This is Maisie Josephine. She doesn't look much like me, doesn't act much like me, but she is my daughter and she holds a good chunk of my heart. I mean, just look at her - she's stinkin' cute. And most people that get a chance to spend quality time with her, fall in love too.
But she tests my patience more than anyone in my life ~ and her antics make me design new strategies constantly too. This post has one goal and it is to bring you into one of these times in my life when I need some serious mommy ideas.
Maisie is no longer in her crib "tent". She is THREE and FREE. Thus she wakes up at 5-5:30am and takes a one hour nap (now the latter is something I can live with...I know three year olds start tapering their naps off) BUT I am not good with her early rising status. It would be somewhat better if she truly was ready to wake at this hour - but she is not. She is tired and grumpy and seriously a pain to deal with all morning (super tired girl).
Here are some thoughts:
1. a baby proofed handle on the inside of her room
2. a digital alarm clock with the minutes taped off and a big seven on an index card - so that she can see that only when a seven is visable can she come out of her room
3. back to two naps
4. a later bed time
5. no nap
6. drugs for me
Any thoughts out there?
8 comments:
As a mother of an early riser (yes, I remember the days of her 5am wake up), I will tell you what has worked for me over the years.
1. Do not put her to bed later...put her to bed earlier. Try 30 minutes, and see what happens. Sawyer at some points in her life went from 8pm to 7pm, and would sleep longer. Then she would adjust back and still sleep the same. (Given, she'd still be up between 6:30 -7am...but it's better than 5)
2. I bought her a Barbie clock (when she was 5) and talked to her about coming out at 7am. That worked really well....but she knew how to tell time and grasped the whole concept.
3. You can tell her she has to stay in her room until you come get her, but then she has to also have something to do. I really liked the Story Reader. It's not too expensive, and then Sawyer would be able to listen to stories while she stayed in her room.
And the last thing I have to tell you is that she will get older and then she'll entertain herself (without you having to worry). Now Sawyer wakes up, pours a bowl of cereal and watches cartoons or plays in her playroom, until I get up.
Good luck!!!
Oh goodness, I know what you mean! Jack likes to get up that early too, and if he naps for an hour I do a happy dance, and he's not even 1 yet! The kid is not a sleeper. For me, it's a "Good thing he's such a happy baby!" So I will be looking for solutions on your blog, too!
Well, I don't really have any advice for you. I think Rachel has some good ideas and they worked for Sawyer, but every child is so different. Ona went through something similar with Kaia when she moved her to a big girl bed too soon, so she put her back in the crib...don't know if you want to do this, or its even an option for you. Will she snuggle in bed with you and go back to sleep? Just a thought. Good luck and I'm going to check back to see what other Mommies say for future reference!
I say drugs. Tranquilizer for her, margarita for you. Mom of the year, right here!
Jill
Welcome to my life!
We ended up baby proofing the door handle. It seemed horrible at the time, but it worked after like a week and I removed it.
I also agree with Rachel on the earlier bedtime. Ava is in bed no later than 7pm! Any later and she gets up super early.
Meds, they work for me!
I think you have some great ideas here, here's my input, for what it's worth.
I think a schedule is key, try to keep a consistent bedtime and hopefully that will yeild a consistant (and later) get up time. I also agree with not putting her to bed later, I think that just defeats the purpose. I think you could do it a variety of ways, but establish the fact that she can't get up til you come get her or til a certain time. This will probably be hell since you'll spend several mornings just putting her back in her room in the early wee hours til she gets it. I say just give her an option of a quiet activity in her bed, like books or a doll or even play a quiet tape of music if you think that would help. If she's still not getting it this is where the childproof knob on her door would come in quite handy. Once she gets used to the idea that she need to stay in her room, you might add that if she contines to come out too early.
When Wyatt was little he was a crib climber so he was in a bed at 16 months and had touble staying in his bed to go to sleep. So, we locked him in his room till he fell asleep (usually throwing a fit laying on the inside of the door) Of couse we unlocked it and put him in his bed when he was asleep. But after a while he wouldn't even try to get out, at bedtime, or in the morning. Some people may think that sounds horrible....but I'm hard core about getting my sleep, and it worked for us! :)
Oh, and one more random thing. This is proably not the problem, but often times my kids will wake up too early becase they have kicked of all their covers and they are cold. Those hours right before sunrise are the coldest part of the day so it makes sense. Maybe getting some really warm footie-type jammies might help??
Good luck with the process. We are all rooting for you. Us mommies know how precious sleep is!
I know you've already moved on past this post, but I had to put my two cents in. :)
First of all, I would go with Jill's advice. If that doesn't work, I would have to say ditto to everything Lindsay said.
I am one who strongly believes in keeping little ones on a schedule, especially when it comes to eating and sleeping. I've seen clear results and wonderful benefits with my own children.
With Sarah, when we moved her to her big girl bed we told her right from the start not to get out of bed without asking Daddy or Mommy first...and she did it! She never ONCE got out of bed in the morning until I came and got her. (she is our mellow, compliant child)
Now Olivia is a whole different story! She is super strong willed ball of fire and tests the limits as far as she can. And this issue has become an issue of obedience. She's now old enough to know when Mommy and Daddy tell her to do something, she needs to obey or there will be consequences. This has been long road of listening to her cry at night because she wanted to get out of bed, disciplinging her when she disobeyed and then dealing with the same thing in the morning. But you know what? It works. She finally got it through her defiant mind that mom and dad mean what they say and there's no getting around it.
I have to say, after eleven years of being a mom (and many, many mistakes!), the best parenting tool for me has been consistency and gently establishing "mom and dad are the authority" It makes things a whole lot easier when they're older.
But hey, as the High School Musical song goes,"we're all in this together". This whole parenting thing is a constant learning process. Isn't it great we moms can rally together for support?!!!
My 27 month old is still in a crib. She hasn't attempted to climb out (she's not a climber anyway). I intend to keep her in the crib as long as possible because I know that there would be TROUBLE in a big girl bed!
These ideas sound good to me! I especially like the baby proofed handle on the inside of the room. (One of my "fears" is Makayla wandering free around the house at night!)
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