Is this my life forever now?!

[lancsgirl85]

So.. I think the answer to this is "yes, you will never lie in ever again" but just to check in case there's a glimmer of hope...

My 13 month old has started to sleep through the night probably 5 nights out of 7, so we are lucky in that respect. However, why, for the love of God, does she think 5.30am is an acceptable time to get up every single morning?!

Usually I get up and take her downstairs to play and breakfast etc, but this morning I just couldn't face it and brought into the playpen in my bedroom while I dozed on and off and she played. I felt guilty but I am exhausted with the early starts. I'd like just one day a week where I can lie in until 7.30/8am. Just one.

I mean, she gets up so offensively early, that her "mid morning" nap is now, at 9am! I'm typing this as she snoozes in my arms on the sofa.

Am I ever going to lie in til 7.30 ever again? Am I doomed? 😫

(Semi lightheaded but also please tell me there is hope of a lie in one day before I turn 40)

Another saying my teenagers have never laid in bed until noon. Not even when they have rolled in at 3am (adult son) still up by 11 and then back to bed for an afternoon nap.

Ds2 is 16 and up before 7am on a weekend. They just get old enough to see to themselves.

As we have always had early risers we just went to bed earlier so we had more sleep.

I laugh but we actually will have to forgoe a summer holiday to pay for those goddamn blinds 🤣

They all go through phases before they establish their normal sleeping/waking pattern. Mine recently went through a waking in the night phase but thankfully (touch wood) this has passed and she sleeps through until I need to get her up, either 7 week days or a little later weekends. Me and oh have a proper lay in each at the weekend.

I could have written this myself 3 years ago 😩

I prayed for better days but hey ho, she still gets up at 4:30/5am in the summer, 6:30/7am latest in the winter.

How I am still alive I will never know.

Every child is different though. My child is just naturally high energy. Your DC may very well settle down eventually. Try not to worry!

Start bed routine at 6 so in bed by 7pm latest every night.

Black out blinds! Essential in the summer especially.

Try not to go into her until a certain time. Mine is 6.30am - I don't go in before then. Occasionally I'll out the light on/chuck in a toy if she's really upset, but generally not. Sometimes they go back to sleep, magically....

If the first nap is too early, then it will simply reinforce the early wake. Try to push it back (or eliminate all together, gradually, if she's really for that - AS LONG AS you're bringing bedtime earlier to compensate)

Good luck!

This is surely exceptionally unusual though and hardly worth mentioning to an OP who is at the end of her rope. It might tip her over the edge entirely!

It soon changes ... my DDs wake me up at 5.30am coming in from a night out now

Which blinds?!?

I’ve tried so many blackout blinds in the past few years, none of them seem to make a difference.

he surely has days off though, do you not get a lie in then?

Only if I'm not at work myself. DP works long shifts including early starts, late finishes, nights (as he is doing this week), and every other weekend too. I work 4 set days a week. So the days I can lie in are the days DP and I are both off work. When these days coincide, we take it in turns to lie in. Therefore, I end up with around 2 (3 if I'm lucky) lie ins a month. And by lie in I mean 7.30/8am instead of 5.30/6am. Because, unless I'm ill, I won't allow myself to sleep past that time even if DP is "on duty" with DD. I don't know why. I just feel like I "should" be there to help him out.

Not sure I could just a lob a toy in my baby’s direction if they were ‘really upset’, but each to their own I guess. Surely it’s not exactly restful for you hearing them whinge and cry anyway?

Oh OP, my eldest did this too, accept it was 5am, sending you these 💐 and a shit tonne of this ☕☕☕
There was nothing I could do other than suck it up and start getting some early nights so it didn't feel so brutal dragging my backside out of bed early doors. It wasn't so bad in the summer though and weirdly I actually started enjoying it. I started doing Hal Elrod's Miracle Morning (apart from the meditation as that was impossible with a toddler). Am relieved to say it was just a phase though, his body clock shifted once winter came and his wake up time moved to 6-6.30am. He still gets up at this time now and he's eleven. I know it's tough but I have no doubt it will pass.

We have stupidly shaped windows so they were custom made 😭 and they give us an extra 7 minutes of sleep on a morning if we are lucky…

We discussed black out blinds yesterday actually, think we need to get these as a starter. The mornings are so bright! But I think this will cost a small fortune as there are 2 windows in DD's room and one of them is quite large. 😫

DD is still napping. It's been 1 hr 35 mins. I've messed it up today already haven't I? 😫

I’m going to call Dunhelm right now and see if they offer custom made blinds then because I can’t take much more 🥲

How about this Gro clock I keep hearing about? Is this any good?

<double checks ballistic shield before posting>

I hate to say it but... you will get used to it. In a few years, that is.
Between returning to work and sending kids off to school, you will become a reluctant morning person. You will bitch, you will moan for years and years and years but you will own 6am risings like you invented them. 💐

I now wake up before ANY of my kids! They've ruined me!

Op this is just one of many many many stages of having kids. It won't last forever. Most of us have been in your position and mourned for the sleep we used to get. Try not to be too disheartened by it.

By the time mine were 2.5 or so we had got the "stay in bed and quiet-ish until the sun comes up on the Gro Clock" rule implemented. Oldest DC is still an early waker but these days he quietly reads a book until it's getting up time.

Mine are 4 and 7 and now on weekends they go downstairs by themselves, watch TV and make their own cereal. So even the earlier rising of the two of us (we take weekend lie ins in turn) generally gets to stay in bed until 8. It's bliss.

Hilarious.

God help my daughter 10 years from now 🤣

That's tough going. You sound like you're being far too hard on yourself though, she will be just fine with her dad for a bit if you take a proper lie in every now and then, plus if she's happy in her play pen for a little bit at 5:30am why would you feel guilty?

Yes we had one of those. Up early, but also didn't want to sleep in the evenings.

Instead of black out blinds ( expensive) we resorted to a big sheet of MDF to cover the window. Looked ok with a world map tacked to it. That did help.

Failing that.... well, the teenage years will be on you before you know it. Which ushers in the delight of attempting to wake a grumpy teenager so they don't miss their exam!

The bit I don't understand is why you feel guilty about her happily chattering in her playpen? The best possible thing you can do at this time of day is send a very clear message that the day doesn't start yet !

If she is awake just keep her playing on her own in low light until as Kate as possible.

The more you let her leap up and start the day early the more hard wired it will get.

The ultimate aim is that she stays in bed babbling and playing until you decide !

My two both did this at this age and now I have to wake them for school so it does pass. Its awful though

Hopefully it's a phase and she'll start sleeping in longer soon. I feel your pain,'and remember those days well when you look at your watch and think noooo please, not again.

My soon to be 8 year old still wakes about 7am, even if she goes to bed at 10pm on a saturday night 😭. All her life she hasn't slept in if she goes to bed later, she would just be a grump the next morning! Less of a grump now luckily after her late Saturday night but on Sunday then I make sure she gets to bed on time.

I think it just depends on their personality because my friends little girl (same age as mine) sleeps in til 10 or 11 on the weekend and I could only dream of that sometimes!

At that age my little boy was going to sleep between 10pm-12am. He just stayed up with us and we made sure to do lots of active play in the evening.

He usually slept until 9-10am and then had