motherhood

We have now managed to get my one-year-old son to sleep through the night, which was a near on miracle and a mighty big achievement! However, he now keeps waking up at 5 am, every single morning without fail. At 5 am he wants his milk, and he wants to get up and play.

In the beginning, I was more than happy to comprise with this new routine of his so long as he stopped waking up every 2-3 hours. Albeit, now after living like this for the past few months, I am feeling far from content with our 5 am agreement, as the heavy bags underneath my eyes will testify as evidence.
I have tried to give my baby water instead of milk when he wakes up, and milk from a bottle rather than from me, I have rubbed his back, and I have even been practising the ‘Shushing method.’ So far nothing has been successful, he is still very much determined to wake up at 5 am every morning. My eldest son slept great from 7.30pm-7.30am every day. This is the same routine that I am desperately trying to get my youngest into.

I am questioning the reason as to why he wants to get up so early, because when he does he is still rather tired and he then spends most of the morning in a grumpy mood. Is he waking up early because he can smell the milk on me? Is it just for comfort? Or is it because of the birds outside, singing every morning like their rehearsing for a part in Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs musical? It is starting to get lighter outside earlier, round about 5 am, so this could be the reason why. Nevertheless, I already have really dark black curtains, so my room stays fairly dark, but after having numerous conversations with people, I decided to purchase some blackout liners for my bedroom curtains. They’re relatively straightforward to use as you just attach them to the backs of your curtains. I bought the thermal blackout liners, so in the summer they are supposed to keep your room nice and cool as well as dark and in the winter they are meant to give out added heat.

I was really hoping that these blackout liners would be the solution to our 5 am wake ups. Unfortunately, they haven’t solved the situation. Furthermore, they left my bedroom feeling extra hot during the middle of the night. Therefore, I am fairly disappointed with my purchase of the thermal blackout liners.
Could it be genetics? As a child, I used to drive my family crazy as I would frequently get up at 6-6.30am. It didn’t matter how late I stayed up and went to bed; I would still wake up extremely early including on the weekends. Furthermore, I didn’t grow out of this until I was a teenager. So is this just a case of genetics? Of my son being an early bird just as I was? Although his early bird is more like the first waking bird! Will he ever grow out of it? Will I ever be able to find a solution? I will keep you all posted, but if anyone has any suggestions, solutions or theories on the 5 am wake ups I will be more than happy to hear them.

Thank you

Hannah
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