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Original poster

DS getting up at 4:30am and it’s killing me!

24 replies

mommathatwearspink · 14/07/2019 06:36

DS (2) has been getting up at 4:30/5am for months now and I'm so so tired!

We’ve tried moving his bedtime back, cutting naps, blacking out his room but nothing works. He’s not old enough to understand a gro clock or anything like that yet.

Does anyone have any suggestions please?

OP posts:

waterrat · 14/07/2019 06:53

I'm afraid I got through this phase with Peppa pig while I dozed.

I wouldn't let him actually get up ..try to keep him in either his bed or yours.

Also what does he do when he wakes ? I would really try to ignore him as long as possible or resettle etc until he has spent at least another half hour in bed. Just so he doesn't form too much habit for getting up as soon as he wakes.

waterrat · 14/07/2019 06:54

They do grow out if it but it's horrendous

hopeishere · 14/07/2019 07:04

Agree don't let him get up you're just normalising it. Get him back to bed either his or yours.

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Sipperskipper · 14/07/2019 07:09

Is he in a cot or bed? And when you have adjusted bedtime / naps, how long have you done it for? It will usually take a good week to have an effect.

Can you post your rough daily routine?

FogCutter · 14/07/2019 07:14

Ugh both my DC went through this stage for what seemed like ages.

The only thing that helped was for me to go to bed really early so I'd had enough sleep by the time the DC woke up!

fruitpastille · 14/07/2019 07:15

Quiet TV while you sleep with a blanket on the sofa. It will pass.

ListenLinda · 14/07/2019 07:15

My DD was the same but she was also waking twice a night too. Depending on how she woke, determined whether she came downstairs to not wake DH or had to stay in bed.
Then I started leaving a drink by her bed.
4 nights in, i havent had to go into her room once during the night and she has been getting up at 6am ish!

HenSolo · 14/07/2019 07:18

I can’t help but have some sympathy
Ds2 been doing this for months. I put tv on my phone and doze. Cannot parent at 4.30am

Flatwhite32 · 14/07/2019 07:34

@mommathatwearspink my nearly one year old DD has been doing this for a couple of months now (her wake up is generally 5/5.30). We have tried everything - moving naps, adjusting nap times, later bedtime (weirdly this makes her wake even earlier!), different pyjamas wondering if she was too hot, leaving her in her cot at that time, trying to get her back to sleep etc. Nothing works. She is fully awake at that time, and I actually think this is her wake up time for now. It resulted in me getting awful insomnia where I'd wake through the night anticipating her waking up at 5. Thankfully this has improved (although not completely gone) and I make sure I'm in bed by 9.30 to try and fit in enough sleep. No useful advice, but you have my sympathy!

NerrSnerr · 14/07/2019 07:51

Do you have a partner you can alternate the mornings with? That's what we have to do with our early riser.

Cailleach · 14/07/2019 09:46

Send him to me - that's what time I get up!

But seriously... Sleep deprivation is the pits. It's probably just a phase he's going through though.

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 14/07/2019 09:48

I'd give the Gro Clock another whirl. We used it with both of ours from 18mo and set it to the time they usually wake (5am) lots of clapping and yay! Sun's up!

Then slowly shifted it 10mins per week.

It took a while and every now and again they'd wake and we would say see, no sun, sleepy time. Then leave the room.

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 14/07/2019 09:49

Could it be hunger? Does he have porridge or similar at bedtime?

Oliack1417 · 14/07/2019 10:03

We've done similar to Bernadette.. the groclock is set to 5:40 currently.
We had the 4:30 starts but for quite a while but he seems to have settled on about 5:20 now as his natural wake up time.

There's no chance of him going back to sleep, so he watches Peppa in bed with us until a more decent hour.
If we leave him, he will wake his brother up.
I don't think there much you can do - we've played with bedtimes and reducing naps but nothing seems to make a difference.
I'm hoping it will pass, perhaps when he starts to drop naps completely. Hang in there!

starzig · 14/07/2019 10:13

Can you go yo bed earlier?

dontletmedowngently · 14/07/2019 11:32

DS was like this at that age, he took the view that if it was light, it was morning. Blackout lining for the curtains and a blackout blind all let too much light in around the edges. In desperation I bought some big sheets of black card and blu tacked them directly onto the window. It earned me an extra hour of sleep! (And some funny looks from the neighbours...)

Delatron · 14/07/2019 11:53

What do you do when he wakes at 4.30?
You have to treat it as a night waking, you can’t get up at 4.30.
If you do get up with him then his body clock will get stuck at that time.

roseblush · 14/07/2019 12:23

My almost 2 year old wakes between 5 and 6. I find the closer to 5am wakes tend to be when she's not napped very well the day before and is overtired. We've also noticed some improvement with the gro clock. And dd is getting better at amusing herself babbling away to her teddy before demanding our attention.
I hate going to bed too early so sometimes try and have a little power nap when she naps. And lots of chocolate!

notacooldad · 14/07/2019 12:30

I was a out to say yeah I'm the same then found out that you were talking about a toddler. Mime unintentionally wakes me up at that time to go to work but he is 19 though!!!

Flatwhite32 · 15/07/2019 05:49

4.40 wake up this morning 😩.

Thecrown3 · 15/07/2019 06:20

I’d like to add both my boys were very early risers in the summer months, it’s light at 4.30am atm.
I tried all you did, then bought a groclock and that really helped.set it for 5.15 and 5 min increments from there.
Also surprisingly I’d try not to let them nap but it just meant I had cranky day children aswell as night children! So let them nap to a timetable .

Flatwhite32 · 15/07/2019 07:03

@Thecrown3 we have blackout blinds in DD's room, but they don't seem to help. I can barely move this morning I'm so tired! Zzzzzzzzz.

NeverGotMyPuppy · 15/07/2019 07:15

10 month DS is the same. It was 4.40 this morning but eventually he went back to sleep buy not before a LOT of tears.

Thecrown3 · 15/07/2019 10:08

@Flatwhite32 all I can add to my suggestion is definitely get early nights yourself so you can cope better.Im a natural 5 am waker in summer but im asleep by 10pm

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