Am I starting a bad habit?

I'm posting this for advise, so go ahead and judge me!

DS is 8.5 months and since 11 weeks he's slept 11 hours. I have a great sleeper! He sleeps from 7pm - 6am...usually. lately it's been harder to get him to bed. he screams his head off if we leave the room. i try to let him CIO, but he'll hyperventilate and i can't deal with that. once he's asleep, he's asleep for the night. we just started playing classical music in his room (the daycare does that) and he seems to be helping...we'll see tonight if that sticks.

now he's been waking up between 5-5:30 am. he used to be able to hang out in his crib until i was ready to wake up, but no more. so i've been taking him back into bed with me and DH for 30min-1 hour in the morning. DH thinks I'm starting a bad habit, but I can't think of what else to do. is it that bad?

im out of the house 11 hours a day, so i cherish whatever sleep i can get!

so I guess I'm looking for 2 things:

1. should i keep trying to CIO to get him to sleep?
2. should i not bring him into bed in the morning?

Thanks!

Re: Am I starting a bad habit?

Do whatever works for your family. Personally, I would bring him into bed.

DS sleeps with us at that time of morning too, I'm not getting up and he goes back to sleep, so he is still tired

Re: Am I starting a bad habit?

DD is only 3 months, but she wakes up at about 4:30-5am every morning and takes a while to get back to sleep. I always bring her in bed for the last hour-hour & a half because I can not get up before 6am. lol If it works for you, I'd do it. You need sleep too.

Re: Am I starting a bad habit?

1) sorry, no advice for CIO


2) If Jula wakes before 7am on the weekends I will usually bring her back to our bed. Sometimes she falls asleep othertimes we have to get up and start the day.

I think 6am is ungodly on the weekends, so I'm doing whatever I can to get an extra 1-2 hours of sleep.

Re: Am I starting a bad habit?

I wouldn't make a habit of putting him into bed w/ us on a regular basis - but that's how me and my DH feel .........

If he's waking @ 5 or 5:30 after a full night's sleep, he's not going to go back - What if you try to put some books or toys in his crib?
Sean will usually sit and hang out while I shower etc. - on a bad day, if I give him something to entertain him he's fine.

Or, sisnce you said you have limited time w/ him - why don't you try to put him to bed later?

Re: Am I starting a bad habit?

Re: Am I starting a bad habit?

At that point in the morning I always brought them into bed with me. It's so much easier, and they've already slept a full night.

Jack slept with a CD on for the first 2.5 years of his life. Sounds like what you are doing is working to get him to sleep.

Re: Am I starting a bad habit?

Re: Am I starting a bad habit?

my son used to go to sleep on his own after playing with a few toys till he was about 7 months and now it has been hard- we have to cio it out otherwise he just wants to nurse to sleep and that takes hours - i have been trying to watch his tired signs and put him down a little later when he is not showing them - this seems to decrease the crying time if i only put him down after he has pulled on his ear and rubbed his eyes



in the morning to do you have a remote controlled mobile that you can play to entertain him

Re: Am I starting a bad habit?

DD is 11 months and has been waking earlier than usual lately (don't know if its more teeth bothering her, or just her new schedule) anywhere from 6 to 6:30. Basically if she wakes up anytime before 7 I bring her into our bed to hang out, she usually doesn't fall back asleep but just that little extra time in bed helps me... At first I was worried about a bad habit, but honestly it works for us so I'm not too worried anymore.

Re: Am I starting a bad habit?

Anythiing you do on a regular basis is boing to become a 'habit' - For him and for you .....

It's only "bad" if you really don't want to be doing it .....KWIM?

For ME, that would be a 'bad' habit - for others, it's the best thing ever .........

Re: Am I starting a bad habit?

DS gets up around 4-4:30 and I bring him into bed to try to stretch it out until 6-6:30.

Re: Am I starting a bad habit?

I always brought DS into bed with us at that time.
It was after a full night sleep, so, no reason to do CIO in the AM.

Re: Am I starting a bad habit?

it's only bad if you don't want it to be a habit.

but I would imagine that if he CIO, you wouldn't get much sleep out of that 30 mins he was in his crib anyway.

is it possible to switch YOUR sleep times...you go down and half hour earlier so you can be up when he wakes up.

I did this with Luce when he went from 7:30 to 6 am but it actually works out better for all of us.

good luck.

Re: Am I starting a bad habit?

I choose not to bring DS into the bed for a few reasons.

First, neither DH nor I really want to start the habit of doing it. I don't really want him sleeping in my bed.

Second, DS will not go back to sleep at that time. I have tried going into his room and rocking him or laying down with him to try to get him to go back to sleep. It's never worked. Once he's awake, he's ready to get up.

Third, my DS will entertain himself a little, even when he wasn't sitting up yet. He will sing to himself and babble for 30-45 minutes usually before he gets too crabby.

On the days where he wants OUT of the crib at 5:30, I just suck it up and get up and try to get to bed a little earlier that night.

Re: Am I starting a bad habit?

Joey sleeps with music on every night.

& when he wakes at 6am, sometimes I'll bring him back into bed with us or sometimes we start our day. He went through the 530am phase too and you bet your butt I brought him back in bed with us He's getting his full night sleep in his own crib,I wouldn't worry.

& frankly, I like the snuggle time in the AM. It's only for an hour.

Like my sister told me the other day when I was asking her if I was forming a bad habit of rocking him to sleep at night, she said they are only little for so long, snuggle them as much as you want now b/c soon they won't want to.

Re: Am I starting a bad habit?

Re: Am I starting a bad habit?

Not up to CIO yet, but DS comes into bed with us in the morning for the same amount of time 1/2 hour- 1 hour. We have been doing this for a while and it has not effected him going to sleep at night in his crib.

Re: Am I starting a bad habit?

Re: Am I starting a bad habit?

I don't see the big deal at all.

Re: Am I starting a bad habit?

Sorry, no advice on the CIO but DD (8 mos) used to sleep until 7 most of the time. Even if she woke up earlier she would just hang out in her crib until we got her. Lately, she started waking up around 5-5:30 . Depending on how much she's fussing, I will either let her try to fall back asleep in her crib or I will bring her into the bed with us where she usually falls back asleep. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that she's teething and that the sun is shining in her room by 5 am(time for blackout curtains ).

I don't think it's a big deal and I don't think it's necessarily starting a bad habit. Especially since we don't do it all the time. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Message edited 6/30/2010 9:37:25 AM.

Re: Am I starting a bad habit?

Posted by MrsA714

I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that she's teething and that the sun is shining in her room by 5 am(time for blackout curtains ).