 10 hrs almost every night with the occasional 8 but for a 3 month old I say that is pretty good. So maybe try bed earlier.. I don't know what time you put him down down but my bff's baby is 2 1/2 and she does bath, book, bed at 8p. Her baby is a morning child too but he at least now makes it to 7am... that is a start :)
There are always those cute alarm clocks that turn a certain color when it's "time" to get up. I know a lot of people who have had great success with those. ;)
this would seem to contradict itself, but we have found the later we put our 16 month old to bed the earlier he will wake up in the morning. an 8 pm bedtime gives us a good 12 hours out if him. that might be something to try, an earlier bedtime? if that applies to your situation at all! other than that, when he does wake up "too" early we can give him his morning milk and turn on a DVD that lasts an hour an half. He will sit in his crib and watch it and sometimes go back to sleep. I imagine you have tried plenty of ideas by now. that's just what works for us. an earlier bedtime for him makes a HUGE difference to how early he will get up in the morning. late bedtime almost always equals an early morning the next day. I guess I just can't say that enough because it was such a surprise for us to learn that!
I hope you find some way to trick his internal clock! :)
I'm a new follower of your blog and I absolutely love it! You're beautiful!
Baby #3?! How WONDERFUL! So much blessing! Congrats (:
I have to agree with a couple of commenters here. I have three children who have very different sleep styles but if they go to bed late, they are up early. For us, really scheduled nap and sleep times work but that may not work for you. Two of my kiddos are too old for naps but they are in bed at 7:30. One is up at 7 like clockwork and they other is a sleepy head. My youngest naps at 1pm and goes to bed at 7. He will sleep until 7:30 or 8ish.
Good luck...I hope it is a phase:)
My children, especially my daughter, are the SAME way. She started getting up very early like that just before she was two. She knew her numbers, so we got her an alarm clock and told her she had to stay in bed until it was 6. No 5:57, only 6. She didn't know the difference between 5:01 and 5:59, so we were really strict. She often got up too early, and would play in her room until 6. But, at least I got to sleep until 6. They do have clocks with different lights, which would be easier than numbers. And yes, she still gets up earlier if she goes to bed late. She is 5. We honestly tried just about everything to get her to sleep later, and we tried them each for several days to a couple of weeks. Making her stay in bed until 6 was the only thing that worked consistently.
WHEW!!!! Thank gosh my lil one (2 yo) is a NOT a morning person. We both sleep until 9:30 am or so. LAZY I know.
I hate to say it, but I think it's genetic or molecular in nature. I've darkened her windows though. If she wakes up before 8 or 9, I just tell her "it's not time to get up yet" and she falls back on her pillow and goes back to sleep.
I do have to say she was an AWFUL sleeper until she was 10 months or so.
this is all such good input!!
Myer and Ezra both go to bed at 7:00, so I don't think it's a late bedtime issue. Also, he gets a good nap after lunch every day.
I guess my main problem lies in the fact that my boys share a room. And Myer wakes up SINGING. haha. He will usually lie quietly for 30 minutes or so if I stick him back in his bed and tell him it's not time to get up yet, but after that he is rarin' to go... and loud as an elephant.
The last couple of days have actually been much better-- We busted out the fleece footy jammies because it's getting colder here and I think that has helped! maybe the poor guy was getting chilly in the mornings since he seems to think blankets/covers are from the pit of evil?
Here's to hoping!
I don't know if anyone else out there suggested this, but a friend of mine has a lamp that can be set to light up at a certain time. Even very young ones can tell if a lamp is lit up, right? So, the idea is to train them that they can only come out of their room when the lamp is lit. It has worked for my friend. She had super early risers, so she didn't set it that late--6:30 I think. If they woke up before that, they had to play quietly in their room until the lamp was lit.
I'm over from A Foreign Land and thinking about participating in the Fall Fashion thing. What with the fact that I'm a housewife-home fashionista (ha!) it might be fun!
arabella has ALWAYS been like this... and alarm clocks and lamps and black out shades and later bed times and earlier bed times and longer naps and shorter naps and sleeping pills NEVER worked for her... ok we didn't try sleeping pills... but either way, she still got up and out etc. nola is the same. the only thing that works is for me to tell them they have to stay in their room until 6am. they NEVER EVER EVER ever sleep past 6 at my house, ever. sometimes they are up at 430 also... but they fear me, so... they stay in their room until 6. every once in a while i still have to let out a "quiet!" from my bed down the hall because they like to screech and jump on their beds. so yea... but they are always out of their room at 6 and then watch shows or play in the play room for like an hour, asking me every 5 minutes for food, who the hell is hungry that early!?!?. ugh. oh and nola wakes up singing too!!! how funny they both do that! i'm with angie on the whole putting them to bed later, people are always like "oh well duh! that's why they're up early" and i'm like "you know nothing." haha i've tried later bed time, doesn't change a damn thing. my girls have always been VERY good about naps and going to bed and sleep, but waking up early is their vice, and actually they don't do it at seths and when they stay with people, its only with me.. and no offense to everyone else but i think its just because they're SO obsessed with me and seeing me. honestly. seth thinks so too.
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