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?

Dd did this at a similar age to yours, OP. 4.30am wake up every morning nearly broke me. We got her a gro cli5ck and sticker chart, worked a treat. Stay in bed til the sun comes up = chocolate button and sticker. 2nd child had a gro clock from 1 year old too. Age 6 and 3 they still have the clocks and we have always returned them to their rooms firmly but calmly if they try to come out before the sun comes up. When I put them to bed I still say 'wait for the sun' it's just a habit now. The sun gets up at 7.15am every day including weekends and they get my full attention when the sun us up. I get up before them and shower, have a cup if tea so I'm in a reasonable mood when they get up. Gro clocks saved my sanity and marriage probably!

When they're in a cot, they don't get up until 6.30 ever. No words or eye contact.

After the cot, they have to learn somehow, whether it's a gro clock or whatever. Say no to the little dictator!

I think for little ones it's more nap related than bedtime related. Rewarding an early waking with a 7am nap is a disaster as is cutting all naps too soon which results in overtiredness and early waking too. A nice 2 hour nap after lunch is needed for ages. And parents can say no!

Toddler is 2.4 years and wakes every day from between 5-6am. Anything past this is a bonus!! Went through long stage of 4am starts. It was awful.

Ds is the early riser in the household and he did lots of 5 somethings when he was little.
However Since he was able to grasp the concept of time, he has been taught that even if he is awake the the rest of the family don't want to be so he reads, plays games or lego, whatever he can find to do in his room.
We have always had a agreed get up time and he still checks even though he is 9.
It seems to me that it's part of manners and consideration for the rest of your family that you don't wake everyone else up just because you are awake.
I should add that the weekend agreed times tend to be 8 or 830 so not so late.

Usual bedtimes here are 7 for 3yo, 7:30 for 7yo and 8 for 9yo.

Last night we were away and 3yo was asleep a little after 9:00 and the other two about 10:00. Ds1 woke up at 11:00 to tell me he was sweaty. Dd woke up at 2 and ds1 at 3. Ds2 was up for the day at 5:50am. Putting them to bed later doesn't make them sleep any later. We have a gro clock at home which makes them stay in their room but we can still hear them. It's a nightmare. Literally!

4.20 is surely not an early riser but the middle of the night? I thought you were going to say 6 am or something.

Can't you just keep putting them back to bed til they drop off? If in a cot just put them down as if it was bedtime?

That would kill me.

Last night unusually ds (3) was awake for an hour in the middle of the night - 4 ish. It wouldn't have occurred to me to actually get up, even though he was asking to.

Can't you just keep putting them back to bed til they drop off?

Some children have wonky body clocks. You could no more put them back to bed from a 4.30 waking than you could persuade my 8yo to go back to bed/sleep if he woke at 8 am. My middle child had a regular 5 am poo for over a year, and could never go back to sleep afterwards.

It's devastating to those of us on normal cycles!

DS2 is 8 and he wakes at 5.15am every morning no matter when he goes to bed and pretty much always has done.

When it became apparent this was his routine (he just doesn't seem to need anymore sleep) it became more about teaching him not to wake the whole house in the morning than trying to change his sleep.

Just before age 3 I put a post it note on the bedside digital click covering the minutes so that only the hour showed. I wrote a 7 on the post it note and said they could shout and wake me up when they matched. Before that they had to play in their safe room.

Just before age 3 I put a post it note on the bedside digital click covering the minutes so that only the hour showed. I wrote a 7 on the post it note and said they could shout and wake me up when they matched. Before that they had to play in their safe room.

That's a great idea. We had a type of groclock.

Then we put a TV/DVD in his room on a timer plug (no aerial in tv so we had total control of what he watched). If the tv would switch on he was allowed to watch it, but if it didn't he had to play in bed with the toy that I put in his room on my way to bed at night (kept it interesting as he didn't know what I'd choose and he mostly played without the tv, but it helped). That kept him happy in his room until DH was up at 6.

MrsH I'm sure you're right and stand corrected, but bloody hell. I take my hat off to all of your who start your days before 5.

My 5-year-old used to sleep until 7am, but he's usually up by 6am and often earlier. He goes to bed between 7 and 8, sometimes later at the weekends, and it doesn't make a difference to him being up with the lark.

I blame it on my husband's genes; his entire family are disgustingly early risers, and cheerful with it.

Around age 2.5 years. She used to wake up EVERY couple of hours ALL night long. She sleeps in with us now and sleeps like a log until 7.30/8am, even 8.30 at weekends

My son was an early riser.

He's not now.

He's 20.

We had a lie in this morning. 6:40am!

This is not encouraging.

Had same problem with our almost 3yr old, always wanted to get up between 4:30-5:30am I feel your pain!
I second the gro clock and stickers. We initially set it at her average wake up time and then once she got the grasp of it moved it back. It took a lot of persistance but she now stays in bed till 7:30 everyday-amazing!
The book that came with the clock was really good and I've found talking to her what fun things we are doing then next day and that if we don't get enough sleep then we will be too tired so won't be able to do those things. Even on days when she was at nursery and I was at work I would say mummy has to go to work so needs lots of energy to help people and you need lots of energy to play and have fun at nursery. She really seemed to respond to that well. And stickers!!
Good luck OP!

oh god....

DS is 4 months, currently waking every hour of the night and gets up for the day at 4am.

I am on my knees already...

Yes a grow clock may be your answer. We used it on my son from when he was about 2yrs. He is 3.5 yrs now. He often does wake early but knows he has to stay in his room until the sun comes up on his clock. He has books and things he keeps himself happy with. We explained to him that if he wakes us before the sun rises on his clock mummy & daddy will be grumpy due to being very tired. He soon understood the concept.

We have always used an 'easy fit' black out blind at their windows from birth (not even a chink of light can get in as it's velcroed to the frame) and a gro clock from 2. Children at 4 and 8 now who don't appear before 7. I just adjust their bedtimes to how much sleep each of them needs. But if we didn't have a blackout like this they'd be up at 5 I'm sure with the first light! And that becomes a habit!

I still get up about 5.30, 6am is a sleep in. I'm 50.

Not all kids get up early, thank god mine were never early risers. Mine are 4.5 and get up between 7am-8am. Around age 2 they often slept until 9am on weekends. It may just be a short phase.

Dd2 didn't have a single unbroken nights sleep until she was 4. That first morning I woke with a start and felt guilty for some reason.

hate to say this by DS2 is now a dad and he still gets up at the crack of dawn - as did I until a few weeks ago ( but that's down to medication)