‘Get up 1.5h before your child does to get things done’

🤣🤣🤣 I can honestly say I’ve never woken up for a fight.

My kids have always been good sleepers but there is not a chance in hell im getting up an hour earlier to do yoga or clean the house fuck that

I could never sleep during the day - I don't know how people do it. Tried and tried - but just couldn't switch off.

My first baby was a nightmare for not sleeping by day and by night. She would wake throughout the night and then want to get up at 5 am. We were pretty traumatised by it (second child was better!) There would have been no way I could have got up any earlier to catch up with things. She'd have heard me, anyway! The person who gave this advice must have a very obliging and easy child. (Oh, we had screaming with colic all evening as well.)

I've always been an early morning person, but now I've retired and don't need to get up to get to work at 7.30, isn't it just life that I actually wake at 5.30 and can't get back to sleep? All those mornings when I dreaded the alarm going off at 6.30, and now I'm up and at it by 6 or before with no problems.

As a retiree I love the early mornings. I'm quiet because my husband sleeps till nearly 8, but it's just great to sit quietly and read, or catch up with emails or even potter quietly doing chores.

The one I've never understood is doing chores whilst the baby/toddler sleeps.

Why I would waste the time I can sit down and chill, when I can just do the dishes whilst he's awake, I have no idea!

But then I was also one of those jammy bastards who slept when the baby slept.

This is martyr behaviour and ridiculous.

Usually said by the kind of people who have no interests outside of their children and think things like self care and sitting down occasionally are "selfish" 🙄

Why do things have to be done that early? Sleep is important to a healthy life, depriving yourself of sleep to do yoga is madness. You'll be on the road to burnout...

I get up at 4.30am, 1.5 hrs before my 5yo but I still can't get everything done. She only sleeps 8-6 if we're lucky. I'm just in a better mood if I start the day with time to myself. I've always been an early riser though, I prefer to have free time when I have more energy at the start of the day than at the end when I'm knackered.

There was a time when I briefly thought that when I was up multiple times in the night that I could make use of the time to do some exercises.

I did say briefly. And I was sleep deprived, in my defense.

The other issue with early wakers is you're too knackered to do anything even later in the day, so it's a double whammy.

Ignore. I have a good sleeper and still don't do this. I think it is important for children to learn adults need to do stuff at home and to entertain themselves independently. Obviously harder with toddlers but as they grow up they can either help or go and entertain themselves

I do this now because I’m nearly 50, self employed and have older teen/young adult children. I’m up early to have that quiet space to myself before everyone is up - to do my exercise and potter about getting chores out of the way.

When my kids were young, or when I was working full time? Absolutely not! If I had the choice between an extra hour’s precious sleep or ‘getting stuff done’ sleep won hands down.

I read your first sentence as "The only thing I'm waking up for at 4am is a fight" 🧐

Responding as a former f-t carer for a relative (inc overnight duties), that "Get up 1.5hrs before your child" suggestion is not practical for everyone.

Even if your DC do sleep from 7-7, maybe parents/carers/guardians are too tired from the day they usually have to get up at 5:30am.

It's easy for people to declare how straightforward someone else's life is or could be when they will never actually live it.

Just ignore. YABU to bother about advice like this which is not relevant to your circumstances. 6am is plenty early enough for most people. Don't give it another thought.

I’m an early bird and i find putting youngest dc to bed makes me sleepy and i like to enjoy my evenings - maybe read a book or call a friend - so the last thing i want to do after that is start housework and gardening and batch cooking.

If my dc decide to get up at 5am that’s their problem.

They can either play in their rooms or go back to bed. They aren’t allowed downstairs until 6.30am earliest.

So if I get up between 5am and 6am I’m guaranteed some time to myself - sometimes I go for a 6am swim, sometimes I cook, sometimes I take out trash or work in my garden and sometimes I just read and doze.

I am not smug about it but my day aways is better for getting up early.

It is smug but it's also true, lol.

My kids are 13 and 8. I’m lucky if I get up before my littlest at 6am every day. Some days he can be up as early as 4:45am. He has ADHD and struggles with sleep. There is NO WAY I am getting up 1.5 or 3 hours before my kids do to get stuff done.
I go to bed at 9pm anyway and have CFS. I don’t need to feel worse!!

This sounds barmy and smug! You’re so right! I had a friend also say “oh you can go on a run once they’re in bed.” Nope, I’m literally dead after they’ve gone to sleep even if it was that early! Having said that, my kid went thru a terrible phase of waking around 5am and I’d put him in the running buggy and jog off to post my Vinted parcels! Maybe that’s what ur friend means! I was knackered though and it didn’t last long!

Every single influencer and wellness expert that has a program or meal plan to sell. It does get very tiresome.

I actually do this (wake up at 4:30am) but only ever managed once each of my babies were sleeping through the night. I have 3 DC ages 8, 4, and 2, and it was only recently that I was able to do it consistently, without one of them waking in the night or waking up super early. This morning my 4-year old was standing by my bed at 4am to tell me that she’d had an accident and wet the bed, so I even got up an extra 30 mins earlier this morning 😂

When you tell them your child wakes up at 5, do they still suggest you get up at 3.30am to do yoga and housework?

Ha ha I had two with completely opposite sleep patterns. I would be up with my DS til 2am and then up with DD at 5.30am - both have complex needs and didn’t sleep “normally” for around 8 years. I now do get up at 6.30 and have a coffee before the rest of the house is awake but chronically sleep deprived me was never getting up any earlier than absolutely necessary in those years.

Who is saying this? And what's this stuff that can't be done during normal hours?

Yep and I leave for work at 6:30 so I need sleep!

In term time, I wake up 35 minutes before my kids so I can shower and get ready before getting them up. If I added another hour to that, I would be up at 4.40am. I'm not sure I could get through the day after that, never mind do all those magical extra things!