I was mean to my Son today :(

[Blondie]

Oh the guilt!

Today I was mean to my Son He is 18 months old and is an early riser.....waking at around 4.30- 5am for a bottle and then wanting to get up.

He is a great sleeper but just this waking up early is driving me to distraction!

So, this morning he wakes up at 4.50am and is wanting a bottle. I drag myself out of bed, heat it up and then take it in and go back to bed. He drinks it down and is then awake and wanting to get up.... its 5.00am....it's dark.....it's cold......I'm in a bad mood.

I go in there and try to give him a cuddle and put him back to bed but its not happening. So I loose my temper. I growl "Get back to sleep NOW" and reasonably roughly pick him up and lay him back down on the bed. The the wailing starts "Mummeeeeeeeee" "Dadeeeeeeeeeeeee" repeated sobbing and really making me feel bad.....I catch my breath and then give him his dummy, which he accepts while all the while still sobbing and I walk out, shut the door, go back to my room, turn the monitor off and then lay there for 30 mins listening to my little baby boy whom I love with all my heart sob and sob. Finally it stops, and then he starts up again with the "Mumma! Mumma! Mumma!" by this stage I have calmed down and go in, give him a hug and he offers me a kiss and then by that stage I was ready to get up. He seemed absolutely fine and was offering the usual kisses and hugs upon waking up but I feel hugely guilty about the way I treated him. How could I be so mean!

Things have been pretty full on lately. My DH does full time Uni and casual afternoon shift work and I work 3 days a week to make ends meet. I am left to do pretty much all the parenting and I think I am exhausted from it all. Getting up early every morning, after being woken up mid sleep by my Husband coming home is kicking my arse.

Sorry for the vent people - I just needed to get this out. I hope people don't think I am a bad Mum

[Rosey]

*hugs* some mornings are extra tough


Sent from my iPhone... Probably while feeding our poppet.

[FabFiona]

Not at all. Giving yourself space was what you needed to do.

Just learn from this and move on. We all have these moments.

[Blondie]

Thanks Ladies I appreciate the words of support. I remember my Mum telling me that being a mother is the hardest job in the world and I never understood until now.

[FabFiona]

What do you think is behind the early rising? My son had patches of it for various reasons.

[meow]

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

My girls have always been early risers, they would sleep so well over night but be up and ready for the day by 5:30 and some days i just got on with it and accepted that is what they did and others OMG i could have thrown them out a window (obviously i didn't).
I have been there hun, and it's normal to sometimes get a little gruff & grumpy so please don't beat yourself up.

Can you organise when your DH gets home you get 30min to an hour in the bath ALONE, a nice glass of wine (or coffee etc) a big block of chocy, some candles... and NO child
Or an hour to duck out and grab a coffee alone?

DP works long hours and i run our business from home aswell as the kinder drops offs and all the other mummy things, we've recently started working it so i go out once every couple of weeks to bingo with my MIL and some Sunday mornings he has the kids (if he's not working) and i go for a coffee alone, even him watching the kids so i can shower alone is a big deal here

[Blondie]

I have a few idea's on what might be causing it.

He likes to be put to bed around 6pm and will usually sleep through...maybe I need to try and hold him off a bit. I have done this once before and it made no difference to his waking time, granted it was a few months ago now...perhaps things have changed?

He might be uncomfortable....perhaps a new mattress or different pillow?

He is a pretty restless sleeper, doesn't wake but will move around a lot.

Also takes a dummy and his purple giraffe plush toy to bed with him, maybe he wakes when he can't find it in his sleep.

This might also relate to it or may not - He has a really stubborn and determined personality and when he wants to do something, he will overcome any obstacle to do it.

Zarava - I know what you mean about the whole showering in peace....doesn't happen a lot in my house either! I might suggest that to DH and see what he says - I'm sure he'll agree at the time but follow through....hummm let's wait and see

Thanks also to Meow for the Hug

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

Zarava - I know what you mean about the whole showering in peace....doesn't happen a lot in my house either! I might suggest that to DH and see what he says - I'm sure he'll agree at the time but follow through....hummm let's wait and see

That is when you don't give him a choice, i've done it to DP - just run the bath, hand over your LO and say here you go i'm going for a bath.
OR Sunday morning hand DS to your DH and say i'm off for coffee now, see you in an hour

[WannabeMum]

Could you try substituting water for the bottle? Then he can wake up, have the drink already next to his bed, have a drink and go back to sleep. It's a tough one, I'm still struggling with my DS with the early waking. Anything with a 6 in front of it now and I'm ecstatic!

Re the "being mean" thing? I think you did the right thing. It feels horrible to leave, but sometimes it's the only thing that helps. I had a similar feeling a few weeks ago when I completely lost it. The biggest problem? I hadn't taken time out (myself) when I could feel myself getting really angry. I don't get angry often and I didn't recognise this was out of the usual. Wound up yelling at DS to the point he cried then went into my room and shut the door. He banged on the door and called out repeatedly but I stayed there until I'd calmed down and was then much more able to manage the situation. We're all human. I organised for MIL to come and visit from the country for a couple of days this week so I could get a bit of time (my situation is similar, except DH just works long hours and weekends).

[Babyluv]

Hugs Hun,
My little one is up really early too. What if you gave him his bottle in your bed and had a cuddle, would he go back to sleep? Quite often dd comes into our bed and I can get an extra hrs sleep because she will cuddle in and go back to sleep. Maybe you could try it. Hope things improve.

[Calluna]

you are not a bad Mum. I've had many moments like this. (I have depression, pain, and DS still doesn't sleep through the night and he's nearly 3, so I'm VERY tired) Being a parent is the most frustrating, exhausting thing in the world and some days DS is just too hard to handle. I
f he is safer screaming in his bed for 30mins than he is with me, so be it.
IMO, the important thing is to apologise after and remind him I love him. I explain to him I'm very tired and it makes me grumpy but it doesn't make it ok for me to yell at him so I'm sorry. He probably doesn't understand all of it but he will get bits and as he gets older he will understand more and I can elaborate.

[Catastrophic]

Lots of hugs xoxo

I feel your pain...Would he settled more if he laid in your bed with you for half an hour or hour that would mean you would get a little bit of a snooze.

[*Efjay*]

At 18 months old I would just be bringing him back to my own bed.

[Kazzo]

Big hugs Blondie, Macey is very much the same except she wakes a few times through the night too. Now if it is any time past 4am she comes to bed with me. I did actually just change her cot down to the toddler bed and it seems to have helped. She has not fallen out (she can climb in and out herself though) and she is not contantly hitting the rails now which seemed to wake her.
I would try offering the water like someone suggested, sometimes M guzzles water and then goes straight back to sleep.
Get that time for yourself too.

[Tegam]

I found my mood improved when I just accepted that the kids were early risers. I expected it rather than prayed for it to be different. Now anything after 6 is a massive sleep in. I also matched my bed time to the new reality rather then trying to be a grown up and stay up after 8.30pm. Like they say, this too shall pass.

Hugs


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