Keeps getting up at 4am....

[harrypoooter]

End of tether. Nearly 5 year old girl just won't lie in. Been going on for a few months.

We have a gro clock. She pretends she can't read it (she can) but we still put it on every night. We put her back to bed every time. We allow her to get up at 6am but this morning it was 4.30am and crying/shouting next to our bed until we got up.

Routine is this: she wakes up for the toilet around 4/5 we put her back to bed but she doesn't go to sleep. About 15 minutes later she runs in our room and says she can't sleep. We take her back. She runs back in 10 minutes later. We take her back, reiterate 6am is acceptable, then she runs in 5 minutes, we all get cross, she cries, then she's wide awake and crying/running room to room.

We use a points system over the day (starts with 10 and if gets to 0 loses a privilege) and she's losing lots of points in the morning. We are all so tired?

If you have managed to get your children to sleep in later, how have you done it? She's otherwise a good girl.

[harrypoooter]

Please help.... feel like we are going to crack if this isn't sorted soon.

[NapQueen]

Could she be hungry? Does she have a bowl of supper before bed? Both ours had weetabix or museli before bed from about 18mo.

Is her room an OK temp? 4am is normally the coldest part of the night so if she is waking and getting up for the loo she will probably feel quite cold going back to bed. Would one of those microwaveable teddies work to help get her back into bed?

Another option (one I'd try), is to put a potty in her room so when she wakes for the loo she can get herself out of bed and onto the potty and back into bed without even needing to shout for you.

[Wolfiefan]

What time does she go to bed?
Try putting her on the toilet before you go to bed?
Offer her a quiet toy in the morning?
I'm afraid I would do back to bed. Repeatedly. Stay calm and refuse to get up.

[harrypoooter]

Her room is normal temp- same as ours. Not cold and she has a higher tog than us. We take her to toilet before bed and 'lift' her to the toilet around 10.30pm

Hunger may be an additional issue- I will try a bowl of weetabix or such before bed. She's in bed by 7, near enough and moving bedtime doesn't seem to make a difference.

We are trying a sleep chart tonight (her idea) and she did say she would try her best. I'm sure christmas is an added extra in terms of excitement but we are all being driven mad slowly through lack of sleep!

[Wolfiefan]

Keep taking her back to bed. Like a broken record.

[harrypoooter]

Yes will continue to do that.... urgh wish it was easier! It's hard hearing the other mums at the gates with their kids that lie in til 7.30am.

[harrypoooter]

The sticker chart has worked 2 nights in a row.....