iPad

[tiredddd]

Hi,
My daughter is nearly 2 and finally sleeps through..it took her til 19 months...but, she is now waking at 4.30/5 am and will not settle back down.

AIBU. To let her watch the iPad for an hour so that myself and DH can get an hours extra sleep?

She has a 2 hour nap in the day and goes to bed at 7.30/8..

Where would she be while she watched it?

Could you try a groclock? It worked for us really well at that age.

@Oysterbabe she would be in her cot.

It's worth a try. Wouldn't have worked for my 2 though, they'd have been shouting for me within 5 minutes.

I get that when you are exhausted you will consider anything to get an extra hour but it's a no from me

I’ve done that to get some sleep on the odd occasion through sheer desperation with DD in bed next to me . The downside is that if you do it too much they start asking expecting to do it and it reduces any motivation to go back to sleep

I've always been told sleep breeds sleep! Your little one seems to go to bed quite late! I have a two year old who goes to bed at 6pm and sleeps until 6:30 the next morning. Could she be overtired? What's her behaviour like during the day?
I would be early of giving her an iPad. That's my personal choice and probably comes from me having to deal with children who come to me having spent their lives on iPads. The two year old we have at the moment doesn't use an iPad ever! She is happy to play with toys in her cot until we get up - she usually wakes us so we go to her once dressed and toiletted. Is she in her own room? X

I have let DD do this on occasion, because after over two years of broken sleep and 4.30-5.30 starts, and insomnia triggered ironically by poor MH due to lack of sleep, I needed that little extra bit of sleep to function. Agree with others though, they do then come to expect it, DD would come trotting into my room asking for the iPad immediately so I only give the iPad to her occasionally now. I find letting her into bed with me without it I can sometimes cuddle her back to sleep for a bit - maybe worth a try? Adjusting bedtime makes no difference unless she goes to sleep at 9pm which means she gets up at 6am, and less evening time to relax for me so I've stick to a 7pm bed. Lack of sleep is soul destroying so I understand OP, you have my sympathies.

Mine would probably have eaten an iPad at that age

No i wouldn’t.

She’s probably waking up because it’s the summer and the light and (fucking) birds start at about 4am. It’s a gradual wake up and very difficult to get back to sleep.

I would try blocking out the noise with white noise and double black out blinds.

The chances are as summer passes, the early mornings will stop and you’ll be left with a child demanding iPad!

@Kyriesmum1 unfortunately it seems that if we put her earlier/later she still wakes at the same Time. She is active during the day both with me and the childminder on the 3 days I work, she goes to groups and Parks etc.

Gro clock seems a good idea, so I may go with that.

@Peachesandcream14 yes have tried the cuddling and she just starts chatting and getting more excited

Screens in bedrooms is a bad habit to start. She'll start to associate bed with iPad.

We have a gro clock but this is for our six year old as the two year old is still currently in a cot so doesn't come to our room! Gro clocks are good and encourages the child to stay and play/read in their bedroom until the sun comes out! Also the same company have gro blinds if you think it's possible that it could be the light waking LO?
I love my sleep and completely get where you are coming from! We have a 13 week old and I'm knackered when she wakes at 5 instead of 6, amazing how much difference an hour can make x

Good point above about the sunlight especially if it is a recent thing. The groblind makes our baby's room so much darker!

@Kyriesmum1 we have a gro blind but unfortunately it does let cover the whole window, so I think we are gonna have to get some fitted, I think that's prob why she's waking so early thinking about it

What about a CD player with gentle songs or stories on?

DS is much older, but I started that when he was 4 to help him settle after his story at bedtime. He's nearly 6 and if he wakes in the middle of the night for whatever reason I put his CD stories on now

we have a gro blind but unfortunately it does let cover the whole window

If you get an extra fro blind they've got Velcro on them so you can join them together.

No I wouldn’t. It’s a bit of a bad habit to start in the bedroom.

Can you come down and snooze on the sofa whilst she watches it downstairs? I have to do that with my two. Not ideal but it saves any battles about screens in the bed x

My youngest can sit and look at books for a while. Can you do that?

No because you're rewarding her for waking early. It'll just embed the behaviour rather than be a quick fix.

My early riser learnt that as long as she was quiet she could amuse herself in her room. If she woke me up I wouldn't let her do anything nice/fun until 'normal' wake up time (6am...I wasn't an ogre).

Now approaching her teenage years she cherishes early mornings to herself. I often find her curled up on the sofa when I get up at 7am on the weekend reading books.

2 hours is a long nap at this age. Try cutting it down but don’t expect results for at least a week

It’s likely the summer disturb waking due to light and noise or just a phase for the early waking, I would try not to use the iPad on a regular basis for this

@tiredddd have you got a local ikea? They do black out blinds that you can cut down to fit xx

@Kyriesmum1 yes we have! Thanks I'll have a look.

Thanks ladies xx