To think that 2 extra hours of sleep changes EVERYTHING

[TheSheepofWallSt]

DS has been waking up at 4.30-5.30am for over a month. Every. Day. (except Christmas Day. That was 4am 😬)
He’s 3 and is clearly going through some sort of developmental leap- hes generally quite tricky at the moment (we cosleep and now isn’t the time to end that. He’s too emotional already.) The early mornings have been killing me- particularly as work is really hectic at this time of year, so I’ve been averaging 5 hours a night for weeks... I can manage but it’s not pretty.

Until this morning.

SEVEN AM. He woke up at SEVEN.
2 hours difference and oh my god. I’m not crabby. My eyes aren’t bloodshot. I can construct a coherent sentence. I think I might go to work without needing a caffeine IV....

Late for work now but TBH I’m the most senior person after the CEO, so a) not worried about a bollocking and b) my junior colleagues have been very about how bloodshot my eyes are and will be glad to see the whites of my eyes...

I dream of a lie in until 7. I have an early riser too (4yo) he gets up between 4.30 and 5.30 every day. Today he got up at 6 which would have been great except I'm not well so needed more 😂

I was thinking the same thing yesterday OP! My youngest used to get up at the same time )and a couple of times in the night), he now gets up around 7.30 and I feel AMAZING!!!! I'm still tired but not "that" tired. My eyes aren't permanently sore, I'm not eating as much crap to get me through the afternoons and I can actually stay up on an evening watching telly.

I agree; even an hour makes a massive difference for me. Yesterday DD was up at 5 and by the time I got into work I was already tired but today after a 6am wake up I feel pretty good

YANBU, but are you a single parent? If not you should only be doing half these wake ups.

I'll be honest, I don't normally have less than 7 hours, but I had an early start yesterday and woke at 5am. I was a wreck all day.

@Mossyfern

I am. Believe me, there’s no way on earth I’d be doing them all (or possibly any.... DS’ dad was also a v early riser- suspect this is bloody genetic) if I wasn’t

Yanbu.

Even half an hour extra makes a difference.

I remember when ds used to rise at 5am wanting to bounce around like a feral helion, and the perpetual zombie like fug I had been in since he was born.

Then one day he slept in till 6 and I was a new woman!

He tends to wake naturally at around 7am now which works out really nicely for school and work, and I even have the energy to regularly blow dry my hair, put makeup on, take proper care of my skin and have breakfast most days.

His super early rising is part of the myriad reasons why at 6 he is still (and likely to remain) an only child. The sleep deprivation nearly finished me off and aged me about five years in two. I look younger now he's six than I did when he was three because I'm not constantly exhausted.

This gives me hope .. as you can tell from my username i'm no stranger to 5am ! DD (2) has woken up at 5am on the dot for most of her life and the occasional 6/7am wake up makes me feel amazing if only for a day

Sleep does change everything. I remember thinking exactly that after Dts went through a particularly shitty sleeping spell. It's so much easier to deal with a shitty day when you've had a decent sleep.

This gives me hope! My nearly 3 yo has been frequently waking at night for 3 weeks now

Ours wakes at 5am too. Whisk him in bed for a cuddle and pray he falls asleep or at the very least is silent for 30 minutes.

First one we wouldn't have wanted to set bad habits. Now it's survival.

DS was an early riser, but is now much more reasonable. As soon as he was old enough, we bought him a clock with instructions not to get up until it was at least 6. The first day, he came bounding in to tell us that the clock was broken; it was still only showing 4.30. It was not broken.

Oh hurray for you! You're SO right, an extra hour even makes a massive difference. An extra two is amazing, long may it continue and improve!

Sleep deprivation is the WORST. Luckily for us DS is now old enough to get up and sort his breakfast out - usually brioche - and watch telly until we get up (at the weekend). I don't know where his energy comes from sometimes
Weekdays however and his dad usually has to rouse him - I am already at work.
Cheering for you OP - long may it last

Wow, my 3 year old seems to be going through a 4.30am wakeup phase at the moment too. On the odd occasions he stays asleep longer its heaven, I envy parents with late sleeping children.

And yes... we've tried putting him in hed later, we went to 10pm every night for 2 weeks over christmas and all we got was a very miserable child who still woke up at 4.30am then spent the day miserable and was begging us to go to bed all day.

It is great , isn't it? My first DC was textbook 7pm - 7am sleeping. Next , DD was a 5am start. Nearly killed me , went around in a fog. People were worried I had PND , but I just knew that I was just exhausted ! DD is now 23 and I still throw it up at her ( lighthearted ).
I hope this continues as his new wakeup time.

Another 3-year-old here and he's been getting up at 5am for weeks. I don't like it. Where do I get one of these kids who get up at 7.30?

My 2 year old slept until 8am on sunday morning, after 2 solid years of early wake ups. The difference I felt was amazing. Sadly it didn't last, he was bouncing off the walls at 6 this morning again! Roll on the teenage years!

It's amazing, ds didn't sleep the night until he was 3.5, he's 6 now and I honestly don't know how I did it, working two jobs, effectively a single mother as well.

Co-slept without it being my plan just to get any bit of shut eye at all.

Congrats, hope he continues to sleep on

yep.it really does make a difference.there is all sorts of science out there behind the importance of sleep now too isnt there.
i recognise it now in others more too.my dad and mum i can really tell when they havent had enough sleep.
my family are all really late sleepers.my siblings are midday wakers.i cannot wait til they have kids!

I've been up most of last night with my DD. I would lick your dirty finger nails for 2 hours sleep!

Ispy Right there with you ✋ I have a 9-week-old who will only sleep on my chest, or, if he does lie down in my or his bed, thrashes about so loudly trying to fart and gagging on his reflux that I can't sleep anyway. I got 1h 40mins last night and want to cry thus morning. But this thread gives me hope that maybe in a few YEARS 😭😭 it gets better!

Have you tried putting him to bed later? My dh and I struggle to get our kids to bed at a sensible time. They are 6, 4 and 2, and usually sleep at about 8.30pm. It's a pain, and feels like everyone else starts their evening at 7pm.
But on the flipside, they wake at 7 -7.30am.

I don’t like this thread. It’s frightening me. I’ve been clinging on to the hope that it won’t be much longer before my now 14 month old finally manages some decent sleep but you lot have scared the bejesus out of me!

Is he just 3 or almost 4? I don't remember when we started, but my 4-year old would just go downstairs, help herself to breakfast and watch cartoons, if she would happen to wake up too early.