Really struggling with 5am starts; is it likely to get better?

[toobloodyearlyforthis]

I know children do wake up early but like a lot of things the actual reality of it is somehow different and it’s hitting me hard.

Is it likely to improve? I thought maybe with the dark mornings it would but if anything it’s getting worse - 455 today!

How old are you kids?

yes it does get better
it swings the other way in fact!

3 and 6, but I’m guessing I may have to wait many years? 😭

How old is your child? Baby? Toddler? Is this a new development or has the child always been an early riser?

What you can do about it depends on the child's age obviously.

One of mine was a hard wired early riser (adult now, and even as an older teenager didn't lie in past about 8am, whilst siblings slept until mid day) and one had phases, especially around toilet training, whilst another was a generally poor sleeper but not especially prone to getting up early - the combination of kids wasn't necessarily conducive to me getting enough sleep!

It gets better, if only because they become increasingly independent or old enough to follow rules... it really depends how old your child is now and whether the behaviour is new.

The short answer (for me at least) is that it does get better, but in the meantime you just need to power through and go to bed early yourself, it's the only way to get enough sleep. The plus side is that mine (17) still gets up relatively early (she's up now) so getting to school on time has never been an issue!

Thanks. I do go to bed early but one doesn’t even generally go to sleep until gone 9. I honestly don’t know how he does it.

It does get better, but then you are so used to being woken at 5am that you start waking up at that time naturally. Then your teenagers will ask, why do you always get up so early?!?!? Because of YOU🤣🤣🤣🤣

Three and six year olds are old enough for a marked clock (we put tape on the 6) and to understand that they're not allowed out of their room until that time except to the toilet. Especially if they share a room and get up together and your requirement is reasonable (6am not 8am).

You can buy special clocks for kids too - the gro-clock used to be one, but a kitchen clock on the wall marked with tape worked better for us as the little kids clocks sitting by the bed are too easy to tamper with.

Is it both of them? Or just the younger one? Does the 3yo nap?

Both of ours were very early risers and it killed me, especially in the winter but it’s better now. They tend to wake up at 6/6:30. They are almost 3 and 5. They go to bed late (about 8:30-9) which is not great but if I put them down earlier they get up earlier so I assume they are getting enough sleep

Yes. It does get better. And then we had a 3rd. Bad move.

a Groclock has been a game changer for our 3 year old. Took a week or so to bed in but now it’s clicked. Worth every penny but got mine off Vinted and was a bargain at a fiver! No reason why an older child couldn’t use one either. Or our eldest has a digital Spiderman one and knows to get out once it’s past 6am.

Would your 3yo stay in bed if you told them to? Not a chance mine would 😂 maybe I’m too soft on him

eta - to be fair he’s not quite 3 yet so maybe I’ll wait a few months and give this a try! You’ve inspired me

Yes!! Albeit this was a decade ago but a fro clock was amazing

plus black out blinds. Honestly my children’s room was akin to the black hole it was so dark

Could you get a gro-clock? Mine are 3 & 5 and know not to get out of their beds until the clock turns yellow (at 7am).

Tell then it is still night time and send them back to bed.

This!!

It does get better or it changes depending on your perspective. At Secondary school it was hard to get them out of bed.

But I now wake up at about 5.30 or 6.00am automatically.

This sums it up for me.

Op, my 2 year old woke up at midnight and didn’t go back to sleep until 3am because she was too busy partying 😫😫 literally death warmed up today

I treated it the same as a night time waking and took them back to their room. I didn't leave them to cry but like hell was I putting on TV or getting them breakfast. I also second some sort of gro clock.

My ds was like this up until age 7 ish.Now hes 12 and has to be woken for school and sleeps all morning at the weekend if we let him 🎊

I had years of this - obviously they don't immediately stay in bed reliably because you tell them to once, you have to work on it by patiently taking them back to bed and having them show you when they can get up. Also of course you have stuff in their room they can play with - my main early riser was allowed to put audio books on, which helped as she struggled with being lonely when she woke up.

I had a baby who was up more than average during the night and often had her longest sleep from about 4-7am so I really worked on the oldest staying in bed until 6am, otherwise I don't think I'd have survived!

@Wechsel the three year old has a Yoto with the sun but she doesn’t really abide by it. It tends to go something like

455 out she comes
500 back to bed with a drink crying because she’s scared, reassured her
510 back to bed myself
520 she comes out ‘I need a wee wee’
525 I go back to bed
535 ‘I hurt my leg’ reassure her and comfort her
545 go back to bed myself
555 ‘I’m scared it’s scary!’
<gives up as the sun comes on the Yoto at 6 anyway>

and her endless coming out disturbs the six year old who will go back to bed TBF but feels a bit mean to send him when the other one has already been up an hour.

No one naps (I would given the chance!)

When they were this sort of age mine used to come into my bed for a cuddle if they woke early. They'd often nod back off but even if they didnt I could usually snooze.
Once my littlest was a bit older I let them go downstairs and watch kids cartoons. The rule was ir had to be after 6. Like others we had a clock that showed the 6.

To be honest I don’t really mind waking at 5; that’s why I mistakenly thought that I’d be OK with little kids. Because I used to have to wake at 5 to get to work for six, and I was largely OK with it. But this is very different!

We had a magic star that the "fairies" put on (or a plug timer) that they couldnt get outbof bed before it came on. This worked at aged 2.5 plus. Have to bulld it up to being a really amazing cool thing and that thwy were really lucky to have. They could quietly stay in bed and read or draw.
At 3 and 6 they should be able to stay in bed.
We also had no screens in the mornings as thwy would wake up to go on them.
Miss 5am is still an earlyish waker at 17.

I totally agree. I’d often get up at 5 to be at the gym before work (pre kids) but I didn’t mind because I liked going to the gym snd I liked getting it done in the morning. Being ‘forced’ out of bed by children at 5am if awful, because then you’ve got to play with them (I really didn’t want to) or out the tv on (which didn’t make me feel great as a parent and also then I’m awake at 5am watching the gruffalo, which definitely made me hate my life).