I have a wonderful 10 month old son who sleeps well but is a very early riser (we're talking 5am most mornings). His bedtime is around 6pm and he wakes up once during the night, around 1am, to nurse, then it's back to sleep until morning. It doesn't matter what time he goes to bed; he's up well before 6 every morning! So, I was wondering if any of you have had luck with some kind of a "busy box" crib toy that will keep him busy for a while when he wakes up (maybe plays music, or things to push, etc.). He already has a small soft book and a pacifier in his crib, which works for about 10 minutes. Also, I am concerned about hanging something up in his crib, since he is a good stander and he is wanting to climb things. Any suggestions would be wonderful!
Thank you all for taking the time to offer your advice; it is always reassuring to know we are all in this together! I am going to buy the Fisher Price toy per your suggestions. My little guy was up at 4:30 this morning, ready to party, and it is madness!! Ordering it online today. Thanks again for your help.
My son loved his Baby Einstein Great Barrier Reef Soother. I don't think I can add a hyperlink on here but if you just do an Internet search you will find them at Amazon for $39.99. I bought mine at Target for about the same price.
Ok I was going to suggest to have his bedtime a little later but then read no matter how late he wakes up early. My oldest daughter has always been an early riser, I'm not discouraging you or anything but she is just a morning person she likes to be up and ready by 630am, every day. she's been like that since she was a tiny baby, now, I suggest if you could try the fisher price little musical seahorse. My youngest daughter (13months) LOVES it, she goes to sleep at night with it, and I've found her playing with it in the morning when I go get her. here's the link:
http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=2341&e=detail&...
Good luck and keep us posted!
Fisher Price Ocean Wonders - I 2nd that. I was desperate for my son to sleep and a bunch of online mommas pointed out this toy. When my son wakes in the night, he pushes the button and 99% of the time soothes himself back to sleep. It has waves crashing, a brook/water sound, music, a soft light and fish swim back and forth. You can put it on different modes to not have the light, etc. Best of all, the button is really large and it took him maybe 10 seconds to figure it out (and he was really small when I bought it). He will frequently lay there in the morning, babbling and listening to the music. You can probably find one used at a consignment store for $10ish. Or Ebay or buy the new version online which is a lot more expensive (I have the older version which I prefer).
We used the Fisher Price Soothing Seas Ocean Wonders Aquarium Toy for our son ... he could push the button to turn it on and off and it would entertain him for quite a while. Luckily this is hung over the top rail in the corner (and pretty snuggly at that) so I never worried that he would hurt himself with it. We actually left it in his bed until it got ruined with a rather unfortunate potty accident (wasn't worth cleaning - HA).
Good luck!!!
I had fabulous Vtech toy/soother which strapped to the rails of the crib for my first child. If placed on the night setting and the child fussed for a little bit, it would play a familiar short lullaby which comforted my child back to sleep. When she was fully awake she could interact with the toy by touching buttons etc.
It was the most wonderful toy. I allowed me to squeeze in some extra sleep and comfort my child at the same time. I will look for it online and will post a link if I find it.
This is totally normal. The only thing that I found to help (besides time) is to bring him into my bed with a bottle. Sometimes my boys would even fall back to sleep.
It might help. Have you tried getting up with him, giving him a feeding and putting him back to bed?
Have a MIRROR somewhere within sight helped entertain my early rising babies, during my sleep-deprivation years. According to the "experts", it also helps the child develop self-awareness. I have no idea if the mirror helped as much as the early reading at about 1 1/2 yrs old. When the time comes, get Dr. Glenn Doman's "Teaching Your Baby to Read". Instead of temper tantrums and screaming, my kids were able to express and negotiate their wants, likes, and dislikes, and read till all hours when I couldn't stay awake anymore.
I also have a 10 month old and i have in her crib music toys taht she pushes the button and it lights up and play music, i have also put in two board books I can usually get another 1.5 hour out of that before she finally has had enough. so by 7am i have to be ready to get up and get her day going. the upside is she has an early morning nap and I am able to get a little snooze or get dinner preped for later.
He's getting 11 hours of sleep per night so that may be enough for him. Have you tried to get him to nap later then put him down later say 7 or 8pm? My son goes to bed at 7pm and although he usually wakes up 2x per night, he's up between 5-6 am. But I know that 10 hours is enough for him to sleep. I know many people recommend 12 hours, but that does not mean your son requires that much sleep.
Have you tried giving him a pacifier and then leaving him alone or does he cry / stand and call for you? You could get some sort of toy that lights up for 10+ minutes that maybe plays music (don't know of anything specific) but that could buy you a little more time. With me, once I know my son is up, I'm up and can't fall back asleep.
my son sleeps from 9pm to 9am. If you want him to wake up later, why not try moving his sleep time a litte later each night, say about 10 to 15 minutes. Then when he does wake up at 5am see if you can feed him and put him back to sleep. That is what I do for my now 7mo old daughter. She goes back to sleep until 8 or so. She also goes to bed around 9pm. Best of luck!
Does he have the blackout curtains? Now that it is summer time, the sun rises a lot earlier, so maybe it is waking him up...?
