Early wakers, how do you deal with them?

[DeathMetalMum]

Dd is 5, and generally an early waker usually at 6 but can often be earlier, today was 5.20 though dp thinks she may have been awake since 3am . Now we obviously send her back to bed at these time but the issue is she then wakes dd2 up, with various singing, talking etc meaning someone has to be in and out of the room constantly telling her to be quiet. We have a gro-clock so she knows what time is acceptable but that worked gor a week max. I'm coming to the end of my tether, also knowing come Friday next week we will be dragging her out of bed for school then Saturday she will be up with the birds again. Any tips on what to do?

[Nodney]

Watching with interest as my three are the same!

[winchester1]

Can you make a safe play area for her and say give her access to.it from 5am onwards provided she plays quietly. So a rink and snack, access to the toilet, books, etc

[cornishglos]

One of us gets up at 6ish with him for breakfast and cbeebies.

[underrugsswept]

Get up and make a brew. 5.30am is a regular occurrence here.

[Muskateersmummy]

6 am is pretty standard he re too. In the week dh is up then anyway, weekends we take in turns to have a sleep in while the other one takes dd down for a cup of tea and a movie

[blackteaplease]

Same here, coffee for me and cbeebies for them is the way we deal with it. DH and I take turns to get up and the other lies in until 8am.

Once ours are awake they won't go back to sleep (just like me unfortunately) but we get up at 6 during the working week anyway so it's not worth messing with for weekends and holidays.

[DeathMetalMum]

I think part of me thought she would grow out of it a little, I agree 6am is normal but anything before still seems too early. Dd isn't hungry and has a drink beside her bed, I suppose we will just get up for now.

[StubbleTurnips]

We get up, make a brew, put her in our bed, pass her the kindle and go back to sleep.

[blackteaplease]

I think it's just in their nature. I have terrible insomnia and have been known to get up at 4. 30 occasionally.

Have you tried a reward chart for being quiet in the morning and staying in her room until a certain time?

[Peppapigallowsmetoshower]

TV or find something educational on iPad if you have mummy guilt. Safe toys or books or quiet CD in the bedroom? It's a tough one!

[lanbro]

Reward chart in conjunction with gro clock worked well with our almost 4 yr old. Not working so well with our 2.5 yr old unfortunately.....

[slebmum1]

The only thing that has had any affect on 4.5yo DTs is buying a digital clock. They can't come out of their room until 7am and two weeks in it seems to be working. They still wake up at any point from 5am but at least they aren't hounding is to get up. I think part of the problem was that they had no idea of the time when they were waking, it might be morning or might not.

We had gro clocks and all sorts of other things but this is the only thing that seems to have worked.

[slebmum1]

Effect or affect - not sure?!

[bingisthebest]

My 3 are all quite early wakers. Dh can be quite grumpy with them on a weekend but now I'm just resigned to it and get up have a cuppa whilst he lays in bed. Sounds really sad but I get nice cuddles from them. I sometimes creep back up to bed after settling them in front of the telly. I'm hoping in a few years they will grow out of it. I also have early nites to counteract!

[Wanderingwondering]

I tried something new when they came in at 6 this morning-put an audio book on (from YouTube on phone) while I dozed for an hour. Not bad although the 3 year old was quite wriggly towards the end.
Less disruptive and guilt inducing than tv or tablet.

[Cliffdiver]

Groclock?

DD1 (4) has had one since she was 2 and knows that until the sun comes up (at 7am) she lies quietly in bed if she's awake. Unless obviously she needs the toilet, then she will more often that not go then take herself back to bed until the sunshine is up.

It may be harsh, but at 5 I would say they are old enough to understand what is an acceptable and unacceptable time to wake up and lose privileges for waking up siblings.

[Cliffdiver]

Acceptable time to get up, not wake up.

[Artandco]

I would never let them get up and do something fun like tv. It just encourages it

Get a small dim light. If she really can't sleep she can look at books quietly in her bed. If she messes around noisily waking siblings she gets light taken away that night so no option to look at books the next morning.

Make sure she has a clock and water in room

[NickyEds]

I'm inclined to agree with Artandco and Cliffdiver- tv or movie downstairs sounds like far too much fun! Clock, books by the bed reward chart if she stays in her room quietly until 6.30 (or whenever suits)for a week or two.

[DizzyBlondeMum2]

Anyone found a way to stop them pressing group clock buttons and making it morning?

[shrunkenhead]

My dd is 7 now and has always been an early riser. When she was younger me and dh took it in turns to take her down for breakfast, entertain her etc but as she got older found we could reason with her and know she is safe downstairs on her own. She now knows to only wake us at 7am (obviously if she's unwell etc she knows to bother us whenever).

[Owllady]

Two are mine are insomniacs. The eldest is 16 and has SN so we have no choice that one of us get up. It's generally between 5 and 6 am atm. I put the tv on this morning and lay on the sofa and mumsnetted
I think you just do what you have to do.

[imwithspud]

We've had similar issues, I really struggle with it since I'm not a morning person and no amount of early waking a seems to make me get used to it. This time last year dd1 (3, was 2 at the time) was waking at 5am, the most frustrating thing was that she was and is still obviously tired at this time, but not tired enough to dose back off to sleep - this makes the rest of the day difficult. I thought it would be a phase that passed but it went on for a few months, so I bought a grow clock which yielded instant results. I think the arrival of dd2 and dd1's realisation that she was sleeping in with us for the first 6 months made her a bit jealous so she now completely ignores it and no amount of reading the 'clock story' that comes with it or reminding her, or putting her back in bed (which results in crying and since both dd's now share a room now this wakes her up too) works, now she wakes anywhere between 5-6. Yesterday she slept till 7:30 which was amazing but didn't last

We went through a phase of putting the tv in our room on in the morning but then she started coming in at 5am wanting to watch Peppa so now we allow her into our bed, she rarely goes back to sleep but we make it very boring and encourage her to 'close her eyes and relax'. Once dd2 is awake we then put the light on in their room where she is allowed to play until 7am.

It sucks, to be quite honest. But I guess it's part of the parcel of parenthood. I for one can't wait until they get to an age where they have 'lie ins' or are able to get up by themselves and make themselves breakfast but that's a long way off I think.

[Romcom]

Dizzy there is a lock button on ours so they can't switch the sun on, I can't remember how as I've never done it but try the manual or google!

[joanneg36]

My DS1 was similar but by age 5, she should really be capable of understanding that she needs to stay in her room and be quiet until whatever time you decide is acceptable (within reason obviously!) I would offer whatever combination of bribes/threatened punishments will work in her case to make this happen. Now, age 6, DS finally sleeps until 7.