Not sure if I should CIO or not for 5AM waking

DD is 8 mos old.

She STTN from 7:30/8 to anywhere between 4:30 and 5:30.

She wakes up every morning crying and will cry for 2 hours if I let her.

I usually bring her into bed with me and sometimes she will sleep until 6:30, other times she will just hang out quietly in bed with me, half dozing, but not really full on sleeping.

The problem is that I really don't want her getting used to sleeping in bed with me.

But if I don't get her when she wakes she is hysterical.

She will cry for the full 2 hours till we all have to get up and ready for the day (6:30), and then she is just cranky and we still are all up.

Would you let her CIO for a few nighs in hopes that she will cry less and less and eventually sleep though till 6/6:30 or would you keep bringing her into bed?

I'm so torn bc I am happy that she sleeps as much as she does but would love that extra hour or 2!

Re: Not sure if I should CIO or not for 5AM waking

Mine does the same...bed at 8pm and up the past few nights at 4:45am on the dot. I let her CIO and go in at 5-10 minutes intervals. I was up this morning from 4:45 until 6am when she finally went back to sleep. I hope you get some feedback because I am interested as well.

Re: Not sure if I should CIO or not for 5AM waking

My DD always has been an early riser. When she wakes between 4:30-5:30 I just get up anf bring her into my bed, hoping she will go back to sleep but she usually never does. Sometimes I will wait 5 min to see if she goes back to sleep but usually she starts crying. I wouldnt CIO. That my opinion

Re: Not sure if I should CIO or not for 5AM waking

I did it- but she wasn't crying for 2 hours
She was waking up way too early and I had to put a stop to it.

So I just let her cry- but she tended to talk more than cry- babble, play, crawl around the crib...

Eventually she would go back down and now she knows that if she wakes up too early she will just soothe herself back to sleep...

If you want to stop the habit of taking her in bed with you at that hour, I think you might have to....

Re: Not sure if I should CIO or not for 5AM waking

I would break the habit of her coming in your bed. If anything, spend time with her in her room, lay next to the crib and then eventually back off from that...... You could do CIO as well and just know it may take a bit longer since it's so close to the morning wakeup.

Re: Not sure if I should CIO or not for 5AM waking

Despite myself, I'm really a softie when it comes to sleep.. before my kids I was a big fan of saying "I'll never..." wrt sleeping.

DS wakes up at 5 or 5:30 or 4 or whatever stupid early hour of the day he deems fit to wake up. I take him in my bed every day and I'm grateful for the times he sleeps until 6:00. I did the same with DD up until the day I brought DS home from the hospital. I don't know how I'll ever get him out of my bed, since having another child was how I got my first out of my bed and I'm not planning to have anymore.

I realize I'm no help.

Re: Not sure if I should CIO or not for 5AM waking

My kid is an earlier riser as well - generally up around 5:30am. From what I have read, if she is going down at around 7:30-8pm, she's getting about 10 hours of sleep. For some kids, that is enough (along with the daily naps). I know it is for mine. It sucks, but I just get up with her. DD will not go back down at that hour.

Re: Not sure if I should CIO or not for 5AM waking

Holly we had the same situation over here. It drove me nuts! I couldn't let her CIO, though, even though i did for the middle of the night since I felt like she really needed me. Luckily for us, she only wanted a bottle and then to go back to sleep. She finally started sleeping till 7am or later around 9 months old. Hopefully that happens for you!

I swear these little girls are so spoiled

Re: Not sure if I should CIO or not for 5AM waking

Same boat here too. DS wakes up at 4:45-5 most mornings and we've been letting him cry. He usually doesn't go longer than 15 mins though. Someone told me to try giving him a small amount of cereal shortly before bed to try to keep him as full as possible but I haven't really noticed a difference with that. Another thing we've been doing is leaving several binkies in the crib where he can reach them and that seems to help a little bit. He'll cry for a few mins until he finds one and then he falls right back asleep. Some nights we get another 45 mins out if him but other nights, it only buys us an extra 15 mins or so. But at that ungodly hour I'll take what I can get!

Re: Not sure if I should CIO or not for 5AM waking

First of, it's great that she sleeps that much!
Maybe your DD just don't need that much more sleep?

If you're sure DC is not hungry when she wakes up that early or in pain/discomfort then let her try to self sooth for 10 minutes. If she doens't, you may want to get up with her.

Or if you want, put her down to bed later so she's up later too.

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baby wakes up too early