Early Riser, 5.15am Please Help!!

[TopCat1]

This is a complicated one. My daughter is 2yrs old (next week) and after 5 weeks of sleepless nights, we FINALLY managed to get her to sleep in her new bed (she went from cot to junior bed, and kept getting out of the bed, every night, she would wake up around 12am, and ran into our room. We would take her by the hand reassure her, and lead her back to bed. This would go on for 3-4 hrs a night. But finally around 2 weeks ago, she started sleeping through),

My problem now is, she wakes at 5.15am for the day. Unfortunately we cannot use the same method to get her to sleep, as we all have to get up at 6.30am, in order to get sorted for work. And we would end up, keep putting her back to bed, and once it hit 6.30, it would be "Oh time to get up" and she would think we have given in to her. Which would also undo all our hard work.

We have tried, gently rousing her around 4am, to disturp her sleep pattern (as advised by some baby books) but this doesn't work either.

We are totally exhausted, and I know its just over an hour extra in bed, but its a hell of a difference getting up at 6.30 as opposed to 5.15. Plus she is exhausted and in a real bad mood, so she isn't even ready to get up.

Oh, and she has a great bedtime routine, bath, relax time and then to bed for story time. So thats not a problem. And she goes to bed at 8pm every night.

We have blackout blinds in her room, so its not that. She is too young to let play alone in the mornings(and wouldn't do it anyway)

Your advise would be really appreciated. Sorry for the long post.

[noxlumos]

Your possible problem here is that different people need different amounts of sleep time, even young children.

If you are putting her to bed at 8.00 she's getting nine hours or so, so why not try creeping that bedtime forward by half an hour and see if she doesn't fall more in with 6.00 am or maybe 6.30, as no matter how hard you try if she only needs 9 hours sleep she'll wake, and it sounds as if you relish your lie in more than having her up for an extra half hour in the evening.

We never have a rigid routine for our kids but certainly my eldest son only ever slept seven hours no matter what time he went to bed from a toddler and still does ( he's 20).

[kazza55]

Does your daughter get a regular nap in the day? Say, early afternoon/after lunch. I used to find this helped alot, otherwise mine used to get exhausted and overtired by bedtime which was between 7-8pm. I don't think waking her at 4 am will help in the long term though. It might make her totally confused. It must be very trying for the whole family, especially as you have the added pressure of getting up so early for work.

[TopCat1]

Thank you so much for answering my post. unfortunately, we have tried keeping her up later, and it didn't work.

And she does get her nap during the day, which, she still REALLY NEEDS, if she doesn't get it, she gets really grutchy, and won't eat her dinner.

[kazza55]

I thought that you'd say yes to the naps question but had to ask just in case. Mine used to fall asleep in her dinner at teatime if she didn't get a nap. We'd have no choice then but to carry her to bed. Come 11-12 pm and she was of course starving hungry and I used to have bring her down to give her something to eat.

When mine first had her own bed and she got up and came into our room in the night, I used to adopt the no eye contact technique and gently and quickly put her back into bed without any fuss and the minimum of chat. That worked for me after a few goes.

Have you tried leaving a landing light on? or maybe a couple of toys/book at the end of the bed?.It took a while, but she soon got used to the idea of staying in bed untill we got up at 6-30. I'm sure this exhausting phase won't last for long. They never do at that age. It feels like forever at the time though!!

[jake-the-peg]

I hate to offer a council of dispair but my kids were over 4 before they slept through.

Looking back I'd have killed for them to have slept from 8 to 5 at that age.

But let's assume she's actually being woken as opposed to waking naturally (because I can't see you winning if that is the case)

Do you have something like the central heating coming on at that time each morning?

Is there a dawn chorus that might be waking her?

Is she waking because she's hungry? full bladder?

If not you may just have to go to bed earlier yourselves!

Best of luck

[claire85]

She may be waking up because, without knowing it, her bladder is full. If this is the case it's recommended you carry/lead her to the toilet in the middle of the night (perhaps just before you go to bed yourself) and let her go. She will go even instinctivly, even if she's sleepy and confused. This way she should wake up naturally rather than because she needs the toilet (assuming that's what it is). They also recommend this routine for children who wet the bed.

Hope you get some uninterrupted sleep soon x

[Iz66]

No magic answers for this one!

Make sure she doesnt sleep too long during the day, could she poss go without a daytime nap?

Try creeping her bedtime forward bit by bit, will take time for her to adjust to waking later in morning, its doesnt automatically mean if she goes to bed later she will wake later....that bit will take a bit of time.

Think life will be alot easier for you if she got to wake at 6am...much more resonable...still early but its easier to deal with.

Good luck x

[nfn]

I sympathise completely TopCat1. His Little Lordship wakes anywhere between 5 and half past EVERY SINGLE MORNING. He's 6 now but he's been the same for years. He is ready for bed in the evenings anytime from 6.30 onwards so last summer holidays I thought I'd keep him up later and see if he'd sleep in (so he wouldn't be overtired at school). Not a chance. All that happened was he was grumpy all the time. I put up with the moods for 6 weeks then reverted back to normal bedtime when school started. I'm lucky because he now gets himself up, puts the tv on and gets some fruit to eat. He usually comes into me at about 6am to ask me to get his breakfast ready. If anyone knows a way of keeping an older child in bed longer please let me know, I've tried everything (including bribery) but it's no go! I'm used to it now but I'd love an extra hour on a Sunday.

[BetsyLou]

Apparently, i was a nightmare baby who never slept. Amongst other things, i used to wake up at some unearthly hour and get my parents out of bed. My mum told me that her and my dad used to take it in turns to get up, stick me in front of the telly and go to sleep on the sofa next to me. Apparently i was quite happy there, watching whatever junk was on, and of course there was a parent on hand if i got in a tiz about anything. Might not be too much fin, but i got over it eventually. Or maybe i just got old enough to get up on my own. Hmm..

(nb, i'm not particularly into watching tv now, and i'm educated to postgrad level, happy, sociable etc, so i don't think all the telly has held back my development!)

[rosyrussell]

Not that it is much consolation, but now my daughter has reached her teenage years I can't get her out of bed for love nor money...