aibu to ask..if your child was an early riser when did they grow put of it? because my son is driving me bloody mental!!!

[LalaLeona]

13 month old getting up at 4.20 every day..nothing but nothing gets him back to sleep! If your kid was like this..what age did they start sleeping longer?

DS is nearly 10 and he's still up with the birds!

My oldest was like this, when he was a toddler we used to sleep in shifts - I would get up 4.30am, stay with him until 6, DH would get up, I would go back to bed until DH left for work at 7.30. Awful times. We tried everything to get him to sleep longer - more naps, fewer naps, bed earlier, bed later, blackout blinds, cold room, warm room, different room - nothing worked.

He remained an early waking child as he got older but by the time he was about 3 he was able to stay in his room and play instead of screaming for attention. He was quite happy with that. When he was able to recognise numbers, he knew not to expect attention before 7am. He would potter around, watch telly or play with Lego. I never, never, ever had to wake him for school.

In the last year though he's hit teenage years and it's all changed, regularly has to be woken at 7.45 to get to school.

So it might take a while to change, but as the child gets older you won't always have to get up and sit there with him, bleary-eyed.

DS1 has always been an early riser. He is 41! We used to think 5.30 was a lie in. When he was 13 he got a paper round, which was perfect for him. Unfortunately paper rounds might have disappeared by the time your child is 13 op.

Guess I will have to try and be all zen about it and go with the flow..

Don't run yourself into the ground though OP. I tried this with DS1. And thought i was ok but years of reading books etc at 5am took its toll. (And generally sacrificing myself in other ways)

Putting DS2 in from the of telly or tablet at 5am is not good but just about helps save my sanity. You might find your own compromising solution.

there's no rhyme or reason for it

Of course there is!!! They're going to bed too early. You can't have both - the evenings for you and a lie in.

And those of you who'll say that you tried putting them to bed later and it didn't work. Well it doesn't work for a week or 2 or 3 but eventually it does. It's whatever works for your family but don't complain about it! Sadly children don't all sleep for 15h....

You have my sympathies - not fun is it! DS was about 4 & a half DS was old enough to know that he was to stay in his room looking at books/playing with toys until 7am. He has a digital clock and also knew it was perfectly fine to leave the room to go to the toilet or get a banana if he was hungry. It took sticker charts and bribery but it did stick. He's now 7 and wakes at varying times but never wakes us before 7 and often sleeps past this. We actually have to wake him up for school on occasions!

My almost 7 yo was awake for three day at 3 am yesterday. As a baby he he was up at 4 every morning until 5ish. My older DS started sleeping later once he started school now I have to physically drag him out of bed!

We were frequently up with dd at 4.30. We took it in turns which makes it bearable.
When she was about 4 I started to leave the I pad and a snack which made life more bearable.
She's 6 now and still wakes around 7 but at weekends we just sit in bed on our pads.

They're going to bed too early. You can't have both - the evenings for you and a lie in.

Spoken like a true parent who hasn't been through the trying everything routine. Honestly, we did try keeping our first up later for a prolonged period - he still woke like magic every morning at 4.30am and was a ratbag because he was tired. We had a hellish family holiday once when he was about 2 because we totally messed with his naps and routine and he was horrid throughout. It gets to the point you have to consider what is the lesser evil - the early morning starts, or a horrid toddler all day (and at that point I had a newborn to look after too).

Every child is so different. My second baby was a totally different sleeper - slept 7 hours straight on her first night home from the hospital and I was up poking her to make sure she was breathing. Midwife making noises about waking her in the middle of the night to feed and I thought she was crazy - when you've got a baby sleeping 11pm to 6am you don't mess with that. As she got older she didn't change - much prefers to lie in her bed and snooze whereas her older brother stirs and is instantly awake, won't get back to bed for anything.

Children are wired differently and not all can be forced into waking after 7am, however hard you try.

Never. Early risers stay early. I was up at 5 every day well into adulthood. The only thing that helps is not eating much in the evening for me.

Eldest DD is another one. It's better when they can deal with themselves. I put all breakfast stuff in easy reach from about 2 and let her do various stuff. She still woke me up most days. That stopped really late though, like 8 or 9, despite being a voracious reader she wanted someone else to be awake.

We both like siestas though.

DD1 was a wonderful sleeper.
DD2 however used to be up at 5.34am on the dot ready for a very exciting day, and that's with night wakings on-top.
She changed her wakings when she started school, and started sleeping 9pm to 7.30am. She even has a lie in at weekends now.

i was an early riser, DCs dad was not.. oldest dd likes her sleep... baby ds seems to be taking after me! oh no :(

Both of mine were early risers. I'd say they managed to sleep until 6 once they got to 3 (but that means we had 6 years of 4am starts!). They also both stopped napping at 18 months we got a groclock for dc2 and it worked wonders - I honestly could have kissed the person who invented it

You have my sympathy but it gets better now they are 12 and 9 and sleep very late

Ds1 (11) is still up by 6am most mornings . But since age 8 he's been expected to read quietly in bed til 7am.

DS is nearly 15 - still up every morning around 6.30am. An improvement from his toddler days of 5am and at least I dont have to get up with him now! DD, 12, can sleep til lunch though!

My 5yo is an early riser. Better now, but he still tends to naturally wake between 5-6am everyday. Gro clock didn't make a difference, but now he's 5, I am able to use it as a compromise. If he wakes up and his sunshine isn't up, he needs to try and go back to sleep, without calling me!! If there is only 1 star left, and he can't fall back asleep, he can get up and play/read quietly in his room until his sunshine is up. He is not to call for me until his sunshine is up, unless there's an emergency that seems to work quite well, and I get to doze until 7ish on the weekends - glorious lie-in for this household!! I agree with others that is your friend xxx

DS is 10 and he still gets up before me, I'm usually up by 5.30-6am and he is always downstairs eating his breakfast, watching cartoons or getting ready for school.

If mine wakes up at that time, I give him a bottle of warm milk and leave him. He eventually goes back to sleep for a few more hours.

Give him a bottle and they go off? I should be so lucky! He'd laugh at me if I tried that. All different I guess

Is there something in your house making a noise around that time to wake LO up at the same time every morning? The hot water coming on? Our pipes bang horrendously when the heating is on. We use a white noise toy to cover up the noise.

I think it's the sa2

...sorry dawn chorus!

Gradually better but at 5 , her 2 year old sister still sleeps later. Its reliably 6am now but she nearly killed me between birth and 2 with 4am waking. Putting her to bed later made no difference. I drank so much coffee.