So, this sweet angel face right here...
...is refusing to give up his 5 am feeding. Now, if I thought he needed it, I wouldn't complain one bit! But for all intents and purposes he is a 22 lb - 7 month old, and I just don't think he does!! The cry-himself-to-sleep thing worked for naptimes and for bedtime. He now does those all by himself. But it just isn't working for 5 am. He cries and cries and cries. We'll go back in and make sure he has his loveys, and we usually break down and give him a pacifier too (which he never uses for sleeping) and he spits it out and still won't go back to sleep. And if he does happen to fall asleep, he'll wake up 30 mins later to start all over again! Last night we fought for a whole hour before I gave in (it actually started at 4 this morning). I just hate making him cry that long, especially when it doesn't seem to be working. Plus I feel bad keep Jason up when he has to get up and go to work. I did try once giving Cooper water at 5 am, but he thought that was the most insulting thing ever. Did anyone else have this problem? Do you have any suggestions? Help!
9 comments:
All I can say is good luck!! I nursed Cameron until he was 16 months old and I think he had an early morning feeding until he was probably close to a year. I couldn't force him to give it up. Plus, if I nursed him then, he would go back to sleep for a little while. It's so hard. . .especially when it is just sweet cuddle I love mommy time that makes them want to nurse then. I know that wasn't much help, but I do feel your pain.
I wish I did have advice! Who knows what to do! I just don't have the energy to fight it and almost always give in! Good luck, he is so, so cute!
so you probably don't remember me but I remember you guys, it's so fun to see you have a blog!! Anyways my daughter was doing this (luckly it was 6am not 5)but I got up with her but would wait a hour or so till I fed her. I did this for a little over a week. She started waking up later and later and later, ok 7am but hey I can handle that. worth a try.
we're in the same boat except andrew is waking up somewhere between 3 and 4. i feel bad not feeding him because i'm worried that he really is hungry so i give in. butthen when he wakes up between 6 and 7 he isn't hungry. so i don't think he needs it but i go through the same thing every night, worrying that this time he might need it. so anyway... i'm not much help here but i just wanted you to know that you're not alone. :)
Okay, let me begin by just saying that Cooper is so dang cute--- and SQUISHY! I know this sounds strange, but do what time do you put him to bed at night? When Miles was about that age he did the same thing. At first we thought it would make sense to put him to bed a little later (around 8) so he would sleep longer, but he just kept waking up early. Then we decided to try a 6:30 bedtime, and that seemed to do the trick. He had a few mornings where he'd still wake up early, but eventually he just out grew that early wakeup time and started sleeping until 7 or 8am. Also, is Cooper's room really dark? We also bought Miles some of those solar curtains that literally block out any light possible so that he wouldn't wake up when the sun came up. That worked really well for us, too. Good luck!
I highly recommend the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. It's awesome! The room darkening shade is a great idea too. But my nine month old JUST NOW got down to one early morning feeding. If you think about it, when Max goes to bed at 7:30-8:00 he really is hungry by 5 AM, it's been 10 hours so I still get up and feed him and then he sleeps till 6:30-7:00
Sorry if that isnt what you wanted to hear but I dont let Max cry it out after 5 AM because he is too awake and it's been so long since his last feeding. (I do at bedtime and early wakings) I plan on waiting it out until a year for that last early morning feeding and just praying that he drops it on his own!
Good Luck!
erica-
give him a spank-n. it already works with vince.
denise
Around 8 1/2 or 9 months I finally got frustrated with the early morning feeding (although it was around 3 or 4 that he was waking) and started putting Hunter down earlier (6 or 6:30pm) which really worked wonders. He sleeps much better now. However, he is a morning baby. He wakes up ready to go almost every morning at 5 or 5:30am and he is almost 17 months old. He used to take an early morning nap when he was littler, but he is trying to switch to one nap now. Cooper might just like getting up early (I hope not for your sleep!). And he probably is really hungry if he hasn't eaten since the night before. I still start Hunter out pretty much right away with milk and breakfast, and the mornings I have him wait, he gets anxious after being up for an hour or so and starts begging to be fed. Black-out curtains have been great for us - if we didn't have them, I think Hunter would wake up as early as 4:30 in the summertime! Good luck!! :)
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