Sleep Training… Myself
I am not a morning person. Totally embarrassed to admit this but I typically don’t get out of bed until 8:00 am 8:30 most mornings. Sometimes as late as 9:00 9:30. AM. (And I say “AM” because there’s been some confusion in the past.) Ths MUST change because Archer starts kindergarten on Monday when I will be leaving the house no later than 7:45 7:30 sharp to take him to school.
That is some scary shit.
In my defense, the reason I’m such an awful morning person is because I’m an awesome night person (Hey now!). The earliest I’m able to get to bed is 12:30. Er, the earliest I USED TO BE ABLE to go to bed was 12:30. I’ve spent the last week “sleep training” myself to get into bed at 11:00 with an 11:30 eyes-closed-head-on-pillow policy. Alarm set for 7:00am.
Yes, drill sarge! Er… not so fast.
So far I have failed. Every. Single. Night. And every. Single. Morning. I’m. Just. Going. To type. Like this. From now. On. No, I’m not. Just. Kidding. I will say though, although it’s true I have failed, I have at least been up earlier than usual. And in bed by midnight. Which is, you know, progress. And yet, still problematic.
I’ll have what she’s having.
Lately, and maybe it’s because I’m trying to sleep train myself, I’ve
become obsessed with other people’s sleep habits. I stalk twitter after
midnight to see who else is awake. I probe every friend, even stranger I
meet at the park re: their bedtimes.
“Hi! Cute kid! Love your stroller and also, when do you usually go to sleep?”
“No, we’re not using that swing. Go ahead! And by the way, what time did you wake up this morning?”
“Where is your son going to kindergarten and also how many hours of sleep do you need in order to function as a healthy human being?”
“Your child just stole my kid’s shovel! How do you sleep at night?!! No, seriously. How do you literally sleep at night? I’m genuinely curious.”
I’ll have what she’s having, too.
Sleep is one of those things, kind of like pooping, that, even though we all do it, is relatively personal and seldom discussed. Also, much like poop, I think it’s fascinating! Two girls, one sleeping pill? The internet sensation of the future! And yet, most people, I find, are ashamed, even embarrassed of their sleep habits. Myself included. I always thought there was something wrong with me that I couldn’t get my ass out of bed – that I still can’t. And when I finally drag my lazybonesjonesass out from under my comforter? It takes me HOURS to fully wake up, even after fifteen minutes of fall-out-of-bed-onto-yoga-mat-stretching and a massive cafe con soy leche.
I spent many years as an insomniac, took Tylenol PM every night at 3am only to wake up at 9am the following morning, late for work… again. Six hours was all I needed back then but now six hours isn’t enough. At least, it hasn’t been enough. I only have four more days until Archer’s school starts. Wait. What if I just pretended I was on East Coast time and that my exhaustion is jet lag? Perfect solution! Genius, even! Why did it take me until writing this post to think of that?
While I’m writing up my own perscription for morning-personness by way of “fake jet lag,” I’d love to hear from you. (Yes, I ask a lot of questions on this blog but it’s only because I have a lot of questions. And you guys always have wisdom and it’s very helpful to me and others.) So! If you don’t mind: How do you sleep at night? What’s your typical bedtime vs wake-up? Any helpful wake-up tips? Any born-again morning people out there? Seriously. This is not a ludicrous conversation. This is LIFE and what we spend a third of our lives doing! Sleep needs more attention! A “sleeping” blog community!
Okay so maybe I’m just tired.
It is, like, 7:00 10:23am.
***
Oi. I totally understand. I take my daughter to daycare a couple days a week at 8am, and usually I am late. Sick part is I live three houses down from our day care provider, but can never seem to get up in time…
My dream is to wake at 6am, or even 5.30am, BEFORE everyone else, but my nursing baby isn’t having ANY of that. And since I usually don’t get to bed til about 2am (curse of the WAHM)I spent 50% of my day drinking tea (and about 30% peeing!)
Best of luck in your sleepy time adventures — can’t wait to hear an update! <3
I have all sorts of problems sleeping in general, but the most helpful tricks have been(and this will sound extreme)): NO, and I mean NO television, computer, smartphone etc., for a full hour before you go to bed. Also, limit light at the time you turn off the screens. Read something on paper (not on a Kindle, etc.) No caffeine after 12noon. Get as much sunshine as you can during the day. (Yeah, yeah, hats & sunscreen, but get outside!) Sleep hygiene. For serious. It’s important. Good luck!
i am typically in bed by 11 or 11:30 and typically out of bed by 7 or 7:30. though how much of that time is spent sleeping? i usually fall asleep by midnight and my alarm goes off at 6:45 every morning. sometimes i snooze, sometimes i just check email from bed…depends on when my first meeting is that particular day. and i almost always wake up once or twice during the night, usually for anywhere from 5-15 minutes.
if i’m not feeling remotely tired at 11 or 11:30, i take like 1/8 or 1/4 of a klonopin or ativan which usually does the trick within 15 or 20 minutes but because they are anti-anxiety pills and not sleeping pills, they don’t leave me feeling wrecked in the morning…also, i’m taking a very small amount, just enough to feel naturally tired.
for a more natural and over-the-counter approach, i’ve also used melatonin. melatonin is fascinating because it promotes lucid dreaming, which is kind of fun. melatonin is also good for airplanes because you can safely wash it down with a glass of wine, whereas wine with prescription meds is kinda poo-pooed.
There is nothing I love more than sleep. I take it very seriously. But with the 17 month old and whatnot, I just don’t get enough of it. I still can’t function every morning when my son gets up between 6:30 and 7:00 am. Some mornings, blessedly, my hubby lets me “sleep in” which means I half-sleep for an extra hour while the house buzzes around me.
I, too, am a night person. I try to get in bed by 10:30. But the quiet, alone, TV, freedom-to-do-whatever after 8:00 (when my son finally is asleep) is so tempting and enjoyable that it’s hard to give that up and go to bed. Still. I try to.
And also, I still nap on the weekends when my son naps – to try to make up for some of the sleep deprivation.
I wish I could help with this. I am not a morning person but I am also not a night person. I am a middle of the day person. I must be in bed by 10:30 lights out by 11:00 and don’t speak to me until 9:00 at the earliest. I will still be a little groggy and tired at that time but more polite than if it 7:30. However, my daughter jumps out of bed every morning at 6:45 with a huge grin and demands for cereal. I have decided that for her sake I will put on a smile and have sunshine and roses shining out of my ears so that she doesn’t think I don’t like her. The smiling despite my desire to still be asleep has helped and I am actually enjoying my time with just her (her brother sleeps until 8). Although, some mornings I wish she would sleep longer or beg for her dad so I could sleep a little longer.
Good luck with your sleep training!!
Our circadin rhythms are a hard thing to mess with. Myself, I can barely stay awake past 10pm (yes, I’m one of THOSE people, and always have been), but then I wake up relatively consistently by 6:45. I’m not a morning person, but I function. (And yes, if you are counting, that is nine glorious hours of glorious sleep.) A doctor told me that the bedroom should be for sleep and sex only. No kids, no TVs, no work. That way, when you go to the bedroom, your brain gets into sleep (or hanky panky) mode. You don’t talk about stressful things or what you ate for breakfast or that annoying mom at the park when you are in bed. Just happy, restful, sleepful things. Also, slow down before bed. Try a meditative “release” before you go to sleep, thinking about everything you did that day and then releasing it from your mind with a breath or chant. Might help?
I’m usually in bed by 10:30PM and asleep around 11ish. BUT I wake up at 6AM every morning for work. So I get around 7 hours sleep a night. The problem I have is sleeping in on weekends. I can’t sleep past 8AM on Saturday or Sunday! Ughh! I used to sleep in until atleast noon but not for the past few years. Bummer!
For me, back in college I would stay up no problemo till 1:00am or later, and bam, be awake for an 8am class. But now that college days are done, I am exhausted: pure exhausted by 10pm. Granted, I have to be up at 5:45am in order to be out the door in time to head to work, but still. I always feel ridiculous, because I’m only 26 years old. 10pm? really? I feel lame.
Have you tried drinking sleepy tea that has valerian in it? and having sort of an evening routine that tells your brain that it is time to chill down and get ready for bed?
Maybe Dr. Ferber’s Solving Your Child’s Sleep Problems would be a help to you? It’s one of the most informative books I’ve ever read. It talks about how to shift sleep- you have to shift your whole day, not just waking and going to bed. Breakfast, lunch and dinner have to be shifted and you probably have to start out getting up way earlier than you want to in order to make sure that you’re tired enough at your new bed time.
I’m VERY jealous! My 5 1/2 month old wakes up at 6 every morning. I would kill to sleep until 9! How do you sleep in with your little ones??!! My God, don’t feel bad about sleeping in! Tell me your secrets, please!
Here’s my problem. I’m home with my kids most of the day which means I HAVE to work at night otherwise I would need a full-time nanny. (I have a part-time nanny now.) So every night (weekends included, unless I go out) I work after the kids go down (Usually around 8:30) and I work until 11:00 (at the earliest) and then have an hour or two with Hal – we watch a show, discuss life things, etc. Really I’d like to train myself to need LESS sleep because going to bed early isn’t an option for me right now. Can one do that? Any Navy Seals out there with sleep deprivation training?
TiredMommy – Hal wakes up with the kids. He’s my secret weapon, bless his husbandly heart.
MELATONIN.
I think your approach is right – re-train your body by pretending you have jet lag. Start taking melatonin every night at 11:00. By the fourth or fifth night, you’ll be in the right ‘time zone’.
Also, you could probably pretty easily get your kids in bed at 7:30, buying you an extra hour of work time. My bet is that Archer will really need the extra sleep when he starts school. All that learning is exhausting.
I doubt you can learn to survive on less sleep, so try some other options. Melatonin is a mother’s best friend.
Good luck!
Same as TiredMommy. How do you sleep till 9 with two kids??? Please share the secret. Except it is my 16 month old that wakes up between 5:30-6:30 (7 if we’re lucky) each morning.
Oops – sorry – your explanation about the sleeping in crossed my message. In that light my comment isn’t helpful.
Okay, first of all, please don’t try to train yourself to survive on less sleep. Lack of adequate sleep is a risk factor for heart disease among other ailments. Your body tells you how much you need; I seem to require ~8 hours per night to feel good, 7 hours to feel okay, 6 hours and I feel like garbage. I am a full time PhD student, which means I have a pretty flexible schedule, but I still like to regiment my time a bit so I can get more done during the day. So here are my personal do’s and don’t's:
1. Do turn off your brain at night by winding down with a book or a conversation while lounging/laying in bed. I usually aim for light material whatever the medium. Nothing school/work/stress related. I usually get in bed between 10:30 and 10:45 to do this. My lights go out at around 11:00 or 11:15.
2. Do not/try not to rely on caffeine as your primary pick-me-up in the morning. I also take a while to wake up, but could linger for an hour over a cup of tea or a latte if I allowed myself. For me, it’s usually a shower that gets me moving, so if I need to get up early and get myself in gear I go right to the shower upon waking. I also try to eat something right away – preferably something with protein.
There are only two of them, not really a list I guess. Another little trick is that I set my alarm so that I wake up to NPR. It goes off ~20 minutes before I have to get out of bed, so I allow myself to listen to news as I’m waking up. This usually gets my brain juices flowing and puts me in a more human mood.
Everybody needs a secret weapon!
I have these exact challenges. My husband is less supportive as he likes going to sleep before ten and then sleeping until seven or eight. Which is too many hours for me.
The magic number? Seven and a half. Or seven. But that’s just me – maybe.
Or? Split a pint of booze with Hal. Lay down on your face and let Hal whisper you to sleep with sweet/boring nothings. Which works really well until the babe wakes up screaming about her stuffy nose/face. Lovely.
I’m normally in bed by 11 p.m. and I get up at 7:30 – 8 a.m. -ish. I have absolutely no problem going to bed early, but am ALWAYS exhausted in the morning. Very difficult to get out of bed, no matter how many hours I’ve slept the night before.
I would also recommend melatonin. I’ve tried it a few times and it does give you quite a glorious sleep – my only issue was the groggy-ness in the morning, but that might just be me in general!
Having kids has made me a born-again morning person, but I’ve had to learn to accept the fact that I will hardly ever go to bed past 11:00 p.m. ever again, ever. The work you do after the kids are in bed – can you switch some of that to the mornings if you husband is still around? As for help falling asleep at night, I heartily recommend a long soak in the bathtub shortly beforehand. It’s one of my favorite things in the world.
I usually can’t go to sleep before 11 or so but since being pregnant I can go to bed at 10 or 1030. The little one goes to bed late too, so it depends on her most nights. I wake up at 5 or 6 on days that I have to work but on the days I don’t, I am not ashamed to say that I sleep until 830 or 9 and I LOVE it! Sleeping is a precious commodity, especially if your kids let you sleep in that long!
I can vouch for the melatonin suggestions–Trader Joe’s has some great chewable ones.
I am wired as a night person, too. I find it physically painful to be up before 9am no matter how much sleep I’ve gotten. I prefer to get a lot of work done around midnight, but if I don’t get myself to bed by 10pm I’m even less useful when my alarm goes off at 6am.
Someone suggested shifting some of your work to the mornings while Hal watches the kids, and if that’s workable it sounds like a smart idea.
The main thing my husband and I do that helps enormously, but is probably not possible for many people, is that each of us has one day off during the week. We take turns in general with making different meals and doing school pickups, etc., but having one day in the middle of the week where I sleep in, am not in charge of anything, and can do what I want is golden. I get a huge amount of work done on that one day and I’m less stressed out about getting up early on the other days.
In basic training, the minimum required amount of sleep was 4 1/2 hours. They’d give you more sometimes, but drill sergeants aren’t known for being generous. When I arrived, I was a teen who loved sleeping till noon (at least).
I learned a good lesson- its not neccessarily the length of sleep (although everyone does have a minimum), its the quality of sleep and the way you wake up. Some good excercise during the day, showering right upon waking, and two 6 1/2 foot tall men screaming at you will really keep you feeling alive! If you hit the afternoon wall, do a set of jumping jacks whilst ignoring all the strange looks you get. You’ll get a natural pick me up without jeopardizing your ability to fall asleep early(ish) as caffeine or sleeping aids might.
I’d move the light stretching to before bed. Make the wake-up transition more abrupt and you’ll spend a lot less time lingering and groggy. Stretching keeps you relaxed and mellow. You need a good kick in the ass to get moving.
ANd if you care to hear it, my #1 biggest rule for quality sleep is absolutely NO TV in the bedroom. Ever. I had one for a couple months in high school and decided I’d just deal with watching lame reruns of Star Trek in the family room- that’s how bad I slept!
I have no helpful suggestions, but you are not alone! I’m exactly the same! I do ALL my best work after 10pm, which usually includes the housework. Thankfully my daughter is 18 months and not required to be anywhere but asleep at 7:30 in the morning. When you were confessing your sleepy-head ways I was very surprised to read you wake at 8 or 8:30… That’s when we wake up and always have. So normal!! Good luck and much sleep in your future. P.S. I always feel tired, but there’s no way I’m going to bed earlier.
My husband is going though this because after 3 years of my generously taking all morning shifts with our son getting up at 5:30-6:30 in the morning (plus every. night. waking. Ever.) I’m making him get up in the morning with the three year old while I handle the newborn (and all night wakings). He tries to wind down before bed and slip bedtime earlier and earlier. But is still failing to some extent. I’m a morning person (bedtime: 10:00, wake up: 6:00), but I also believe that if you HAVE to get up EVERY DAY at 6:00 because your son is up, you’ll end up enjoying that 10:00 bedtime and falling asleep.
I also have insomnia but that’s another story. I’m actually pretty good on 5-6 hours of sleep. But not proud of it.
I totally am a born-again morning person. I had to become one when my kid decided that sleeping was for losers.
I went through an awful spell of waking at 4:30am with him (about a month ago for what felt like 7 years, but was really more like two solid weeks.) We’ve started putting a cup of water in his crib at night (he is 21 months old) and now he stays in bed longer in the morning.
That said, I’m still waking at 7 (and feeling truly decadent about it.) I’ve grown to really love the morning quiet. Sometimes we go for early walks in the neighborhood, opting to forage for coffee instead of home-brewing. Having a purpose helps. Sometimes I put on Elmo and read my email or a book. Getting the cats fed, the dishes from last night done, and my wife’s lunch packed before the day even really begins gives me a sense of accomplishment that sleeping in never did.
I also nap when he naps, a luxury only afforded to the mother of siblingless toddlers, I know.
I go to bed around 11-11:30. I read for a half hour. I am asleep by midnight most nights and 6-7 hours seems to generally be enough for me to wake gladly.
OMG, eringremlin THANK YOU! I’m a night shower person because I cannot sleep without a shower but maybe I should be showering in the mornings, instead/too? I hate showering in the morning usually because I hate mornings and just pout my way through them. I love your suggestions, you guys! I’m going to ask Hal to stand over me and yell! Seriously! Ha!
Sadly, I have no advice to offer. Only personal sleep-habit information. I sleep from 11:30 PM to 6:15 AM…and then stay in bed and attempt to get some extra sleep until 7:30 AM. (My husband gets up with Westley at 6:15.)
I FORCE myself to go to bed every single night. It’s like pulling teeth, really. I HATE going to bed because, well – like everyone else – I have things to do!
The sad thing is that I start to get sleepy around 8:30 or so, but Westley’s not in bed until 9:00…and then I get a second wind around 9:15. And then I feel like I could stay up forever! So I drag myself, kicking and screaming, to bed. Because if I get too sleep-deprived, I start feeling like I have the flu all the time, and my depression goes beyond bad to paralyzing.
I know JUST what you mean. UGH. I’ve always been such a night person, but I thought that once I had a daughter that would change. But it hasn’t. Plus, I work part-time and I’m a full-time student, so after bedtime is my time to get schoolwork, etc. done. BUT, then I end up wasting time for a few hours and next thing I know it’s 2am. My daughter wakes up anywhere from 7am-9am, usually sometime around 8am, and every morning I think “PLEASE DON’T GET UP NOW. I KNOW YOU WANT TO SLEEP IN TODAY.”
This popped up on my homepage the other day, and it helped me feel less crazy: http://health.msn.com/health-topics/sleep-disorders/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100261592&page=1
I have no good advice here, because I am a huge night person, and am really struggling with this get-up-at-6:45am-and-take-the-kid-to-kindergarten crap. I was up until 1am watching some random korean indy film that didn’t even make any sense to me! And then I’m so sleepy the next morning. Ugh.
I’ve always been a night owl but my daughter wakes at 7:30 am so for the next few (how many?) years I’m going to bed early… was always always a pre-bed showerer, now a morning one.. I second the book not electronics suggestions. Also melatonin makes me feel kind of spooked/nutty. Theres a homeopathic tablet called Quietude that works really well.
I’ve always been a night owl. In college, I would be off wandering campus at night, and crawl into my boyfriend’s (now husband) bed at 4am (after he’d been asleep since midnight at the latest). He called me his night angel.
I also really need 8 hours sleep.
I have a 2 year old (his birthday is today!)
I’m working on my ph.d.
You do the math.
I try my best to force myself to be in bed by 10pm every night. And honestly? The best thing that happened was that someone moved in upstairs who likes to talk on his phone in his bedroom right over our bed…. cause it forced me to get earplugs. Somehow, turning all the sound off except my heartbeat helps me to fall asleep faster, and sleep more deeply.
The other thing that helps is to take antihistamine pills, but I think that’s probably not an option for everyone.
(I have them cause I have bad eczema and so sometimes it helps to keep me from itching at night, with the side effect of drowsiness! But I don’t abuse them, I turn to them only in dire situations, maybe once every other week, when I’m genuinely exhausted and also itchy.)
I had to sleep train myself too! So, here’s what works for me: First, the TV and computer have to go off 30 min-1 hour before bedtime. Something about the light stimulates the brain to be AWAKE! Also, I’m a compulsive email checker, so I have to disengage from the computer, or my brain is going, going, going. Next, I do the same nighttime routine–get a glass of water, brush teeth, wash face, moisturize! This is the cue to my body that bedtime is coming! Then, I get into bed and read for 15-30 minutes depending on how tired/not tired I am. I try to get into bed by midnight..asleep by 12:30 a.m. I get up between 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. depending on my schedule…usually around 8 a.m. (So umm…pretty much your old schedule…lol.)
I’m just jealous that you’ve been able to sleep in until 800 up until this point. I am not a morning person at all. Before I had a child and I was working I had to be at work between 8 and 9 which meant I was usually leaving my house at 915. Now, my daughter uses me as a human trampoline and drags me out of bed every morning at 600. It’s terrible. I’m sorry I have no advice for you the only thing that has helped me go to bed earlier is complete exhaustion from being woken up at 6am for the past two years.
Oh, and now that I’m getting older if I drink any caffeine past 11am I can’t sleep at night.
I am another born-again morning person. My 10.5 month old is ALWAYS awake before 6am, bright-eyed, smiling, and ready for the day. I am usually asleep between 10-11pm and wake up at 5:45-6am. That is right on the edge of enough sleep for me. Before becoming a mom, I swore I needed 8-9 hours a night, but now 6-7 hours seems to work pretty well, especially if it is uninterrupted sleep. I have actually come to appreciate and enjoy the early mornings because my 3 year-old son doesn’t usually wake up until 6:30-7am. He often wakes up kind of grumpy and is very talkative so having some quiet time to myself (the baby is usually happy playing and eating breakfast quietly) is key to a good start to my day. And now, when I get the opportunity to sleep in, I usually can’t make it past 7 or 8am! Depressing! But I do get a lot done in the morning and it works for me, even though I never thought it would.
Best of luck with your sleep training! Other commenters have had lots of great suggestions on getting to sleep earlier – I hope some of them work for you!
Don’t worry, I’m so a night owl too. I hate mornings with a passion! The following thoughts drift through my brain, “How can a pillow and bed feel so delicious!?” and “It didn’t feel that way last night (ok, it was technically morning when I got into bed) when I got into bed!”
One suggestion I can make is to not go cold turkey sleep training. A 12:30 to 10 bedtime is quite the jump, so try going to bed just 15 minutes earlier a night to train yourself into sleeping earlier. I haven’t tried this because I’m still young and I don’t have kids to wrangle, but my aunt swears by this and teaches this in her Chopra classes. Good luck!
I worked nights from age 18 to age 30 and usually went to bed at 1am. At age 30 I got pregnant and I got a job that required me to be there at 6am and I never slept again. Seriously though, 9am would have been an adjustment so I figured I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. So I’ve been getting up at 4am for the last 5 years (yes, even with a new born). I go to bed anytime between 7:30pm and 11pm. It doesn’t really matter what time you go to bed when you get up at 4am, you know? I get a cup of coffee the size of my head, sit down at my desk and stare at the computer screen until about 9am. Sometimes work gets done and sometimes it doesn’t. Good luck!
I have no sage advice for you, I just totally understand your dilema. I HATE getting up in the morning. And seriously, it doesn’t matter what time I go to bed. Mornings are my nemesis, and since I no longer have kids to get up, I allow at LEAST 2 hours before I have to get actually moving. It really takes me that long to feel motivated. I drink coffee, read the paper, watch the news…and I must do all of those or I ain’t going nowhere!!
I work part time, so have the luxury of sorta making my own hours. I used to get there by 1pm and work until 6. When they asked me if I was willing to work more hours, I said “ummmm….sure”. So “how about you start at 10:30″. I have yet to make it before 11:00…(good thing they love AND need me)
I do believe that once you start having to get up to get Archer to school you will be more tired in the evening. Being responsible for anothers “timely arrival” is a sure kick in the butt.
My daughter gets up at 4:00 am most mornings, so that she can go for a 15 mile run before she goes to work. Her hubs is home asleep with the kids. I seriously do not know where she came from. (although I know that she is in bed at 10:00pm every night of the week)
I am pretty sure it’s a communal mama issue.
I gotta give it to you with the sleep training.
Your a better women then me. I’ve never had the stomach to sit through the screams of sleep training my son. I can’t imagine the screams of sleep training myself!
-WWW.BABYMAKESTWO.ORG
My kids and my crew keep me up until midnight or so, with all of the stuff that needs to get done after my own kids get to bed. I’ve been a mess in the mornings since switching to night-time showers after my son was born (two years ago), and I drink A LOT of coffee to get through the day. Thanks to eringremlin for the reality check, and thanks to GGC for the original post. This whole discussion has been really helpful to me.
I LOVE my nights. Love, love, love them. My kids (both toddlers still) are awesome, going to bed by 7:30 and not getting up before 7am usually. And I oh so desperately want to be one of those get up at 5:30am to work out kind of girls. But since I love my nights, I tend to stay up till about 12am which does not equal an early wake up call.
However, one thing in my favor is that I hate being late. Hate it with a passion. So when I have an appointment I wake up extra extra early to make sure I am out the door on time. My husband used to make fun of me for getting up so damn early but I was rarely late and he is almost always late.
I don’t have a point with all this rambling but just know, you aren’t the only night owl around here. Maybe we can all make a pact to get onto a better sleep schedule. I would love to be in bed, asleep by 10:30 (PST, of course). Any takers?
I set multiple alarm clocks. My phone, my husbands phone and the normal alarm clock. And if I have a freakishly early flight I recruit family members in the eastern time zone to call relentlessly on the house phone to make sure I’m up and running. I can fall asleep sitting up on the couch after 2 cups of coffee and a shower. My night owl-ness/sleep talking is a long time family joke. It’s actually really sweet how everyone rallies to help me take care of business and then they get to good naturedly make fun of me. Win-Win!
I’m just like you — an awful morning person and an awesome night person. I keep wanting to change … but it hasn’t happened yet! Usually I fall asleep around 12:30 a.m. or 1 a.m. and get up around 7:30 a.m. or 8 a.m. This is a problem because I’m supposed to be at work at 8:30 a.m. but don’t end up leaving the house until 9 a.m. or 9:20 a.m. I used to be able to function on less sleep but now I feel like my body is rejecting it and I can’t NOT hit snooze … my body is refusing to wake up, I can’t fight it! And then when I wake up I’m moving in slow motion. Man. One night this week I went to bed at 2:30 a.m. WTF. That is outta control. And then woke up at 7:30 a.m. Five hours of sleep is no bueno! I need some help! But I just can’t seem to go to bed early. ahhhhhhhhh
I’m a morning person through and through. Can’t sleep past 6:30am if I tried. HOWEVER, on the flip side, I SUCK at night. I lose all cognitive function at 9pm and if I’m not asleep by 10:30, trouble lurks. (Oh shit! It’s 10:19pm right now! Better wrap this up!)
What I’m trying to say is that if we could join forces, we would be Super Human Awesome.
I go to bed 10-11pm and up 6:45 or whenever the kiddo wakes up if I don’t have to work. If I don’t stick to my routine though I stay up way too late. I just hate mornings, but it is easier to get up if there is sunshine.
I am unable to stay awake right now to read these comments, like I need to. Every night I sit by the computer, nodding off, until I finally give in, but it is my only “me” time and I refuse to give it up.
I could have written this post myself, like EXACTLY (well, never as eloquently as you, of course, otherwise I’d be a writer too, but you know). This is me, as far as our sleeping habits we are identical twins. Going to bed before 12:30 is like IMPOSSIBLE for me, as is getting out of bed before 8:30. Ok, closer to 9. If I could, I’d go to bed and 2ish and wake up at 10ish every day. But that just looks so horrible when you’re a mom, no matter if your 3 year old is getting his 11 plus hours of sleep, and you get up when he gets up; it still makes me feel like a complete lazy-ass failure compared to my other mom friends, who want to do stuff at like 9 or 10 am, and we’re just eating breakfast. No way we’re ready for the park by 10. How about noon-ish? No good for you, that’s when you eat lunch? Followed by naps? Yeah, my son doesn’t nap anymore. He’s up from about 9 am to about 9:30 at night and we function on a completely different plane of existence from most people we know!!! It’s frustrating, but It’s worked for us, so I’ve had little desire to change this schedule (that I actually worked hard to perfect when we needed to transition out of naps that kept my son up until midnight every night!) despite the social dilema it poses. And, like you Rebecca, I’ve always been very curious as to how everyone else does it, sleep schedules that is. I’ve asked every one with kids that I know ALLLL about it. I used to be ashamed to admit our “late to bed, late to rise” routine to friends, but now that I have more good friends with kids, and have spent a good amount of time discussing it with them, I’m less ashamed of it, because each of us has our own unique sleep struggles with our kids, and reasons that our routines are the way they are.
I also have to add, that I’m in the same boat you are (sort of) in terms of being totally freaked out about a change to my current schedule – just for a completely different reason… I’m 37 weeks pregnant! So 3 weeks from now? Everything will be turned on it’s head for me and Vaughn and the schedule that works so well for us. Plus, I might even put him in some sort of preschool for the first time ever, once the baby is here, which could possible create even more conflicts… le sigh. I’m just hoping and praying that I get a good sleeper this time around! My biggest fear is that I’ll have one of those children who wakes up at the crack of dawn, every day, no matter what time they go to bed or how dark the room, etc. Now THAT, my fellow nocturnal friend, is a scary thought!!!!!
wow, sorry about that comment/short essay! I didn’t realize how long winded I was.
You guys are AMAZING! YOU should write a book. Or perhaps I should put together your comments and SELL THEM AS A BOOK! I would never do that. But what I will do? Right now, as comments are my witness? Go to bed. At 11:06pm I’m going to bed. No books. No TV. No funny business. Goodnight and Godspeed, my fellow sleepyheads!
Rebecca,
Love your blog. My first post here, and I totally sympathize with you. I have had insomnia on and off for as long as I can remember, and have always been the most not a morning person I know. I have tried sleeping meds (Trazodone, which made me ravenous and gain mucho weight, and Seroquel, which I would take only to be asleep minutes later, often with a cup of tea spilled on myself, and also with the munchies). Both sleeping meds make you groggy, plus the eating/weight gain, and I am a reformed “let me justtake a pill for that” person. So, I wouldn’t recommend meds.
I have also tried a few homepaathic remedies, to mixed success. There’s valerian tea, which I used when the insomnia was mild, and it worked, mildly and with no side effects. I now take GABA, which is an amino acid that works on one pathway in your brain…kind of like seration or dopamine, except the GABA works on your relaxiness. It basically works on the synapses that let you relax, and (if your like me) turn your brain off! I would recommend this route highly. Incedentally, I take a few other amino acids as part of my vitamin regimen and would also recommend l-tryptophan in the morning. I also know of people who get relied from melatonin, but ahven’t personally gone that route.
I definitely think that it’s a personal thing, and different techbiques probably work better for different folks. I’m sure you have taken into consideration environmental things–I need total dark, I like to have a lavender or other cooling scent nearby, and cool colors (green, blue, yellow) are more relaxing, for me. A therapist also told me that you shouldn’t do anytthing in your bed except sleep, and sleep with others-he told me to not read, and at the least to not watch TV in the bedroom as doing so doesn’t allow you brain to associate your bed with sleep and hence to come more naturally.
Or you can just watch TV and pop a Seroquel.
Good luck!
-Katherine
My 22-month old has just started to sleep until 6 or sometimes even 6:20!!! Before that it was 5am… on a good day… I usually just pushed my husband out of bed at that time, but since I have to leave for work by 7, I cannot stay in bed for longer than 6:20
(my mom takes my oldest to school by 8:20, it’s a 30 min walk and I’m glad I don’t have to do it 
At night I usually go to bed after 10 sometime and fall asleep pretty quickly, although I never sleep deeply and most nights are interrupted with kids and their “issues”. Last week I went to bed at 7pm one night and actually slept on and off until almost 7 the next morning. Now THAT was nice
I work at home and so my commute only consists of going downstairs. Thus I have no great reason to get up earlier than 8.20am, because what would I do? Just sit in front of my computer longer. I used to go to bed at 11pm, but have recently trained myself to make it more like 10.30pm, so I know I can retrain like you’re having to. But I was up and dressed at 7.45am this morning to let the decorators in and now it’s only 8.50am and it feels like noon. What do people do with all this time that could be so sensibly used for lying in bed asleep?
Oh man, I wish I could sleep till 8:30! Problem is, I AM a morning person. Not in the sense that I just can’t wait to get out of bed in the morning, but rather because it’s the only time my brain functions clearly. I can’t work at night…it just doesn’t happen. So, I usually go to bed at 10 and am asleep by 10:30 (a habit, since my 18 month old used to wake up at 6/6:30 every day…now 7).
I’m also actually trying to sleep train myself to need less sleep. I totally think that’s the key–to be able to function on fewer hours. Seven hours should be good enough. So here I am, at 5:45am EST trying to work (read: commenting on your blog and chugging coffee). My only suggestion on how to get to bed at that time? No internet past 9.
Good luck!
<3
I have to admit compare to most people I am a morning person. Even on the weekend i have trouble sleeping in past 8am but i think thats just because my body is so programed to wake up at the same time ever day for work because i wasn’t always this way.
For a while i was having trouble falling asleep at night so i took drastic measures… I stopped drinking all forms of caffeine completely! My doctor told me that caffeine can stay in your system for over 12hours! once i was completely off the caffeine i slept a lot better and was able to fall asleep earlier, also get out in the sun and lot of running around during the day helps too. about 6 months after i went cafffeine free i re introduced green tea back into my life, it has way less caffeine than coffee and i find it much mellower than the jitty coffee buzz, i allow myself a cup in the am to wake up and i cup in the afternoon which is usually iced and nursed for hours at a time between 12-4. Also I read before bed however if i have a really good book sometimes this is a problem too because i won’t stop reading but usually i am able to pry myself away by 10 or 11 giving me a generous 7-8 hours sleep
I go to bed at 8:20 in the evening. hahaha!! I wake up at 5:45 in the morning when the husband’s alarm goes off. I’m out of bed by 6:10 to get my daughter out of her crib…she’s 16 months old and usually fussing quite a bit by then. My body basically started wanting to go to bed earlier once I started getting up so early. I have a feeling your body will crave it too; usually after a week of getting up early you will start noticing a difference in wanting to to bed a touch earlier until you are satisfied with your rest. (I’m an odd duck in that I need a ton of sleep to function, hence the 8:20 bedtime which is outrageous I know)
Bed MUST happen by 11. I cut myself off from coffee/soda/tea at 4 pm. If I have any later than that I’m hitting the Benadryl to nock myself out. I used to be able to function on 3 or 4 hours sleep, now I find that I need 6.
Also, I admit to cheating. When its not my night to handle the 2 am bottle I use Calms Forte (http://www.calmsforte.com) it works great, puts me out cold and doesn’t have that nasty tylenol pm hangover effect in the morning.
I’m not a morning person either. I hate mornings, before baby I would stay up till 3 and sleep till 1 pm no problems. Problem was I married a morning person and had a morning baby. My suggestion is if you don’t have one invest in an espresso maker. That thing saves my ass more than anything ever could. Without that massive boot to the head of straight espresso I’d never get myself up and presentable and get Jack to daycare by 7 am so I’m not late to work.
I was going to say basically the same thing Megan did. Once you HAVE to start getting up earlier to get Archer to school, you will HAVE to figure out a way to get the sleep you need. Or you will just pass out on the couch at odd times during the day while Fable plays around you. I end up doing that at least once a week. I think I’m going to start doing jumping jacks to start the day. I work at a restaurant 3-4 times a week, not getting to bed until one or two in the morning. The rest of the week I compensate by going to bed at 9:30, since my 18 month old gets up at 5:30 no matter what. My husband just made a new rule: If I work a shift the night before, he has to get up with the babe, and I can sleep until around 9! It’s the best rule ever. Trial and error, you will make it. Good luck!
I’m in the same boat. I’m a born and bred night owl and we have to leave the house at 6:45 every morning to get my daughter to school on time. That means that I get up at 5:45, which is murder. I go to bed at 11, AT THE LATEST. And I whine a lot. That’s the only solution that I have for you. And don’t worry so much about sleep training. It’s easier for me to get up because the kids have to than because I have to.
I’m asleep around 10, 11 on weekends. My alarm is set for 6:45 but my husband gets the bathroom first so I’m out of be 10 minutes later (I spend that 10 minutes cuddling with the cat and sometimes my son (6) gets out of his bed and joins me an dthe cat for our cuddles) and am straight in the shower after that. I find taking my shower first thing helps. Weekends we sleep in until about 7 or 7:30. Sounds early to be calling it sleping in but getting up past 8 bugs me, I feel like I’m cutting into my weekend too much. I like to sit around in my pj’s on the weekends in teh morning, which seems okay up till about 9ish, so if I get up at 8 or 8:30 that doesn’t leave me much non-guilty pj time!
You do what you have to do. I tried the same thing – moving from my leave the house in 15 minutes routine to having to have the whole family ready in the morning.
And when did I accomplish it?
On the first day of school.
And I was tired as hell that night, went to bed early, and did it again.
Because I had to.
Rebecca, if it is 11pm and you are reading these comments, GO TO BED.
I’m 23 and married, no kids, and am currently unemployed. I go to bed around 11:30 and wake up anywhere between 8 and 9:30 depending on my plans for the day. An apple helps me wake up and gives me fresh breath. If you are really low on energy after getting up early, try olive extract. It works wonders for a friend of mine who has two 5 month olds and a 1.5 yr old.
I am so glad to know there’s another adult out there who can’t get out of bed. I’ve been feeling like a bit of a reject for the past…hmmm…nine years! In university I had an 8am photo class; I was on time the first day and then after that….not so much. At 29 I’m not sleep trained and I probably never will be. I have LITERALLY refused to participate in certain activities with my early-bird friends because it seemed like they wanted to conquer the universe before 10am. At first I felt embarrassed for explaining that I wasn’t going to go because ‘I couldn’t get up’ but then I thought, ‘eh, fuck it. The sun will still be shining when I get up…zzzzz’.
Hi there,
This is what you need to do. First, take a shower before you go to bed, the temperature change will make it easier to go to sleep. Second, take a melatonin (natural, mimics what your body should be doing at night) I wash it down with some vanilla sleepytime tea.
Also helpful, put a fan on for some background noise and make sure it’s completely dark. Turn off or cover up the computer screen! Don’t go online too close to bedtime, when you do this you are tricking your body (with the light from the screen) into thinking it’s time to be awake and alert.
Hope this helps, it works for me. Good sleepy luck!
I’m not sure how much this is going to help, but I can try! I’m a psych major and I remember reading something along the lines of the amount of sleep you get isn’t as important as consistency. Ie/ it’s okay if you only get 6 hours of sleep at night, if you are constantly going down at midnight and getting up at 6am (or whatever your schedule may be). I’m not sure how long it will take to adjust to this or if it works for everyone, but just something I remembered that I thought may help!
I drink a glass of soy or almond milk every night and read (on my Kindle) for 30mins to an hour. My bedroom has to be cleaned up. Weird I know but ever since I have forced myself to keep it clean I have slept better. I am in bed by 9 and up by 5 every day. I try to stay pretty consistent because if not it takes me days to get straight.
I have to echo the routine comment. Everynight, same routine, tells your body to sleep! Mine is set up bed, turn of all the lights in my bedroom except nightstand, shower, get into bed.
I SO feel for you. I was sleep training myself a little less than a year ago I think. I have always been more of a night person. it was a process. i tried going to bed and getting up when I was going to have to (for a job) even though I didn’t have to (job not started yet) and just kept hitting the snooze. Because my rational brain that reminded me I didn’t really have to be up just kicked in. So instead of going cold turkey i did it by a half hour at a time. not on a schedule but just by when i thought i could do it. That helped a lot. But now I need to go back a re- work it a bit as my current job has me starting later and working later and i am finding my self hitting the snooze and not wanting to get up and not waking up because really I could just use the time in hte morning htat I don’t have in the evening.
School schedules kick my butt every.single.year!
This year, both my boys are in high school. High school starts at 7am. The bus gets here at 6:23am. Seriously, WHY so early?!! One boy gets up at 5am, the other at 5:30am, me 5:35am.
I am a night owl and NOT a morning person. Don’t even think about looking in my direction until after 8ish.
So anyways, I found these awesome homeopathic tablets that dissolve under the tongue that work great! And they taste like sugar, so bonus! I get them at Whole Foods, but the husband said he saw them at CVS. Quietude – Sleeplessness Restless Sleep. Pop ‘em under your tongue about 15 mins before you want to go to bed.
Honestly? I don’t think this is going to happen if you’re working until 11pm. Everyone needs some downtime before going to sleep. And I really don’t think you can train yourself to need less sleep; the body needs what it needs. (Think about how much healthy food matters. Same thing.)
I “try” to go to bed by 10:30 but reaslistically, it’s more like 11 pm most nights. Alarm is set for 6:25, which is what time I have to get up to get ready & then get my daughter ready before we leave for work/daycare. But I almost always wake around 6 (I hate this!!) and hubby gets up shortly after. So, I usually get around 7-ish hrs, which is decent for me but I could stand another half-hour or so. Thankfully my daughter rarely wakes in the night anymore (she is 16 months).
Well, last night I went to bed at 3:30 and was up at 7. I, too, am a major night owl, and I love staying up. I also work from home (mostly) and since I’m with my two-year-old most of the day and early evening, I have to work at night. And if I want any break at all from work/childcare, I have to sleep less for it, so sometimes I choose to do just that, tired as I always am.
My little one does not LET me sleep in — will jump on me and drive me nuts until I grudgingly give in. Could you train Archer or Fable to do the same, perhaps?
When my girls first had the audacity to start school, forcing me to crawl out of bed at the ungodly hour of 6am, I used to walk them to the bus stop, still in my pajamas, coffee in hand. The other parents
felt sorry for my kidsthought I was so punk-rock. One dad seethed with jealousy all bound in his Suit and tie.“wanna sip?”
night time? I am useless. Two days a week I am up at 5 to get to work on time. Three days I am up at 5:30 to go to the gym before the Peanut wakes. Sat/Sun, I sleep in until 7:15, which is delightful.
However, every night I say to my husband that I am going to watch the Jay Leno monologue (broadcast at 10:35 central) and I have never seen it. At least, not since I was pregnant (and the baby is 7 months old). So, I guess your body adjusts because I was a total night owl before.
Things I need to sleep: a completely dark room (this means the alarm clock is covered and black out shades are drawn, a fan running, and one leg hanging out from the covers. Weird, but it works.
Melatonin is an ocassional life saver. Especially if you’re already pretending its jet lag.
It’s about making yourself a routine, just like many people do for their kids. Start at the same time every night with the routine, and eventually it’ll become a “trigger” that makes your body ready for sleep.
NOTE: This will probably take some time, but don’t give up and don’t stray from the schedule.
I used to sleep like shit, for over a year I would cry every night/morning because I was SO tired and it was 4 am and I had to be up in two hours and MOTHER F WHY CANNOT I NOT FALL ASLEEP?! If I got 10 hours of sleep during the week it was a miracle. Now I sleep about 5-7 hours a night and I am usually out before I even hit the pillow. I had to train myself like you are to get here though. Firstly, I do nothing in my bedroom but sleep. No TV, no computer, no smart phone internet browsing, No clocks(that I can see the time on), NOTHING. Second, I wouldn’t even get into bed until I was so tired I could barely walk to it. Last, and probably most important, I bought black out curtains. I cannot sleep if there is light, it drives me nuts. Now I can be wide awake and just laying in my bed will make me instantly tired.
Oh honey, I totally sympathize. I’m not a morning person at all either and totally got flack about it from parents, teachers, bosses, friends for years (people assume that when you don’t like to wake up in the morning it means you’re lazy). I always wanted to be a teacher but put off the actual plan for 3 years after I graduated from undergrad because I just couldn’t see how I could wake up that early (high schools around here start as early as 7:30 am). Now I’m sucking it up to do something I love – I start in January, we’ll see how it goes.
What I’ve found works for me is if I have an established bed time routine. If I follow it for long enough, my body will start to get the hint that it’s time to go to sleep. It usually involves lighting a sleep-inducing aromatherapy candle or burning essential oil, brushing my teeth and washing my face, followed by a few calming yoga poses, followed by reading in bed with lavender tea and fairly dim lighting, and if I’m still not tired then I’ll do a sleep-inducing guided meditation (you can find them on iTunes).
Good luck! I will be right there with you in January. =)
Oh Bec! As a complete insomniac, I feel your pain. My friend swears by Pziz, I am about to try it out myself after several horrible nights.
I second the melatonin as well.
http://www.pzizz.com/
I am not a mom and don’t work from home, so I’m completely spoiled by getting enough sleep unless I specifically choose not to, but…
Are you genuinely tired/sleepy when you lay down to go to sleep? I’ve had sleep problems in the past because I told myself “I need 8 hours, have to wake up at 7, so need to go to bed by 11, really 10:30″ but then wouldn’t be tired at 10:30 and would just lay in bed for hours until I was actually tired.
Also, having a sleep routine can be helpful (therapist recommended this to me). Do the same thing every night before bed, even if it’s as simple as “put on pajamas, brush teeth, glass of water, read 2 pages of a book” and then lights out. The routine will start to be a cue to your body that it’s time for sleep. And, it sucks, but getting up every day (even weekends!) at the same time will help keep you on track.
I find that after enough nights staying up too late, I get exhausted and fall asleep at the time I need to. Not the best strategy, but eventually works.
I feel like we’re twins separated at birth! … At least sleep-wise. I’m literally going through the exact same thing, and was the same way when I was younger. I could stay up until 3am and run on nothing the next day. Today … not so much.
This week I’ve been working downtown, and need to be up by 7am in order to have a calm morning, where I’m ready to leave on time, no rushing, and my poor dog actually gets a decent walk. This means being in bed/asleep by 11 to get a good nights sleep, right?
So far, all week, this has happened zero times. 1, 2, 3, 0.
Next week I’m up for the same schedule. I’m hoping there will be progress? Brain retraining is hard!
Your post about sleep intrigued and delighted me (as usual) because I, too, used to be a night person (as is the old ball and chain), but had to immediately change my ways once my daughter was born. She’s now 13 months and typically rises between 6 – 7 am, alert, playful, and usually waving hi. I assumed I could never go back, post-daughter, to my night owl ways…but, apparently, you have? I love it. I can’t wait. Sorry I don’t have any advice for you. Just admiration. (And a little bit of envy.)
I am SO with you. I’m an Anthropologist working on a dissertation and some articles for publication. I write so much better at night and get to work after my daughter goes to bed. And I want to talk to my husband since I don’t see him all day! (He also wakes up with my daughter, and for that I consider him a freakin’ saint. Seriously.) I also tend toward anxiety so it takes me an hour to get to sleep. What’s worked for me lately is to close my laptop by 10:30 every night and to take valerian root. I’m also trying to be more consistent about my workouts. And when I’m feeling anxious and can’t fall asleep – breathing exercises (two counts in, four counts out) or yoga stretches.
Good luck with this. I very much sympathize with your plight!!
OMG I LOVE SLEEP!!! I am lazy. If I could sleep 24/7 I would… my problem has always been getting to sleep. Once I’m asleep dude. I could sleep forever! When I had my son (who is now in his first year of college) he was a morning person. He would be in bed by like 7 or 7:30 and Up at 5:30 AM. I couldn’t complain because that is a log time for a baby. One night I was up cleaning because at the time my husband had strange work hours and it was almost 5:30 so I just decided heck I’ll just stay up and wait for his morning feeding then go to sleep……… the stinker slept until like 9 or 9:30!
NOW I take advil PM at around 8 PM or no later than 10 PM and it helps me get to sleep and I’m still not wanting to wake up but that is because I LOVE SLEEP. But have to get up for work. Sorry I’m not much help. Most of my friends love sleep as well. But now my dad is living with us because he has a terminal illness and my mom passed away back in 2007 so I have to get up and make sure he is fed and and cared for as well as my husband and dogs.
Hope you find your answer.
You will do great once Archer’s school starts. =)
I get to sleep around 8:30-9:00 each night because I wake up at 3:20 am (eek! I know) to swim. I train by myself and it’s the only time I can sneak it in before I need to be home to wake my kids up for school.
I guess it’s all relative though, because when I don’t swim in the mornings and sleep a bit later, I stay up that much later at night. I guess 7 hours is 7 hours (or is that 6 hours)? I don’t know, I’m tired. =)
I grew up a hard-wired night person from a family of night people, and have now fully converted to being a morning person. I now have difficulty staying awake past 9:30pm and naturally wake up without an alarm at 5:30am … and this is coming from someone who used to regularly go to bed after the sun came up. How did I do it? I moved in with (and eventually married) a hardcore morning person and took a job that required that I show up at an ungodly hour 5 days a week. It was very painful for awhile, but having to drag my ass out of bed every day forced me to feel tired and go to sleep earlier and earlier (which made it easier and easier to wake up in the morning). And sharing a tiny apartment with someone who was very determined to go to bed kept me from fighting back the yawns and trying to stay up later than I should. That being said, if you have to stay up late to write, getting up in the morning isn’t going to get any easier.
I feel you. It’s the artist thing. I am usually up until around 3 am. But then I am DYING the next day. I haven’t seen a bed before 11pm in YEARS. I should, though. And I don’t feel fully awake until the humane hour of 10 am.
What’s going to happen is that when you have to drag ass out of bed that Monday, you will fall into bed exhausted that night, and the cycle will be reset. I’ve had to have myself at work by 7:15 for years and years, and I am not a morning person. In the summers when I’m off, I go right back to my natural ways, but once school starts, I pass out no later than 11:00, and some nights as early as 9:30.
Since my daughter was born, I found myself exhausted, I mean EXHAUSTED around 9:30pm (10 the latest). Thing is, my daughter is an early bird. Always has been. Nothing changes it. I found myself having to go to the bathroom around an hour before she woke up… sometimes that’s 4:30am… sometimes it’s 5:30, but it’s like clockwork and I can’t ever sleep afterward. I’m finding I’m more and more ok with that, it gives me time to have my cup of tea (or 3) before the toddler & the hubby wake.
Recently, hubby has worked later hours, which has thrown bedtime off. Making me off-ish in the morning. I don’t do well without sleep. 7 hours is minimum, 8 is wonderous, 9 and angels sing… any less than 6 and I’m screwed for the day. I’m also a pretty fragile sleeper…. anything on my mind translates into multiple wake-ups during the night. And has since I was little.
Oh, naps? LOVE em. Highly recommend em. Hope my daughter never gives em up!
I’m a TOTAL night owl and think it is cruel that I have to wake up so early and that there are no afternoon naps anymore!! Why do those have to stop?!?
I sincerely have no advice and honestly wish I could still go to be after midnight.
I used to think I should keep a box of mints by the bed…like STRONG mints…maybe that would help me wake up.
Or a super soaker….?
I am so glad that someone else is “so embarrassed” about what time they wake up! When I first began freelancing, 9:30 was normal – even if i lied to people and said 8:30. Now that I have a daily project that is due at 8:30 am, I get up around 7 with my dogs, do the project and GO.BACK.TO.BED. Seriously? Even more embarrassing. I like to begin my day 10, it’s a happy hour.
That said, there must be a reason my initials were B.E.D and became B.E.D.S when I married ; )
I had the same problem when my squirt started sleeping through the night. I couldn’t sleep as I was anticipating her waking up.
Melatonin worked, so does Sleep Well tea from Teaopia (they have an online shop). The tea totally relaxes you, and puts you in the zone for an AWESOME sleep.
Good Luck!!!
I also work at home with part time help. To put a twist in- for fun and giggles-I homeschool and my husband works at home/travels. I get the kids to bed, work and then spend time with my husband, I also have this need for “wind-down time” before going to sleep or I just stare at the ceiling all night long. Hello ceiling paint smears, why don’t I paint over you?
I also need to watch movies/tv for my job and unfortunately the only time I have consistently available is at night, I work on the computer, ugh my ability to limit at night screen time is pretty screwed.
I get your problem, I have your problem. My only solution at the moment is that my lovely husband takes the kids for a bit in the morning so that I can get a quick nap. (ok full fledged honesty, I get up with my little guy, read some books to him and stumble around until my husband gets up and then I collapse back into bed)This nap gets me through my day. Also I find a way to take a break mid-afternoon or evening while the kids are still awake, not a full fledged break like a bath or a nap but more of a ‘hey kids let’s take a quick drive while you listen to your ipod books and get your mother a Starbucks” Even if I spend my day at the coffeeshop working this extra break where I don’t have to spend my time constantly supervising or swinging or cleaning etc etc helps me. Some days that afternoon latte is the highlight of my day, that and my sleeping children who no matter what look freaking adorable all curled up in bed sleeping, it reminds me that sleep is beautiful.
I find that screen time before bed really messes with my sleep, but TV is not as bad as the laptop. That thing jolts my retinas for hours. You and Hal have a few hours before sleep, so perhaps you can think of something you could do with that time (wink, wink) that may tire you out. I’m sure he’d be up for the experiment if it meant having a cheerful wife the next morning. ;>) I an NOT a morning person either. But you will adjust.
I am a HUGE sleeper. Sleeping is probably my favorite thing to do and I need a ton of it. AND, I too am a nightowl but, I work at 7am and am usually up by 6:15. This means I fall asleep on the couch next to my husband anywhere between 9:30 and 10:30 depending on the day. I’ll stay up till 2 on the weekends and then proceed to sleep 10-11 hrs. If I get less than 7-8 hrs. more than 3 nights in a row I get sick. Like, fer reals cold/flu/achy sick.
I think you’ll probably fall into a natural rhythm if you can get yourself through the first couple nights.
Waking up early is a major bummer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND7yJ7sMosk
Paul Rudd’s attitude in this scene is what my bf says I look like in the morning. And sadly, I agree. I am not a morning person but I also feel incredibly productive when I am up early so it’s a serious trade off that usually ends with me in bed. But I find that tidying up my room, having a serious routine for bedtime and making sure my bed is clean and made up helps me feel ready for bed. That and reading in bed. But I’m still slow to train myself like you are. Good luck!
i love cheese and i love sleep. After a very busy summer with no time off (i even babysat on weekends) i just slept yesterday until about 10:30, woke up, ate breakfast and went back to sleep until about 2:00. Then i stayed in bed doing nothing until i made myself shower. i went back to sleep at about midnight!! i really love sleep!
i have never been a morning person. i get to work late every morning. every morning for real. i used to go to bed at 10:00 because i knew i wouldn’t be able to wake up but my hubby works nights and he doesn’t leave the house until 11:30 so now i try to close my eyes at that time but it doesn’t help. i still can’t get up at 6/630/7/730 and holy crap my daughter’s bus is coming at 8 i better get up NOW!!!
what used to help me (before the current husband) was not having a tv in the bedroom. when i decided to go to sleep i’d shut the livingroom tv, go to bed and that was that.
oh and now i remember how i used to get up early- i set my livingroom stereo alarm clock reeeeealllly loud. i would have to jump out of bed to shut it before the neighbors in my complex complained. hmm, maybe i should try that again- thanks! i think i just found my own remedy!!! i totally forgot about that until now. maybe because i hated it since i had to get up. good luck!
This is a weird suggestion, but you might want to ask your doctor to check you for anemia/iron deficiency. I’ve always had the hardest time waking up and I blamed it on the fact that I am a night owl. But after having my son, it seemed I could never get enough sleep no matter when I went to bed/how long I slept. Additionally it took me HOURS to actually wake up. When I told my doctor about this exhaustion she mentioned taking iron, and once I started doing so I literally woke up every morning like a brand new person. I’ve had several friends do the same thing with the same results. I’m not saying you should do this tomorrow, but maybe look into it at your next doctor’s appointment?
I’m a pretty adaptable sleeper, but before my back-to-back maternity leaves (a year each! Yay Canada!) I was a shift worker. 2 weeks of 12 hour nights, then 2 weeks of 12 hour days. Lather, rinse, repeat. Switching from nights to days can be brutal. If your gradual bed-time adjustment isn’t working, you can try doing a ‘reset’ like my co-workers and I used to do between rotations. It’s gross, but it can work.
Choose a night where you don’t have too many responsibilities the next day (esp. driving) or when Hal will be home to co-parent. Stay up with work or fun all night. Aaaaaallll Night. Then don’t go to bed. Stay up all day. Aaaaallll Day. No naps! Crash into bed, nauseated and delirious, at around 6:30 p.m. Sleep for 12 or 13 blissful hours. Keep up with your normal busy routine, and you’ll be ready for bed at a fairly reasonable hour by the next night.
I also recommend taking a little nap with Fable in the afternoon if you can, especially if you must continue working somewhat late in the evenings.
I do not fall asleep well. In the summer when I don’t have to go to sleep, I can easily stay up until 3 or 4 and it doesn’t faze me…that is until school starts back up in the fall. I don’t have kiddos, but I’m a teacher, so I’ve got to go to bed at a decent hour. My trick: a hot bath. Seriously, it is like a drug. It relaxes me like no medicine can and within an hour, I’m out…sometimes before ten! It is my miracle drug, only without the drugs.
I used to think I was a night person too, and then I read a book called The Mood Cure. It actually says getting a second wind at night means you’re serotonin deficient. It recommends taking an amino acid called 5-HTP in the afternoon and evening, which gets turned into serotonin in your body. And I have to say, it’s amazing. Works so well with no side-effects, unless you take too much. The other thing that helps me is yoga before bed, and dimming the lights in the evening. And something light to eat. And something warm to drink…OK, maybe I do more to get to sleep than I thought!
So I would have to guess your children are also good sleepers in the morning? I am a 1am to 2am bedtime kinda gal. Such a night owl. Grocery shopping at 11pm? Sure why not? And I love nothing more than sleeping until 9 or if kid free 10am. I can operate on 5 hours of sleep, If I get 7 I’m at my best. If I get more than that I feel lethargic most of the day.
BUT. I now have a 1st grader who needs to get on the bus by 8:30am. I don’t need to be all pretty for that, dressed and face washed with a hairbrush ripped thru my mop is about all I shoot for. The other mom who waits at the bus stop and myself have an understanding that no one speaks of the bus stop wardrobe.
To accommodate the school schedule I go to bed by 12:30am. I often read for a while by book light. This allows me to get 6-7 hours of sleep.
Our solution is an alarm clock in the kid’s room. Actually this one. I would imagine Archer would LOVE it. http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Company-Projection-Alarm-Clock/dp/B00325TPZG
Anyways. It is set in their room for 7:30am. My son (6 years old) gets up with his alarm clock, shuts it off, and comes and harasses me to get out of bed. He is often sent to get dressed (clothes are laid out the night before as are lunches packed and breakfast agreed upon) and use the bathroom and then come back and make me get him some breakfast. If by some odd chance we miss this I have my cell phone set to go off at 8am. It works for us and keeps us on time.
Good luck with this whole schedule shift. Its hard! Do keep us updated with how it goes for you!
When I wake up, or sometimes once I get to the office, I drink a lot of water. A couple cups, ideally before the coffee. I’m not sure what it does but it “wakes me up” a bit. Then, it feels like the coffee has less work to do. The water trick doesn’t get me perky or superalert but it does pull me out of the sapped of energy fog.
Also, when I gulp my coffee down at home I just need more once I get to the office but if I have that same amount of coffee gradually (some at home, in the car, at the desk) there’s still more “perk” left for me. It requires a lot of nursing of the coffee but I have a maybe two cups (regular, home-sized cups) total. And I’ve worked in coffee shops and 19 hour campaign days where 6-8-10 coffees/espressos was standard so it’s entirely possible.
Finally, when I get groggy in the middle of the day a walk outside, or a piece of fruit (yeah, I once thought it was BS, too) or a cup of tea is often enough of a nudge.
i go to bed at like 9 or 9:30 (man my life is sad) and wake up at 5:30 to drop off my daughter at daycare at 8:55 and be at work at 9. im not sure why i need 3 and some hours to get ready in the morning but i do. if i wake up any later im late
I gave up caffeine.
No, seriously. It was, at first, an experiment. Give up caffeine for a month and see what happens. No coffee, no tea, no chocolate, no energy drinks, no Excedrin or Midol… cold turkey.
Here’s what happened:
The first three days, I was in AGONY. I was tired and grumpy, and I had the most horrifying headache I have ever had in my life, and they would not go away no matter how much tylenol I took. Oh god, utter agony. And then, suddenly, I was GREAT!
I started waking up in the morning without an alarm clock, and when I did, I was in a good mood and full of energy and didn’t really need coffee to get me going anymore. I get tired at night around 11, and while I can push past it if I’m say, at work, I would much rather go to bed.
I also take naps now, in the middle of the day, and they are glorious! Granted, I have no children, but still… napping is so awesome.
I still have insomnia sometimes, but it’s usually because I’ve gone out drinking, and even then, it’s not the same panicky feeling that I used to have when I was awake and couldn’t sleep. I usually just lie there and let my body rest until my mind shuts off, even if that takes a while.
I’ve learned a lot about caffeine since I stopped using it. It has a half-life of 10 hours or so, which means that that coffee you had at noon is still half there at 10 PM, which means that if you have two or three coffees from noon to two, you have the approximate caffeine of 1.5 still rumbling around in your system. Which means it’s still not gone by morning when you have another cup of coffee. Vicious cycle, if you ask me.
I know that the idea of giving up coffee/tea/chocolate/etc. entirely makes most people laugh, but trust me, your sleep will thank you for it. Maybe try it for a month and see how you feel?
Rebecca, I am SO there!I am having the exact same dilemma. I can never get to sleep before 1:30, realistically 2 because I am a night hawk. It’s when my brain works. It’s when I’m most creative, most efficient. Most myself. Plus? OMG I love having the quiet quiet quiet of the house after the craziness of the day. Then I wake up at 6 am to nurse my 6 month old, but we go back to bed and he and my 3 year old sleep until 8:30 of 9am… I know. Fucking amazing. (Or would be if I could get to sleep at a reasonable hour…sigh.)But yes, society will soon require me to be out of bed at 7am so I can get the boy off to kindergarten… ick. It’s like a grown up sleep schedule…ew. My brain feels like anything before 9am might as well be 4:00 in the g-d morning. Already dreading it. I will be following along to see how this goes for you and hoping that you find a solution because I am equally effed by my body’s preferred sleep pattern. GOOD LUCK!!!!
I am completely opposite. Ever since college I have gone to bed early. All the girls in my house would be up until 3 am and I would be sound asleep by 11 pm. In the last few years though, my “bedtime” has become even earlier: 10- 10:30 pm. And, now I can’t sleep past 8:30 am even on weekends. I am also a morning person. Good luck!
I am a schoolteacher and sometimes it is hard for me to turn my brain off at night. I am already teaching school by 7 am (imagine that!) so my bedtime comes unnaturally early to me, a night owl. I take melatonin to go to sleep. It’s a natural thing and it’s not habit forming like sleeping pills and it totally wears off. It makes you want to fall asleep. You have to lie there with your eyes closed or it will wear off when you are totally awake and will have no effect on you. I never feel weird in the am after taking some.
Mornings suck. I’ve never been a morning person and I never will be. At least, not at this rate. I’d rather stay up to finish something then have to get up early to do it. I have two daughters to get to bus for 8:20 in the morning and if left to myself, I wouldn’t even be up by that time. I keep trying to find a way to make myself a morning person, but it just isn’t working. I just find morning people obnoxious (at least in the morning when I am staring into space blankly) Let me know if you find a cure!
I adore sleep and have never understood people who were like, “yeah, I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” But now that I’m a mom I’m starting to understand just how precious that alone time awake can be. Still, I need my sleep, so I try to get in bed between 10:30 and 11. I usually wake up around 6:30 with the little guy. I’m so so jealous of sleeping in until 8 or 9.
But my main problem is that I’m such a light sleeper now that I’m a mom that anything will wake me up in the middle of the night. The cat walking around the house (carpeted), a skunk’s stink, my husband turning over. How do I get quality sleep again? That’s what I’d like to know. Or am I doomed until my kids move out?
My kids have always gone to bed at 7:30, and they are 6 & 7 now. That way, I have time with my husband after they go down and can still get to sleep at a decent hour–by 10 or 10:30. Typically I wake up at 7 and leave the house with the kids for school at 7:45. I looove to sleep and my kids are good sleepers too, so that helps. We did tell my soon to be second grader that this year his bedtime can be extended till 8pm, so we’ll see how that goes.
But my suggestion to you would be to put the kids to bed earlier.
10:30ish And I need to be up no later than 5:15! I used to be the same way up til 2-3-4 am and then not able to drag my butt out of bed in the morning. And then when I started dating my soon to be husband he was a ‘The alarm went off! And we are UP! And OUT of bed!!!!’ person. And over time I’ve just become one myself. I drag for a bit in the morning and I don’t have the best attitude. But I’ve definitely come to the other side!
Rebecca- I hear you! I am NOT a morning person by any means. I’m lucky that my husband wakes up with the kids 3 days a week because the other 4 feel like torture. I’m a barely functional mommy. I recently have been going to bed around 12am, but still can’t manage to be a normal human being until 9.
i am a morning person. totally. if i sleep past 7 i feel like i’ve missed the whole day. i teach high school and don’t have to be at work until 730, but i get up every morning at 530am and go to the gym from 6-7. problem is, since i’ve had a kid i have also become a serious night person. and we have our dilemma. i usually don’t get to bed before midnight, so that means i’m running on about 4hrs of sleep. honestly, i don’t know how i do it. good luck with the sleep training.
Well… not a solution but an OBVIOUS explanation — it’s just a case of time zones, girlfran. You’ve got a little bit of Lady Hattie in you, and it’s the whisper of her soul in YOU telling you that you should be awake, because it’s morning here in England when it’s sleeping time where you are, haha.
i have the same fear. up to this point, i homeschooled, so we woke up when we wanted, got dressed when we wanted, left the house when we wanted. now i’m on somebody else’s schedule, and it scares the shit out of me! we’ll be adjusting to our new slightly more hectic lives together.
I think I might be a born again morning person. Weekend when I was 18 I couldn’t get out of bed before 2pm, UNLESS I had work.
Now, on weekends I get up at 8:30 naturally.
BUT, I’ve trained myself (by setting a nightly alarm) to start the motions of bed at 9:30. That means the lights are off usually around 10:30-11, but the act of setting an alarm, and having a bed time saved me. I need 8-9 hours of sleep to function, and since I have to be at work at 8am, my only option is getting to bed earlier. Lame, but true. Once I started the alarm, I’ve been feeling like an actual morning person.
Great coffee doesn’t hurt either though.
P.s. Your comment on my derby post like 5 months ago sort of made my world. Thanks for taking the time. Seriously.
Your body will adjust to the early morning hours in no time. It sucks at first, but you will get used to it. I’ve worked nights for 7 years and with 3 kids, I’m so often sleep deprived. I was never a night person but was able to adjust to a night schedule after about 3 months. It took my body that long. It was tough, but it’s amazing how well (or maybe not so well)I function with very little sleep these days.
I feel a bit shy commenting here as I’m usually more of a lurker, but as a fellow-mom and not a morning person, thought I’d chip in (also, European opinion!;-).
I totally suport the “go to bed earlier” crowd, even though I understand that’s a bit difficult with your schedule.
I’d also second all those who suggest banning any type of screen (TV, computer) before bed.
In addition to that, have you thought about these alarm clocks that wake you up gradually with fake natural light? Sort of like this one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-Wake-Up-Light-HF3475-01/dp/B002BA5FB6
Just a thought… (and I don’t work for that particular brand, BTW, that was just an example).
Good luck, and thanks a lot for your blog!
I couldn’t read through all the comments, so I don’t know if it’s already been said, but what has helped me in the past is to focus on the wake-up time before the bedtime. If you’re sleeping that late in the morning, of COURSE you can’t get to sleep any earlier. I would suggest setting an alarm (or having Hal pull you out of bed) at maybe 7-ish. Do that for a few days and you should definitely be able to sleep earlier than midnight. Set a bedtime for yourself when you physically put yourself in bed to wind-down with reading or something, and set a non-negotiable lights-out time. If I were you I’d definitely move the kids’ bedtime a little earlier so you can have more work time earlier in the evening. Working in the morning is also a great idea that someone mentioned. Good luck!!! =)
A wise person once said “Mommies don’t get tired; mommies just are tired.” Please give us an update if you find a good solution to your sleep problem. I haven’t read ALL of the comments, but from what I have read, you have a lot of suggestions to try!
Wow! I can’t believe I found this blog! I am so excited, I haven’t yet read too many of the blogs (comments)yet. The trouble with me is I do my best work when it is quiet at night. I also find myself with the most energy of the day, at night. Of course, I have to get up at 6:00am some mornings and on other mornings I could sleep until noon, if I wanted. I have my own business and schedule my appointments with the families that I work with. I usually try not to schedule anyone before 10am. I do have some work obligations at 9:00am some mornings so………..thus the 6:00am. I have tried to MAKE my bedtime be between 10 and 11pm. but that hasn’t worked. I also feel so guilty for not getting up early……The weirdest thing is my husband has to get up at 4:00am. And no, I am not trying to avoid getting into bed with him…..we’ve been married too long…..and we don’t avoid sex at other times. Well I’m not meaning to be too personal,….. but some NIGHT (ironic but not so funny), I am going to read all the blog comments here. Right now (11:55pm), I am going to read a bit of “Eat, Pray, Love”. I think maybe I have so much I want to do…..so I go to bed so late, it hard to get up in the morning……I hate it! Anyone out there feel remotely like me?
I wouldn’t say I’m a morning person, but turns out I normally wake up by 7.00. Even on weekends. I’m normally in my bed by 23.30 and if I don’t get to sleep until 00.15 because I’m chatting with my boyfriend I’m all groggy when I wake up.Huh.
This past weekend I was at London. On Saturday I went to bed at around 1 a.m. and woke up at 6.30. (7.30 if I had been at home). I can say, though, that I get insomnia twice a year or so.
Tricks for sleeping: half an hour before the time you want to go to sleep, make yourself a hot decaf beverage (I love malva tea). It helps a lot because it’s like your body relaxes from the inside. Also, get away from your computer a while before you want to go to sleep. Tecnology keeps us running with all the stuff we can do. Maybe you could also make some housework, I usually hang clothes to dry at around 22.00 and since I have to climb a set of stairs to do so and then bend & stand for a while I get a little tired. Take a shower and put comfy clothes on (a pajamas if you use one). That puts you on a “I’m not moving a toe for the rest of the day” mood
Also, cutting coffee would help. Get some decaf. I know it’s not the same, but for me there’s a big difference between the days when I don’t drink coffee at all and the days I drink a decaf. Imagine what that difference would be if I drank regular coffee (I know the results: no sleeping until 2.00 a.m., even if I drank my coffee at 9.30 a.m.). But maybe it’s just me, I am pretty sensitive to caffeine.
My sleep situation is just completely effed. I have never met another person who was quite like me, sleep-wise. Since I was a child, I’ve been a very deep sleeper. I don’t readily wake up to lights, alarm clocks, or other noises like the vacuum cleaner. I am foggy and grumpy when I do wake. Once, when I was about 6, my little sister threw up in my hair while I slept, and my mom bathed me while I slept the entire time. More recently, in adulthood, all of this has been compounded by my going partially deaf. It makes alarms that much harder for me to hear.
My inability to easily rouse has caused me to receive multiple suspensions in high school, to be left at friends houses when my friends couldn’t wake me in the morning after parties, and to be late to work almost every single day, for which I eventually got fired last year.
I have always loved the nighttime the best. I feel the most vibrant at those times and will start projects, run errands, or clean house, which my early-waking husband thinks is insane. It is hard for me to get to sleep at nights, but once I am asleep, it is hard for me to wake up. I have been known to sleep in excess of 13 hours in a stretch, but normally I get about 9-10 hours each day. The thing is, I often stay awake about 20 hours at a time. So, since I seem to operate on 30-hour cycles, yet the days are only 24-hours long, I have very erratic sleeping patterns indeed. I currently don’t have any regular bedtimes or risetimes.
I haven’t had a job in almost year, and I don’t think I could keep a traditional job that starts in the morning until I reformed my sleeping habits. So, see, it could be worse!
I too am late bed and late to rise. If it were up to me, I’d be up until 3 AM every night and sleeping until noon. Sadly, this wouldn’t bode well for my job security or the first grader I am responsible for. Damn it!
I feel productive at night, I usually get a second wind at 10 or so and I’m off!
Then comes the alarm. And it takes me a very long time to feel like conversing or smiling or anything remotely decent or kind in the morning. I’m not the same person when I wake up, I’m a mean, resentful grump for at least 30 minutes. I’m embarrassed by this fact too. Only those closest know this about me.
I am also a die hard night person. It is so hard for me to get to bed earlier than 11pm, and I can stay up well into the wee hours of the night easily. but drag myself out of bed before 9am? so impossible. My oldest is an early bird, and since birth has gotten up at the ungodly hours of 5 or 6am, but i trained her very early to just play alone in her room until mommy was ready to get up. Now that she is 4.5, she has a clock and she knows that she can’t come wake me up until 8am. On days she wakes up daddy and I get to sleep, it is nothing for me to stay in bed until 10am. And I feel super guilty and terrible about it when I finally get up.
I desperately want to be a morning person. I want to get up before my kids and do yoga. On the rare occasions I have been up at 6am (usually in my early 20s after a long night out) it is always so peaceful and nice.
When my first early bird baby was young I worked super hard to sleep train myself to get up earlier so i could function with her. It took months, but i finally got to where I could go to bed about 10pm, and get up at 7am not feeling to terrible. And then my mom came to visit, and we spent one night up talking until midnight, and a years worth of work was blown. Since then I’ve tried to accept my night owl personality a bit more, and try and be easier on myself for my body’s natural rhythms.
But I still dream of being a morning person.
Our routine is — kids in bed (at least in their rooms) at 7.30 pm, no questions asked. I know they don’t go to sleep, but the longer they are up, the more tired they get and actually harder for them to go to sleep. Plus it give me down time to do the things I want. Then I am usually in bed at 10. Probably fall asleep around 10.30pm. We have to start getting up for the day at 6 am, and we leave the house around 6.45 am.
Its not ideal, but it works for us. Luckily we are very good sleepers. Don’t have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. My son and I are the harder ones to wake up, but getting better day by day.
Plus, I like coffee.
My only advice is to try going to be earlier and getting up earlier — I know this sounds simple and obviously the point, but if you can shift your whole schedule by about a half hour to an hour, maybe that’s all you need to function.
I agree with the others on no phone, or computer shortly before bed. I watch TV, and my husband likes to watch war shows that have no interest to me, thus it makes me bored, tired and sleepy.
Do you take some me time in the morning to wake up a bit before the kids, or do you hit the ground running (literally)? Maybe you just need 10 mins or so to get up and get moving, before having to focus on them.
Maybe you can just trick yourself in to feeling awake, “be the ball” you’re not TIRED, you’re AWAKE, and LOVING IT. Instead of fake jet lag, you just fake being awake!
GOOD LUCK! It’s not going to be easy!!
Earplugs have helped my insomnia a lot. I can only do that because I have a sympathetic (and non-insomniac) husband who is the “ears” at night if the girls cry. He may get up with them himself, or he may wake me up and then go back to sleep himself, but I don’t have to worry that I won’t hear them.
Oh, to sleep. I’m in nursing school. Class starts at 8am one day a week and I have to be at the hospital at 6:30am 4 days a week. I have a hard time getting to sleep before 1am, and usually wake up at 5:30am (I have to ride the bus which takes FOREVER) on days I’m in class, and 4:30 for hospital days. Most of the time I function well, but sometimes I take 12 hour naps. Sorry, I’m of no help.
I was a night person until my kids came along and turned out to be annoying little morning people. They get up at 5 am on the dot every morning just because.
Then my internet, which I need to make a living, decided not to work at night anymore, so gone were the long days and staying up all night to work. These days? My schedule looks like this . . . go to bed at 9-10 pm, wake up at 2:30 am to work my butt off before kids get up and then sometimes, if I’m really lucky, I have an hour nap in the afternoon.
Unclear how someone with small kids could sleep until 7, let alone 8 but now see that Hal carries the load – do you know how lucky you are in this regard?
I am a morning person and always have been – but there is morning and there is MORNING. my 14 month old is up at 5:30 daily and I hang with her until my 3 year old is up at 6:30. Then I drag my husband out of bed at 7 so I can run around and get myself ready for work and the kids ready for the day. I usually go to bed around 10:30 or 11 and getting up at 5:30 daily – it’s just not enough sleep. but what can you do? on weekends i still get up early but when my husband gets up, i go back to bed for a nap. the early waking load is definitely not equally balanced but he’s so terrible in the morning that it’s just not worth it to deal with him.
I go to sleep at a shameful hour that I am not brave enough to disclose, and wake up at an hour that equals out that equation. I have had my bouts of insomnia. But I have found that by praying every night before I go to bed, I am able to sleep quickly. And I haven’t had an insomnia-filled-night in a long time. Thank God.
As for waking up: even if I haven’t gotten a good nights sleep, or no sleep at all; miraculously I always have energy to get up and do what I have to do. And I can be my own alarm clock and wake up when I need to, if need be.
Though I’m all for, “SLEEPING IN!!!!!” =D And sometimes I can get really lazy with that.
As for a helpful wake-up hint: Have Hal throw a bucket of water on you. LOL! I don’t think that would be very helpful at all, with the exception of you running after him, therefore forcing your senses to awaken. Okay I’m no help at all! =P Sorry. ;o)
I’m so much of a night person I’ve completely given up on sleep when it’s dark out and exchanged it for a graveyard shift. I work 10-6, which means I tuck my lil one into bed everynight and am there everymorning when she wakes up(daddy working a normal schedule ends up being the nightmare chaser). I end up staying awake until about 9:30am after I’ve dropped my daughter at preschool, at which point I get my slumber on. Funny thing is, I turn my schedule around for my three day weekends so I can spend them with my daywalker family and deprive myself of sleep after my last shift of the week with the aide of redbulls and espresso that I’m in bed asleep by 11:30 those nights. Totally worth it though
Are you a Libra? or a Libra moon? Because that is always my excuse. Never been a morning person and don’t think I ever will be. Suffer through the day unless I get 8 or 9 hours sleep/night, but still can never go to sleep before midnight. It’s biological programming, I’m telling you. I trained my son to wake up at 830-930 am for the first two years of his life, and around 2 he started dragging me out of bed (literally, pulling my arm): “wake up Mommy!” after a few minutes of this I would finally get up…
Your bedtime/waketime routine sounds similar to mine, Rebecca. I, also, am at my most productive after 10:00 pm and am definitely NOT a morning person. I usually crawl into bed around 12:00 am-ish and could seriously stay there until noon or later and be perfectly content with it … Anyway, I happen to be very lucky in that I am mother to a non-morning person son (almost a year old) who enjoys sleep as much as I do. He usually wakes up around 8:30 am, so that is when my day starts, too (although he often likes to take his first nap around 10:00 am … So sometimes it’s back to bed for both of us!). Even so, I can’t complain about 8:30. Before having kids, I was a high school teacher that had to wake up at 5:45 am … YUCK!! When you’ve got that memory to think back on, anything after 8:00 seems like sleeping in!
I know I’m late to the party on this one, but I wanted to share a link to an article that I found helpful: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-early-riser/