Is your baby the Happiest? When your baby wakes up at 4 a.m. and wants to play.

Not My Sleeping Baby, but adorable just the same.

There is a website a person can go to to get "certified" in sleep training.  I could  take that test, and likely pass it, but in reality I suck at getting my kids to bed and having them sleep at night.  As babies I mostly fed "on demand,"  and let them sleep whenever they wanted.  None of that waking babies up or feeding only after naps and not before!  Gads no.

 There are actually lots of books on getting your little nippers to sleep though the night.  Incidentally, for an infant to sleep through the night only means four or five consecutive hours.  Something I don't think first time Mommies and Daddies really know.  Shhhh.  Don't tell them.  Let them be surprised.  Let them be surprised that a full night's sleep is rarer than pink elephants or pigs with wings, and that in actuality, normal sleep patterns for adults don't ever again occur!

WHY do you think grandparents get up at five and go to bed eight?  They are making up for lost sleep. 

So I was talking with some mom's about those times baby and toddler would wake up at 4:30 or 5 A.M.  What did Momma do?  Baby should not have been hungry, wasn't sick or poopy.  Did Mom get baby up?  Since this is common behavior, there are books out there that anticipate the problem and offer answers. As a Mom who likes to sleep I didn't need no silly book to tell me what to do.

What do you do when your child or children wakes up at some God-awful early hour?

The crib is a safe place. A baby proof place.  If it's not, Mom and Dad are doing something wrong.  So, assuming that the crib is a safe place, then this Mom, (me) let baby cry.  And cry.  Until I was good and ready to get my bottom outta bed.  Or until other brothers and sisters do it for me.  Or Dad does.  Or the house catches on fire.

Again assuming crib is safe, and baby isn't sick, poopy, or starving to death.  They do go through times where they are hungry all the time.  Which is where the co-sleeping comes in.  I heard doctors are saying not to do that again.  Well piffle.  That's right. Piffle.  If you have a healthy baby and aren't on sleeping pills and feel that you have a safe situation, then  you go right ahead and co-sleep.

We did.  Well. I did.  I made my husband sleep on the couch because the bed wasn't big enough for three.

All my kids survived.

So, what is your solution for the early riser?