to get DD (2) up at 4.30am five mornings a week?

[PuffofSmoke]

It's either that or give up work :(

Have been doing it for 4 months now and she doesn't seem to suffer from it. Every bloody day someone (my mum, mil, sil, friends, work colleagues etc) comments about how cruel it is. :(

Another one in support of the OP.

So long as your daughter is getting enough sleep then I really think that there is no harm to this at all.

As she gets older you might find it harder, but like you say, hopefully things will have changed for you in terms of work by then.

It is really very unhelpful for your mum to go on about 'cruelty' but my mother accuses me of cruelty when I give my DCs weetabix without sugar :) Unless she is offering you alternative employment then she really needs to shush.

A student maybe who doesn't mind mornings

It might be 4:30am here but it's 7:30am somewhere else in the world, she just has a slightly different time zone at the moment. If she goes down at 6pm and up at 4:30am then she is actually having the same sleep as a lot of children her age who do 7pm to 5:30am (just look at the sleep boards!!) .
I think you and her are doing fine.

It does seem a bit , well mean, to wake a child at 4.30am
It's one thing if they wake up at that time themselves but another to wake them up
I have to drag my dd out of bed at 7.30 to get ready for school &'i feel bad enough about that!
I'd also be worried about ruining her natural sleeping habits

She won't want to go to bed at 6pm forever either!

Are you both posties?!!

Lifechanger - but at 2 years old isn't it best to fund your own pattern
God we spend practically our whole lives getting up early for work
Preschoolers are the only ones , for four short years, who don't need to get up in the dark in the winter

My son used to get up at 4.30am every morning until he started school. That was HIS choosing, not mine!
I don't think you're doing anything wrong. She's getting to bed early and getting a nap with her Dad, so I see no problem at all.
Good luck to you with your open university course op!

"Gumby, you're making that up; natural sleep habits indeed. No such thing, we are an adaptable species."

Actually there is quite a lot of research done on the bodies circadian rhythm, and is one reason that surgery isn't performed around the clock (unless an emergency). HOWEVER I am not sure it's a factor here.

YANBU I did this with my dd for about a year, we were up at 5 and out at 6.15.

She is 13 now and I am lucky if I see her before midday on a Saturday, so all normal there.

AIBU to wake my teenage son up at 6.45 every school morning, when he would happily sleep until noon?

OP YANBU.

I don't get why lots of you are saying your children naturally wake up at 4.30am
Thats fair enough but op's child is being woken up at 4.30am

Exactly Norks - plenty of time when they're older to drag them out of bed

If it were me I'd be looking into getting a nanny to come to the house so dd could stay in bed

YANBU OP. You gotta do what you gotta do.

What if a nanny is not an option financially?

It wasn't for me when dd was very little.

I think this'll be much easier for a toddler to tolerate than routine late nights, which many working parents end up having to inflict on their dc. Toddlers are generally natural larks, and find excitement / chums/activities easier to cope with early. It sound actually like very short hours of childcare - she's seeing loads of you and your dh.

Gumby I'm sure if op could afford a nanny, she would! I know I would! I'm shocked at your ignorance

Shocked at my ignorance?! A nanny is cheaper than a childminder although I accept the hours might be trickier to fill
I wasn't suggesting a live in nanny! Which obviously would cost more

"Preschoolers are the only ones , for four short years, who don't need to get up in the dark in the winter"

ROFL, my DD has never had this luxury because she has to get up so we can take her brothers to school and nursery and ROFL again at nannies being cheaper than childminders. Nannies ARE cheaper if you have several children, as CM charge per child and nannies are paid a wage, but I cannot imagine anyone finding a (qualified and experienced) nanny for one child for less than the cost of a CM.

OP, YANBU. Your DD is getting plenty of sleep, spending a really quite limited amount of time in childcare, and is getting from the sounds of it plenty of time with both you and your DH. On top of that, you have plans in place for the situation to be resolved by the time she starts school. Can't see a problem at all.

Laughing so hard at Gumby!!! I pay a cm £40 per day for an 8 hour day. I searched in vain for a nanny for that price - nowhere in sight! Hahahahahaaaaa!!! To a nanny being cheaper than a cm for one child!

Sorry but that is ignorance not to realise that. Even nursery (more expensive than cms where I am in Surrey) are FAR cheaper than a nanny! A nanny makes more than I do. Unaffordable