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Original poster

Alarm clock for a student who cannot wake up

63 replies

MotherofMigraines · 16/09/2022 07:08

DD is off to uni next week and I don't know how she is going to make lectures as she relies on me to wake up. Her phone alarm doesn't rouse her even when going off for an hour. Has anyone got any recommendations for an alarm clock that would rouse the dead? She is not going to get value for money from her tuition fees otherwise.

OP posts:

FlySwimmer · 16/09/2022 09:28

Another vote here for the sunrise alarm clocks. In my experience they work, and are a bit more gentle than other alarms. This thread has reminded me I need to replace the sunrise alarm I had that broke, before the new uni term starts (though in my case, I’m the lecturer )

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 16/09/2022 09:38

Years ago I bought DB a alarm clock with a helicopter bit that took off when it went off (v loud), and you had to find it and put it back on to turn it off.

Worked wonderfully till the time he stayed out overnight and DF trashed his room trying to find it! 😂

It was like this one amzn.eu/1HtnlR4

KatherineofGaunt · 16/09/2022 09:46

I have a severe hearing loss so can't hear a phone alarm. I have a vibrating one with a pad that goes under the pillow. That is a real, deep kind of vibration and definitely wakes me!

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AquaticSewingMachine · 16/09/2022 09:49

I think key to this is why she isn't hearing it. Does she go to bed late/generally have poor sleep hygiene? Has she always been a very heavy sleeper? Or is it just easier to stay in bed until rousted out by Mum? The best solution will depend which it is.

An ex-flatmate had a clock that ejected puzzle pieces when it went off and the only way to shut it up was to reassemble the puzzle. But that was a way of preventing snoozing/not getting out of bed rather than a solution to not hearing it. But I would echo PPs' point that part of moving out for uni also has to mean taking responsibility for your own issues, and their solutions. What's she doing to address this?

LarchDragon · 16/09/2022 09:53

Does light really wake people up? I find it very easy to sleep in daylight and through loud noises. Honestly, I think I could fall asleep anywhere at any time if I just rested my head the correct way. My family used to joke that a hurricane could pass through the town and I'd still be sleeping.

DD seems to be the same. It took her a while to wake up naturally even when all the communal and our flat fire alarms were set off accidently (elbow through glass in small corridor... I did check what had happened, there was no fire). At the time we were living in a bedsit, so the fire alarm was right next to the bed!

RampantIvy · 16/09/2022 09:56

Nocaloriesinchocolate · 16/09/2022 08:47

Whichever alarm clock she gets she should put it out of reach of the bed so she has to get up to switch it off

This ^^ is the best option. An old fashioned double bell alarm clock that she has to get up to switch off.

DD often sleeps through alarms, but she has CFS and often has poor quality sleep.

SequinsandStilettos · 16/09/2022 09:58

Anyone got a link for a proper wind up bell read old fashioned clock please?
The real thing as opposed to a facsimile that looks like one, but IS in fact battery?! Cheers x

maranella · 16/09/2022 10:01

I agree with the suggestions for a vibrating pad that she puts under her pillow. If she has an old fashioned alarm clock with a bell her flat mates will hate her if they are light sleepers, because they're so loud that they'll wake up the whole house before they wake her!

Garbytea · 16/09/2022 10:04

Alarmy the app, its ridiculously loud and doesn't stop until you've completed challenges you set. This morning I had to shake my phone a 100 times, other times I have it so I have to scan a Barcode of something in the bathroom like toothpaste etc.

piegone · 16/09/2022 10:08

Are you sure that alarm clocks don't wake her because she knows that you'll always do it?

This could be the case. Both of mine seemed to need me to wake them up but as soon as DD started working early shifts she knew she had to wake, as I was still in bed and as if by magic she suddenly heard her alarm at 4:30am. DS was the same, slept through several alarms when in school but as soon as he started uni it was like a switch had been clicked. He lives at home but I have never had to wake him in 2 years. It's almost as if the responsibility isn't really theirs because mum is around, as soon as it's important to them, they manage.

Rapidtango · 16/09/2022 10:11

Old fashioned clock with bells inside a biscuit tin (don't put the lid on the tin!)

CoffeeWithCheese · 16/09/2022 10:14

www.meetcarrot.com/alarm/ if she has an iPhone might be worth a look - requires you to actually complete a task to PROVE you've woken up (and Carrot is funny - I have the weather app)

MrsSkylerWhite · 16/09/2022 10:16

TheOrigRights · Today 08:51
I didn't have anyone making sure I was up, so I put my alarm clock on the other side of the room.

I think your young adult child needs to take responsibility for getting herself to lectures.“

this. Unless there’s a medical issue, why can’t she get out of bed? A couple of missed lectures will probably do the trick.

Fuuuuuckit · 16/09/2022 10:23

I suspect it is learned behaviour. My teen was the same with school, I woke him every day after his alarms woke me.

Turns out that when he wants to get up at 4am to go on holiday he can get up all by himself, and when he got a bollocking at work for being late he started to get up at his first alarm.

Find out how much of her course can be missed before getting chucked out. A harsh email from uni threatening being thrown out might be just what she needs...

Original poster

MotherofMigraines · 16/09/2022 10:39

Thanks for the comments - agreed it is her responsibility to get herself to lectures, just want to make sure she can't have the excuse of sleeping through her alarm (again). Probably her sleep habits aren't great - she's a teenager with a busy social life and an evening job in a pub so she has been living on a different body clock to the rest of the household. We've spoken about good habits and she knows it's up to her now. Some great ideas for alarm clocks /apps and I will suggest she puts it across the room so she has to get up.

OP posts:

sponsabillaries · 16/09/2022 10:47

I have an alarm set on my Fitbit which vibrates to wake me. It has a 'smart wake' setting which will supposedly detect if I'm in lighter sleep in the half hour before the alarm time and wake me up then. I can't be sure of the science but I do find it to be a gentler way to wake up than a phone alarm.

LunaLoveFood · 16/09/2022 10:53

Alexa turns my light on in the morning which wakes me up.

petrabrugel · 16/09/2022 10:55

This was my sister at school. My parents told her off for being lazy and for being tired in the afternoon. They never bothered taking her to the doctor. She was eventually diagnosed with narcolepsy but too late - she had already failed her degree. I don't want to catastrophise but it may be worth checking her overall health - iron levels etc. before term starts. For DSis, a daylight alarm that comes on gradually seems to work for her.

Smogtopia · 16/09/2022 11:00

She doesn't wake up because she knows you're there to save her. If you said to her there's £1000 on the breakfast table provided you wake yourself up at 8am and come and get it she would. Unless she's chronically ill or massively sleep deprived on a very short term basis she won't sleep through an alarm clock every single day

red4321 · 16/09/2022 11:34

Not the light/sunrise ones! My teenager is always sleeping soundly while illuminated in a golden glow. That's £80 poorly spent.

I'd probably go for something obnoxiously loud on a table not reachable from the bed so you have to get up to switch it off. I share your pain (and my husband is the worst offender of all).

Mumof3girlsandaboy · 16/09/2022 12:00

MotherofMigraines · 16/09/2022 07:08

Oh my gosh OP this is exactly my daughter and im also worried about her when she goes to uni in January. She has 2 alarms her phone and Alexa but still I have to call her to woke up when I had enough of the noise from the alarms. Thanks for posting

petalpower · 17/09/2022 15:15

Bought one from Amazon for my daughter similar to the one StnNurse mentioned. She has always struggled with sleep and will sleep soundly next to the loudest alarm you can imagine going off even when it’s really important that she gets up. She’s now going into her third year at uni and this alarm has finally done the trick. I completely sympathise with you and your daughter!

Original poster

MotherofMigraines · 09/10/2022 20:25

Update - if anyone is in the same boat we bought one of the bed shaker alarms off Amazon with a vibrating pad and it's doing the job! Thanks to everyone for the suggestions

OP posts:

ColinRobinsonsfamiliar · 09/10/2022 20:30

What worked for my Dawn of the dead teenage son…
Amazon alarm with a vibrating plate that goes under his pillow.

Like a charm!

JaJeanes · 22/11/2023 14:24

Hello! I just came across your message from 2022. I’m in the US, but after seeing you use the term “uni” I am wondering if you are from England. I met a wonderful exchange student recently that referred to college as “uni”. So, onto my question! How has your DD done with getting up for college? Did you find an alarm that could wake her without waking her entire dorm? My son leaves for college next Fall, and I so identified with your message. His alarm can wake me from across the house, and I find him dead to the world, sound asleep. I worry he will never make it to class next year. I know by 18 it isn’t our jobs to wake them, but he could sleep until noon without being woken up and even that is a true struggle. What has your/her experience been?

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