Any top tips for changing the ways of pre-schooolers who wake at ridiculous o'clock?

[splishsplosh]

DD1 is 3 - she goes to bed at 7-7.30pm, and sleeps til sometimebetween 6 and 7. But increasingly she has been waking earlier, today it was 5.25am.

I'm currently sharing the room with her in a cot,and dd2 who is 7 mnonths is in bed with me. Dd2 wakes 2-3 times a night, so I'm a bit tired!

When dd1 wakes, she will start calling out,often wants to go to the toilet, will start making more and more noise when I tell her it's too early to get up, or tell her to settle down for a bit.She then wakes dd2, aaaagh

This morning, in the end went downstairs for toast leaving them both to it, then put Dora on for dd1 in next room,and got dd2 back to sleep til 7.45, and i lay beside dd1 longing for sleep.

Till I can get a roomsorted for dd1, any ideas?????

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

have you got blackout blinds, exclude all daylight from window

does the heating/hotwater click on, even a tiny noise (like a mouse outside moving a pebble)would disturb my youngest at that age

eventually she won't get up at all

[shootfromthehip]

Blackout blinds/ an alarm clock: she isn't allowed to get up until it starts to beep. That did help with our DD.

It's not easy to change though so good luck

[angelene]

I'm having a similar problem with my DD who is 3.7. She's never been the best at sleeping and she goes to bed at 8-8.15, and is currently waking at about 5.30.

We currently just keep sending her back to bed until after 6 but it just results in me having to get out of bed 4 times between 5.30 and 6 [matchsticks on eyes emoticon].

The house is old so the windows aren't straight and the sun rises at her window so the blackout blind isn't really working.

I'm actually considering covering the window with thick black art paper!

[tattycoram]

I don't have any ideas at all, but I absolutely feel your pain. At 830 I looked at the clock and thought oh god I have been up for THREE HOURS already. I am shattered. Does you dd1 still nap in the day at all? At least then you might be able to get some rest during hte day until this phase passes.

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

black paper would do the trick

or a really thick dark blanket, rigged aound the pole and safety pinned perhaps

is she capable of going downstairs and putting on telly by herself for half hour of milkshake?

obv you would have to ensure that she couldn't get in your knife drawer etc

[ohdearwhatamess]

Welcome to my world!

We've got blackout blinds and curtains and the dcs still wake at 5.30am.

I tried something else last night though - a rolled up towel at the bottom of their door to exclude the chink of light that perhaps gets in that way (door doesn't sit entirely flush with the carpet) and they slept until 6.30 (unheard of here).

[sleepwhenidie]

same here, its a killer - DS now 3.8 has only just stoppped doing it (probably because I make sure he doesn't sleep in the day and is utterly exhausted by bedtime - a trampoline is v effective!), but DD 11m has taken over the reins - 5am this morning despite very dark room. She does only do it every few days though (we get past 6am on the others, woohoo!) Better than DS was at that age, when he thought 4.30am was a great time to start the day, every day for about 2 months . Amazing that we had another child really!

I have just ordered some of these blackout blinds that fit with velcro to the window frame, so no chinks of light get around the edge - blinds I may also use ohdears blanket idea under the door!

A bunny clock worked quite well with DS for a while when he was about 2.5. We messed it up by sharing a room on holiday and trying to use the bunny clock there, the sight of us in the room when he woke was far too exciting to him for him to settle back down though.

Riven - I don't know how you cope with so little sleep and so little time to yourself

[LuluLulabelleWantsANewName]

I read something on here last week about a technique called wake to sleep or something. I'll see if I can find it, that sounds like it helps early-risers.

I haven't tried it (DD is a 5.30am girl until this morning when she woke at 6am - felt like a lie in!).

[LuluLulabelleWantsANewName]

Here it is Wake to Sleep

Not sure if it helps all ages. Might be worth a try though?

[angelene]

I'm sure my DD will grow up to be one of those intensely irritating people who survive on 4 hours sleep a day.

She dropped her daytime nap when she was about 2 , she usually has 10 hours or less and she's a bloody live wire all day long.

[splishsplosh]

Thanks everyone for your ideas, and it's good to hear I'm not alone.

I might try the wake to sleep idea especially if dd2 has woken me, because she does sometimes sleep longer if she wakes to go to the toilet earlier. Though there have been other horrible times when she has woken for the toilet at 4, and decided she cannot go back to sleep at all

It was easier before dd2, as I would tell her she could get up when the heating came on at 7am. But she has worked out that if she wakes dd2, that's pretty much guaranteed that all 3 of us end up getting up, and she's got her way. She and dd2 end up beaming at each other full of the joys of the morning while i wonder when I'll ever get a decent sleep again!

She rarely naps in the day,only occasionally if shattered and in the buggy but then it's usually late in the day and I do all I can to prevent it as if she naps, she won't sleep til 9 - I feel your pain Riven because the fw hours I get in the evening are what keep me going!

[TheGreatScootini]

Just want to add my sympathies really.DD1 got up between 5 and 6 for the first two and half years of her life.She now gets up at 7 ish.DD2 however gets up at 5.
I am no conditioned to it and even when we are away from the kids for a weekend or whatever wake up on the dot at 5am.
I am NOT a morning person and am half dead every day by 10.30.

We have tried everything BTW and nothing works.They are just early risers and thats that.

I long for when they are teenagers and want to stay in bed till noon.I will be doing same!