Waking up grouchy ... everyday?

[OrganicAnn]

My DD age 8 wakes up every day grouchy. She always has. If she has to get up early she is more grouchy. When she wakes up on her own, then she is a little less grouchy. After sitting on the couch for about 1/2 hour she seems to get over it. She also is not hungry for about 1/2 after she gets up. She will often whine and complain in the morning.

 

I guess this is just the way she is? There is nothing I can do about it? Any suggestions? She doesn't like to go to sleep and she is a deep sleeper.

 

Will she grow out of it?

 

It is very unpleasant in the morning.

[Lolly]

I would be making sure she has a goodly sized healthy snack right before going to bed. Will she drink a little juice right when she gets up? That might help also.

[jfletcher8091]

I am like this. I was as a child and still am. I have coping mechanisms, somewhat, which basically consists of usually getting up first and having my hour of quiet before I have to do anything "social"- like saying good morning. It is usually closer to lunchtime before I am actually hungry. I know that probably does not help you, but I think it is just normal for some people- and she will learn to cope. If anyone can chime in with a miracle cure, I would be glad to hear it!

[sparrow]

Oh my goodness. We have the same daughter.

 

My daughter won't eat or drink anything for at least a half hour after waking, so she won't do juice. I've tried. The best thing for us is to just leave her be to wake up. This includes the time she's sitting on couch with a blanket on her head scowling :glare:. She really is a happy kid. Just not in the morning ;).

[OrganicAnn]

I would be making sure she has a goodly sized healthy snack right before going to bed. Will she drink a little juice right when she gets up? That might help also.

 

At times she has eaten/drinks lots before going to bed (vacations/party/special occasions). We don't really encourage lots of evening eating. She doesn't like OJ, but I can try some apple juice.

 

Food doesn't seem to matter to much, but I will pay attention to that.

 

I used to have watch where I sat on her bed in the morning, because she would kick me (as if she were stretching her legs).

Edited May 13, 2012 by OrganicAnn

[kalanamak]

Can you pop her right into the shower?

Can you get her to do something aerobic, like walk around the block?

Can you get her to do a few deep "cleansing breaths" and a bellow (I recall it is clenching your fists with elbows bent, 3 good deep ins and fast puffs out, and then a RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH while thrusting your fists downward)?

Can you get her to sing first thing?

 

I am guessing she has some extra carbon dioxide in her system, and that blowing it off will perk her up.

[LillyMama]

I am like this. I was as a child and still am. I have coping mechanisms, somewhat, which basically consists of usually getting up first and having my hour of quiet before I have to do anything "social"- like saying good morning. It is usually closer to lunchtime before I am actually hungry. I know that probably does not help you, but I think it is just normal for some people- and she will learn to cope. If anyone can chime in with a miracle cure, I would be glad to hear it!

 

I've always been like this, too. I've always said I'm not a morning person. My daughter can be like this, but I've noticed it's usually just when she doesn't get the right amount of sleep. Recently my husband and I sat down and looked at our schedules and expectations. I think, from just charting my sleep and behavior/feelings for a week, I have a 7 hour sleep cycle with a 2 hour variant. Meaning, I can be happy on 5, 7 o 9 hours of sleep. But 6, 8 or 10 make me grouchy. I think it has to do with REM sleep cycles and the such.

 

My son tends to be more sensitive as to WHEN he sleeps, rather than how much. He has ALWAYS, just about every day of his life from birth, awoken at 6:15. We're not always as consistent as we should be about bedtimes, but even if he goes to bed at 10 or 11, at 6:!5 he wakes up. If he ever sleeps in until 7, then he's grumpy, regardless of when he went to sleep. If he takes a nap in the day, he always wakes up grumpy.

 

Sorry, this isn't much advice. But I do tell my kids they cannot "join the world" until they're ready to be pleasant. If she's that grumbly, and you don't have a reason for her to be up, I would just invite her to stay in her room until the mood passes.

[OrganicAnn]

Really interesting replies.

 

I can't imagine her doing anything aerobic in the morning. I don't know if would be worth trying (putting up with the complaining). But now every day I'll look at her and wonder if today is the day I'll suggest it.

 

She doesn't like to stay in her room. Once she is awake she doesn't want to be alone in her room so she drags herself and blanket out to the couch (whether I've woken her up or she wakes up naturally).

 

She normally has the same bed time every night with a little later on weekends.

 

Summer is a little harder because it is light outside in the evenings. We do have like triple black out curtains on her windows.

 

When we have to go somewhere in the morning, I often debate with myself whether it is better to wake her up extra early so she will have more time to adjust or to let her sleep longer. I don't think either really helps.

[Lang Syne Boardie]

Unless I'm left to wake up entirely on my own at about 10 a.m. (ha) I wake up very grouchy. I love to sleep, I need more sleep, maybe I don't breathe enough when I sleep...I don't know. But I hate waking up.

 

I learned how to fake being human in the morning at a very young age.

 

My mother is a morning person and she always woke me up by noisily raising the shade and singing out, "Rise and shine!!!" Every morning I hated my mother. I was over it by mid-morning, but every day was the same. I asked her not to wake me up that way, but she pointed out that she had tried several other ways and I still hated her for waking me up, so she'd do it how she liked. I didn't really hate my mother, so I decided to act nice when she woke me up even though I was achingly whining inside.

 

When I say I acted nice, I don't mean that I said 'good morning' back or smiled or ate breakfast before I was ready. I just mean that I didn't complain aloud, drag myself about, or make faces. When I attempted this much she met me halfway and allowed me to skip breakfast. It makes me sick to think of eating the moment I wake up.

 

Well, later, I faked morning niceness for the sake of sleepover friends, camp cabin buddies, roommates, and eventually a husband and children.

 

It grosses me out the way my boys roll out of bed and somersault down the hall to land at the kitchen table where they pour cereal and milk while their eyes are still half-closed. I mean, they are sleep-eating. Gag.

 

I don't know why I took so long to tell this story but here is my point: Your daughter might never ever be Susie Sunshine in the a.m. but she can probably develop the character not to visit her pain on everyone else. She can be quiet or poky or get some special treatment regarding breakfast but she can't be a jerk.

[BlueTaelon]

I'm the same way, leave me alone and give me half hour of quiet and I will be fine, get my usual of loud, demanding, obnoxious kids first thing and I will be in a grouchy, down right *****y mood for hours. I NEED that half hour of quiet but unless I want to get up at 5am and sneak around I won't get it. I swear my kids have radar, as soon as I get up no matter the time they are up too and demanding a hot meal. Some people are just not morning people, that said, I'm thinking about getting one of those sleep inertia alarms that you tell it about what time you want to wake up and it monitors your sleep and wakes you up when your in a very light sleep.

 

I found this article interesting as well http://www.easywake.me/articles/64

[3Blessings]

I haven't read the other responses, but I will say that dh and I were confounded by dd7 and the same situation. She was waking up grouchy all the time. She is my best sleeper- always has been- what happened?

 

Well, we found out that she is waking up in the middle of the night. She plays dolls, reads, etc. She was probably up for an hour or two in the middle of the night. There was my answer.

 

Maybe something like that? I don't know if this will help but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

[Brooketopia]

My 8yo dd is the same way. It got so much better when I finally just gave her an alarm clock, told her what time to set it to and that she could just go hop in the shower and have some "waking up time" while she got clean.

 

She takes the world's longest shower, but it's after DH and I have already taken ours, so she doesn't get a lot of hot water. I'd rather run out of hot water than deal with that angry, bursts-into-tears child every morning. And this way she's clean!

 

She's in bed by 8pm, generally falls asleep by 9pm and I ask that she gets up at 6:45am. She also has the option of falling asleep during rest time during the middle of the day, which she never does, so I know it's not a lack of sleep issue.

 

I swore until a few years ago that I was a morning person. I love to wake up early in the morning and get going on stuff. However, over the past few years, I started sleeping in a little later, just because I could, and I've found that I do not like other people around me when I first get up in the morning. Actually, I don't even really like people around until about two hours after I wake up. I've just always been a super early riser and it never occurred to me that I might not be a morning person. I'm an early riser, but not a "Top o' the mornin' to ya!" kind of gal. I've been breaking the habit of sleeping in just so I can be happy to see my family in the morning again. :D

[Word Nerd]

I have a friend I met in college who is still this way as an adult. My other roommates and I knew to keep our distance and leave her alone in the morning.

 

A loud and cheerful greeting early in the morning will be taken as a curse. (Proverbs 27:14) ;)

Edited May 14, 2012 by WordGirl