Early mornings...can't cope

[sarahloula]

More often than not dd is getting us up at half five. I work full time, very tired and headachey, it's cold, and the days feels long. I end up getting short with dd and then feeling like a terrible mum. We've tried everything and go to bed early ourselves but getting up that early is sooooo hard. Please tell me I'm not alone.

[Mumof3xx]

It is hard

But in ten years you will probably be moaning that she won't get up at all!

My dd is usually up around 5 followed by ds1 about 6 and ds2 will happily sleep til 8!

[BabysNewName]

How old is she?

[pussycatdoll]

Don't get up with her
Let her come into your bed and tell her she must be quiet
Or leave tv on for her & go back to bed
Take it in turns to have a lie in

[TamerB]

Advice depends in age. How old are they?

[TheGreatHunt]

Is she cold? My dd has been doing this and I thought "she can't be cold". I slept in her room for a couple of nights and noticed that it did get cold as I'd wake up just before her feeling cold despite the many layers. I then left the heating on 1C higher all night (accidentally) for a couple of nights and she slept longer.

So the heating stays on. An extra blanket doesn't help her - she kicks it off (she's 2).

[melonribena]

I feel your pain. My 18 mth old decided 4.15 was morning today! It already feels like lunchtime!

I did the cuddle up with tv thing and got a bit more asleep! Enjoy the cuddles!

[bouncysmiley]

If she's over two get a gro clock. Solved our early waking within a few days.

[iwouldgoouttonight]

Anything before 6am feels like the middle of the night, I can sympathise, my DD went through this.

I'm sure you've probably tried this but we used a Gro clock, one of those where the sun comes up when they're allowed to get out of bed. We had several nights/mornings where DD would come in to tell us that the sun still hadn't come up and she wanted to get up, but we just kept putting her back into bed until she eventually got the message!

Had quite a few mornings of screaming/crying and back and forth to bed while she was getting used to it, but she got it eventually. I think she still does wake about 5am but sees the sun isn't up and normally falls back to sleep waiting for it.

[iwouldgoouttonight]

Cross post!

[iwouldgoouttonight]

Also with the gro clock, start with setting the time for the sun to come up quite early, close to when they'd normally wake anyway, so you can give them loads of praise for waiting for the sun, and then gradually make it later, so it doesn't seem like such a big leap for them to stay in bed much later.

[sarahloula]

Thank you all. My dd is 3 in a couple of months. We've tried telling her it's still bedtime and leaving her in her room or putting her in our bed but she just gets really upset. May try gro clock. Is it bright in their room during the night. We had to turn little light off on her monitor as it was freaking her out, she lines it very dark. We leave the heating on but may try turning it up a notch.

[Eletheomel]

Just wanted to add another fan of the gro clock. DS1 was exactly the same and was always an early riser (once he got out of the newborn phase). The gro clock doesn't work overnight (or in a couple of weeks) - well it didn't for us, but we took it gradual. We started when he was about 2.5yrs and we used to set it at his usual awake time for the first few weeks so he got the hang of it (he loved setting the star at night and seeing the sun in the morning) and then we started moving it forward in 10 minute increments, we'd do that for a few days/weeks, and when we felt he'd got that, we'd add an extra 10 minutes on.

Eventually we got him waking up at the same time I got up for work (6:15) and now (a year or two down the line and me being on maternity leave and not working) we set his clock for 7:15 during the week and about 7:30 at weekends - sadly he's a creature of habit, so we don't get long lies at weekends, but the later rises during the week make it worth it!

We did it slowly so never had any crying or hysterics and our deal was that once the sun was up he could come through to our room and get into our bed. A few times he'd talk to us on the monitor (we still use one in his room for chatting to him) and say can he come through, and we'd ask if the sun was up, and then he'd say no, and stay in his bed.

Good luck, I always find that anytime after 6am is bearable, but the 5am wakenings are just too early!!

We also found the gro-clock a bit bright at first - we put it on a low setting, but it still seemed a bit bright, however after a few days DS1 (who also liked a dark room) never commented on it.

[JSARJSARstar4567]

I don't get up any time before half 7 if my ds wakes up I get him some breakfast and put the telly on. Maybe explain that you can't get up when it is dark as it is still bed time
And we will all be in a better mood if we all try and get back to sleep.

[BabysNewName]

You can turn down the light on the gro clock to make it very dim. It works wonderfully for DS. Although we got it when he was just two and it took a while for him to get it.

(I'm up at this time with the baby. DS is fast asleep!)