DS, 3.5, is in an almost permanent state of exhaustion, and I'm fairly certain it's because he gets up at 5 every day, and yet nothing I do seems to keep him asleep. Occasionally he manages to sleep through until 7, which makes a huge difference to his mood and general behaviour, but it's not consistent.
I've tried putting him to bed earlier (7), putting him to bed later (8.30) - we have a good bedtime routine in terms of bath, story, sleep, and he has no problem getting to sleep. I've tried one of those clocks that tells him when it's morning, he's got black out curtains, he's got everything! But he gets up at 5, leaves his bedroom, and comes and wakes us up. I try taking him back to bed, over and over, until he starts screaming at me, by which time it generally is morning so I don't feel like I've actually achieved anything. I've tried letting him come into my bed in the hopes that he will go back to sleep, but no. He's majorly grotty a lot of the time, and I just want him to sleep more! Any ideas would be very gratefully received . . .
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Exhausted 3 year old will not sleep long enough . . .
Puffykins · 08/03/2014 08:22
I'm sorry this is probably not what you want to hear, but ds1 was like that, he was born an early riser and still is as teenager. He has been the first up in our house since the day he was born. I tried everything to get him back to sleep, but he wasn't tired. I was, waking up at half bloody five for years!
You can't change his body clock, but at 3.5 he should be able to play quietly in the morning for an hour on his own. I would also be strict about an afternoon rest, lie down in bed or on the sofa in front of a DVD for an hour to recharge his batteries. That hour helped keep me sane.
I hope someone else has a magic wand for you
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