When Can I Finally Sleep In?

My daughter is 5 years old. She just started sleeping past 5:30 each morning. I ended up just going to bed earlier in order to get the sleep I need. It works.

You're not going to want to hear this but my oldest is going to be 8 years old and I don't remember the last time he slept past 6:30 (he's usually up by 6 even on the weekends). Granted he no longer needs me to get up at that time, he can go play for awhile before I have to get up but still with 2 other little ones now I'm up by 6 pretty much 7 days a week. Honestly you've got him on a pretty good schedule so I wouldn't mess with his sleep. If I were you I'd start going to bed earlier myself so that getting up at 5 didn't seem so bad.

Good luck,
K.

9 1/2 hours is a great nights sleep!!!! I'm jealous. My 12 month old just started sleeping that long at night. Maybe he will sleep more once he starts getting more solids. Everyone will try and tell you that their baby "sleeps 12 hours a night since they were blah blah months old". I don't believe them! :) It is very unusual for a baby to sleep that long without eating. They are growing, and they miss you. They grow too fast, go feed him, cuddle and take a nap when you can. Good luck.

The only adjustment that needs to happen is in your expectations. You have a rare gift that your baby has been sleeping through the night since 1 month. Lucky you.

Wow, my oldest son didn't begin sleeping through the night until he was about TWO yrs old! I have a 3 1/2 month old that wakes up two to three times a night, and I think THAT is good!

Truly, sleeping that long at night is awesome for a 7.5 month old! Enjoy it!

I have to agree with the other mom -- they grow up so quickly that you should enjoy every waking moment there is. I wish I could turn back the clock with my oldest son, who is now 12 years old.

My 3.5 year old still doesn't sleep through the night. I was up almost every hour last night between both of our kids not feeling well.

I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in almost 10 years - but, I wouldn't trade it for the world. My husband is great about letting me sleep in at times, and I try to return the favor.

Maybe another perspective (as hard as it is to be sleep deprived right now) is that you only get this stage with them once. All the good that comes from it is so worth the sacrifice. It took being diagnosed with cancer the day before my son's second birthday (my daughter was 10 weeks old) to really appreciate it.

9.5 hours is a most wonderful amount of time to be sleeping through the night. I am slightly envious.

For both my kids, they didn't start sleeping through the night without one or two wakeups until 9 months. And that was because me and my husband were tired and thought that they were big enough to not have to eat through the night. We went through 2 weeks of them hollering and refusing water before they gave up and slept all night long.

Hold on, not much longer until he'll be sleeping all night.

Hire a sitter once in a while to sleep at your house to get up with the kids. You can have a bottle pumped and ready. Everyone needs to recharge their batteries every now and then, expecially if you're nursing.

OMG what a dream! Seriously, I would have died for a baby with such wonderful sleep habits. My son was up every 90 minutes during growth spurts. Sorry not to offer you any advice, I just wanted to say how lucky you are. Seriously, it will get better. Just feed him when he wakes, he will eventually out grow it and you can get your rest.

Two choices. One is to move his sleeping schedule closer to yours, then as he can sleep longer, move the put down time earlier (that is how we started). The other is to let him cry it out at 5 (we did this to get the initial nighttime routine). This may just be a habit now, and he isn't even really hungry at 5. My 10 week old slept from 9 to 6 at night, and now at 21 months, sleeps from 6:30 to 6. Good luck.

Have you considered waking him at 10 or 10:30 to feed him right before you go to sleep? Or moving your own bedtime up so you can get enough sleep to start your day at 5? Just some ideas...they may work, they may not. But I must say that I agree with the last poster. Each baby is different. 9.5 hours at 7.5 months is a good stretch. Not great, but good.

you can try to go in and feed him at 10 or 11 (whn you go to bed)to fill up his tummy and maybe he will sleep longer..

my son is 2 and he has woken up betwen 4 and 5 for his entire life.. sometimes I can rock him back to sleep sometimes we just get up at 5 am and start the day..

parents of young children do not sleep in...

when he is 5 years old..he can wakeup and go watch cartoons... while mom and dad sleep.

The most important factor to consider is how well is growing and his overall health. If he is waking up on his own at 5:00 you really should continue that., but you shouldn't have to wake him up if he's thriving. Breastmilk is digested more quickly because it is the optimal food for the baby, so needing a nighttime or early morning feeding is often necessary to ensure optimal growth. Both my sons needed a nighttime feeding until they were well over a year old. Once my older son was about 15 mos., we started offering a sippy cup with water and he was no longer motivated to wake up. In hindsight, we really should have kept up nursing at nite as he really was small for his age. So, for my younger son, I continued his early morning feedings until he was ready to give them up. He had a much better growth rate than his brother.

At his age, he should be able to go 5-6 hours without a feeding and some kids his age go 12-14 hours at night without eating. I would not worry...if he goes to bed at 7 and doesn't eat for 9-10 hours, that is okay! Enjoy the time you get to sleep - my son still wakes up every hour or two (but not to eat). Because he's going to bed at 7pm, you may have to continue getting up at 5am to feed him. If you want him to sleep in later, you may have to train him to go to bed later.

But honestly it doesn't really matter because as he gets older, he'll start waking up when he wants to. My daughter used to get up around 10am but she used to go to bed at 10pm. Then when she started getting up for daycare, she'd wake up around 630-7 am. Then she started waking up between 5-6am which is when she wakes up now. So although you can try to train them, if they are getting 9-12 hours a night, that is sufficient.

My kids were over a year.....hang in there. It is tough but that is life with infants. Once we realize that it will be easier to deal with. He is doing VERY well. Be grateful....my kids were much older and were just under 14 months apart so we were sleep deprived for over 2 years.....it gets better trust me but it was a rough time.

What a great sleeper you have! I wish mine was sleeping so well at such a young age! I hate to tell you this, but my older one, now two, got up at 5 and wouldn't go back down. Then, right after his first bday, he started waking for the day at 4:30. That lasted for about 5 months! He's now a 6:00 waker, but it's daily. No sleeping in for us for many many years!

Well for sure by the time he 18. until then good luck. my son night weaned at 7 months(until then i was up 4-5 times with him) but still was up by 6:30 or 7 am everyday and he is 2. you are extremely lucky already. sounds like you have a good kid that is cutting you plenty of slack already :) Good luck remember he is only this little once and you never get back the days that have gone past. enjoy right now that he needs you so much because someday he will be "to big for that" :)

My son is 3...and between the hours of 3 and 430, he gets up...always has and yes, I've tried to break him...and it's not even to eat now, its to climb in bed with me...at which time I get up and take him back to bed...or simply let him sleep there so that I can sleep too...

And allot of mother's here are probably saying...LUCKY YOU...that your child doesn't get up ###-###-#### times a night...

good luck to you.

How much does he eat at 5? This is what I did to get rid of the 5:00 feeding. I cut the bottle in half for a week. Then I only did about 1 or 2 ounces for a few days. Finally I just gave a little bit of water and put him back to bed. I think he realized that it wasn't worth it anymore to wake up that early and he would sleep through the 5:00 feeding. But i have to say, once the 5:00 feeding goes away, you can pretty much say goodbye to the 7 or 8:00 wake up time. If he's not getting fed at 5, he'll genuinely be hungry for his first bottle by 6 or 6:30 is my guess (at least until he's a little older). So you have to weigh if you'd rather get up at 5 for a while and then be able to go back to sleep until 8, or always be up for good around 6 or 6:30 if he cuts out the 5:00 bottle...

My 2 year old son has always been an early riser too. I've seen the sun come up more times since his birth than in my entire life before he was born. At first, I was constantly thinking 'when will things get back to normal' and waiting for the return of my previous routine. Then one day it really set in that "THIS IS THE NEW NORMAL. Things will never be the same again, you're a mom". Since I've accepted this, the early mornings aren't so bad and its easier to see and appreciate all the positives that come along with having a child. It's still so hard at times, but good luck with your little man!

Here is my immediate reaction... When they are out of the house.
I have two teenagers and they get up at 5:30 and of course I would love to sleep in but I get up with the girls to see them off the school at 6:30.
Try waiting longer while he is in bed at 5 and go in at 5:30 next time. THen after a couple days go in at 6. Or stop him after just a little bit of food and give him water then gradually wean him off the milk.
I wish I could help but mine were always good sleepers as babies. .
Good luck and hopefully soon you will have a good night's rest.

You're doing awesome to get 9.5 hours! My little one is 15 months and sleeps 10.5 hours. He is up at 6 every morning which doesn't bother me during the week since I have to get up then for work, but unfortunately he doesn't recognize when it's the weekend :) I now go to bed absolutely no later than 9:00pm and hubby and I take turns as to who gets to sleep in on Sat and Sun. I know it's hard, esp because we're still catching up on lost sleep from the time our children were born!

Hi J.,

My son is 16 months old and he is having his longest stretch of sleeping through the night currently, which has been a week straight.
Before this, he would wake up once or twice at night for various reasons: teething, thirsty, hungry, nightmares, you name it. He has never been a good sleeper so I am very pleased with our current situation. 9.5 hours is great for a baby, I think. I would be happy with that, because once he starts teething or other issues come up, you'll miss the old days!
Good luck!