Wake-up Calls
For many, many months, I’ve been getting up at 6:30am every day. When we used Dr. Weissbluth’s advice to sleep train Tiny and Buba, 6:30am was the time T and I agreed would be the start of our days. This made sense because it was the time T needed to get up for work. And even on the weekends, our days begin at 6:30am. Although I’ve often (like, every single day) thought it would be lovely to sleep in a bit more, it seemed to make sense to keep wake up at the same time every day to keep our schedule and routines on track.
This does not mean that Tiny and Buba sleep until 6:30am. They generally wake up sometime between 6:10am and 6:30am. But it means that T and I do not get up and get them up until 6:30am. There have only been a handful of times when I have found them still asleep at 6:30am, and even then they didn’t sleep much longer once they heard T up and getting ready for work.
But this week is school vacation week in Massachusetts. T, being a teacher, doesn’t have to get up for work. So, I proposed that we turn the alarm off and just see what happens. My thinking was this, normally I hear Buba and Tiny whenever they start to stir in the morning, and there had been quite a few times recently when I hadn’t heard them at all until the alarm went off. Perhaps, given how small our house is (roughly 900 sq/ft), they were able to hear the alarm from our bedroom causing them to wake up at 6:30am when they might have stayed asleep (or at least quiet) longer had the alarm not gone off. I wanted to test this theory, and this seemed like the perfect time.
So, we reset the alarm for 7am (T didn’t agree with turning it off altogether). This seemed like a good plan that would give us a little more time to sleep without throwing off the schedule too much. But it seems I was way too optimistic about this allowing me to get more sleep. Apparently, Tiny can tell time and 6:35am is her max for staying in the crib. Before 6:35am, she is happy to play quietly and talk with Buba. But at 6:35am, the shrieking and screaming begins. Not the sort of wake-up call you’d like to get while attempting to sleep in. I’m pretty sure I prefer the sound of the alarm at 6:30am, but I’m going to give it a few more days just because I can. When school vacation week is over, we will have no choice but to go back to our 6:30am alarm. But if I can see some positive results in the next few days, there might be some hope for 7:00am wake-ups on the weekend.
How do you handle wake-up time with your kids? Is there a set time every day, or do they just wake up when they wake up?
There was a set time, until about a year ago. Once they dropped naps (at least at home, but often at school), I became concerned that my schedule was causing Mel and Jess some degree of sleep deprivation. I wake them at 6:00 on weekdays, and they’re usually all agiggle by 7:00 on weekends, although they’ll sleep later if bedtime gets munged.
Good Nite Lite, best invention EVER. I actually set ours to 7:30 (they did go through a phase of getting up that late on their own, so it wasn’t an unreasonable expectation). 95 times out of 100, even when they wake up earlier than the light, they hang out quietly until it turns yellow. Of course, then they start shouting “SUN IS YELLOW” the split second it changes, but at least it’s predictable. And I like that it is an “external” thing making the judgment call of whether or not it’s time to get up. Takes the blame off of mommy. 
we do teh exact same as you – get up at 630am even though the kids are usually awake around 6-615. I wish it were later but no matter when we put them to bed (within reason), that’s when they get up. And as proof to the non-believers, when we traveled at night and got home around 2am, they only slept until 8am. So if I wanted a later wake up time, bedtime would have to be crazy late and that just ain’t happening!
Also, we will be investing in the Good Night Light as soon as they are old enough to understand it
My 2 are almost 11 months and they go down to bed between 5:30 and 6:00 and wake up in the morning between 8:00 and 8:30. We also did Weissbluth and decided that 7:30 would be our time in the morning where we wouldn’t go to them before that, but they decided they rather be in bed until after 8am. They are NOT happy campers when we wake them up at 7:30 so we can get to church on time on Sundays. I keep waiting for the bomb to drop and for them to wake up earlier, but so far they are happy little sleepers. {fingers crossed}
We used 7am as our “wake up time” when we started to get into a schedule. And we still do it.
They wake up around 630 or so, and give us about 30 minutes to get them before they start getting pissed at us. So we’re up at 630-7am even on the weekends too.
We pretty much let the kids sleep til they wake, but that is pretty much 6am. Sometimes it’s a little later, but never beyond 7am. We actually put them to bed later so they sleep later. I know this is contrary to most philosophies, but we found that when they went to bed at 6:30pm they were waking at 4 am and unable to go back to sleep. It works for us.
The Good Nite Lite has worked very well for us. We are continuing with the 6:30 wake up time because we think this is going to be a good habit to be in once they are older.
But …. I’m a very early riser and this is not a hardship for me … I really feel for people who want to sleep in …
Hope you get some extra sleep this week …
We let the kids sleep until they want to get up unless it’s a school day. And I refuse to go in and get them unless it’s at least 7:00.
I usually have to wake the twins up at 7:30 on a school day. Maggie’s been known to sleep until 9:00! (She so takes after her mom…) And if Logan isn’t feeling well, it’s a crap shoot – he’ll either wake up early (like 6:30) or way late (like, after 8:00).
Keep us updated…I’m curious to know if they’ll start waking up later…
Will is usually fast asleep when I get him up at 6:30 – but that’s the time he has to get up so we can be out the door by 7 to get to school/work. On the weekends, we definitely turn the alarm off and he’ll usually sleep until 7:30 and is happy to stay quiet in his crib until 8 ish. Bedtime is always between 6:30 – 7:00 with the occasional 7:30 on the weekends and all usually works smoothly.
They just get up when they get up but it is around 7AM plus or minus not much.
Sarah will occasionally sleep in very late (730 or later) but it is unusual. She will also, on occasion get up much earlier. I have heard good things about the Good Night Light if you’re thinking about trying to get them to stay in there a little bit longer.