To have a moan about early rising

[OneFootIn1999]

Dd is five. She has slept until 7am maybe twice in her life. 6.30am is considered amazing. 6am is standard and some days (partic now it is lighter in the mornings and the birds are singing) it is 5.45ish. Like today. She will sing (loudly) to herself for a while, read in bed for a few minutes- but then she is bounding in to us. Adorable, yes, but too damn early.

I do realise that on the spectrum of 'issues' this is nothing, really. And that she could be waking even earlier (believe me, in her younger years we knew the 'joy' of 4.30am).

It's just the way she is. She's an early bird. No Gro Clock or blackout blind or later bedtime (she goes to bed at 7pm) has succeeded in pushing her wake-up time back. We gave up trying ages ago.

But I am tired.

Tired of having to go to bed at 10pm and panicking if I do have a late night or a few drinks that the morning will be hell.
Tired of looking forward to getting back into bed the moment I get woken up in the morning.
Tired of the unspoken game of 'which one of us gets a lie-in today' (which I lost today)
Tired of feeling grumpy for a good hour while she is chipper and ready to rock the day.
Tired of trying to keep her quiet so she doesn't wake up her little brother (which she invariably does)
Tired of feeling jealous when friends talk of their kids' regular 7am wake ups, having to rouse them kids for school, and getting to sleep til 8am on weekends.
Tired of feeling a bit bloody knackered all the time.

Am not a morning person.

yanbu. 8yo DS wandered across the landing at 6:30 this morning.

he's been told he's getting a paper round when he's 13 .

and blackout blinds, routines, group lock and cosy bedroom never worked here either.

My two ( 1 and 3) have been awake since 5.30. In with us from 6( thank your gro clock) and downstairs from 6.30.

I feel your pain.

At 5, is she old enough to come downstairs and put the tv on/play by herself for an hour? Could you leave a drink accessible and just make sure everything is safe before you go to bed?

My kids are younger so I relate to being tired - whoever gets up first with the kids often goes back to bed for an hour when the other one gets up in our house.

I suggested today that she might be grown up enough to go downstairs to play when she wakes, on her own.
'But who will tie my dressing gown?'. Bless her. But still! Why so early??

X post jellydinosaurs. Yes I think that is the way forward...

My 6 year ok'd got me up at 5.15am. I've also had enough.

My 3 year old gets up at 6, sometimes earlier. Gro clock no longer does it's job, neither does the black out blind. If I'm tired I get told 'but it's daytime Mummy'.

I feel your pain.

I know that pain, DS 3.3 has only recently started sleeping to, and occasionally past, 6. The only thing I would say, which helps us, is don't have an unspoken 'who gets up first', plan it out in advance.
We do alternate days, and agree which morning of the weekend we get a lie in. Also, if one of you us out late, you get a lie in. Knowing when you'll lie in means you can stay up later some nights (and have a ) and you're more prepared for the early ones. It also means you're not resentful when you 'lose'!

Sympathies though, it is one of the crappier bits of parenting that doesn't get any of the publicity baby sleep does!

why not use orange juice cartons and leave one in the fridge. Make sure she can unwrap the little straw and jab it in the hole first, you don't want to be woken up with that!

lock all tv channels except cbeebies and cbbc.

I can sympathise. Dd is nearly 3 and usually gets up at half 6. That I can jus about cope with.

Every day this week she has been awake and singing, playing, talking in her cot from 5.30. She's so loud I can't go back to sleep. That lasts an hour then she starts crying I get out.

Then she has a tantrum over something as she's tired.

It's crap. I have no advise just [tea] and sympathy!

I really feel for you OP. YANBU. I'm lucky I'm a morning person unlike DP as 5.30-6am is normal for us. But, my 4 & 6 year olds are in bed by 7.15pm at the latest. Without question. I like my evenings and the early mornings mean less chaos before school.

that was supposed to be!

it's good to know I am not alone! I'm told that I will miss this one day, when we can't get them out of bed...

2yo DD wakes at 5.30am most mornings. She dropped her nap about 2 weeks ago and slept until 7.00am for three mornings on the bounce, lulling us into a false sense of security that this was the magic solution.

On the fourth morning it was 5.30am again

I feel all of your pain.

Ear plugs and eye masks work well.

Take turn about.

My girls are already awake. The elder one (6) is an absolute pest, she needs NO SLEEP WHATSOEVER!!!! And regularly wakes at about 5:55 on the dot.

(sorry that's a bit shouty but omg I'm knackered from her early rising!)

She flicks lights.
She puts one light on after the other, thunders across the landing to the bathroom, has a wee, thunders back, leaves all the lights on, it's like blackpool fucking front, then wakes up her sister. Now they're listening to the radio. It's not quiet. They have probably woken DS.

Doesn't seem to matter how late a night she has, it's always the same.

Eatdessertfirst, yes we are very lucky that both children are out like a light at 7pm. I too value my evenings more than mornings. So in that sense, can't complain (but still will )

YANBU. Tis daily wakings at 5 here too, and I am definitely not a morning person. My IL's complain on fb if their DC (a baby and toddler) are awake at 7, their DC usually wake at 9. For me 7 would be amazing!

On the upside it's only just gone 7.30 and I've already got washing on, put washing in dryer, picked up rubbish, fed kids, and done some exercises. So there are some benefits.

It is tough.

But without sounding like a martyr, it is part and parcel of parenthood and having young kids.

There are some strategies you can try but on the whole it's a 'suck it up' kinda thing.

My three are all teenagers now.

The early morning stage - in hindsight - isn't a long time you know.

Before you know it you will be twiddling your thumbs, Mumsnetting and and drinking 8 cups of coffee before they wake up like I am now!!

Ds stayed at granny's house Thursday night. Woke at 7.15am. I got here last night and we both stayed over. He woke up at 5.55am because he knows I'm here. If I'm not there he generally wakes later.

Iv got a 2yo and a 7mo, our normal wake up time is 4.45/5am.. But i like my evenings, they both go to bed dead on 7 and I'd rather have my evening than a morning!
Me and dp play tiredness lotto- whoever is most tired stays in bed.. I lost this morning :(

I'm thinking of trying wake to sleep soon, anyone tried it?

YANBU

DS is 3.5 and he has never slept well.

Last night it was nearly 10pm before he finally stopped yelling and needing things and went to sleep, but yet again it was 6am when he woke. There is no respite or down time :(

And yes, he has a gro clock and black out blinds and they make not a jot of difference.

I even tried to give him the Ipad to play with in bed to no avail this morning (I am a bad, slightly desparate mummy)

I'm the early riser here but 3yo dd comes in our bed 6 nights out of 7 without fail so I wake up at 1-2am to panting next to me and "mummy can I come in" which then leads to me going to the loo because my pregnant self can't hold it until I get up. Then I wake up myself between 5:30-6:30am and get up which then leads to dd getting up. Ahhh whatever isn't black coffee great!

Crikey you lot type quickly, or is it me who types slowly? I've x-posted with everyone!
Definitely decide your lure ins in advance. DH and I used to play lie in chicken, both desperate for that bit more sleep but knowing one of us me would have to get up with the children. We now decide in advance who gets what day to sleep in, today is DH's turn.

And yy to evenings over mornings!