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)

It does get better OP. My DS did not sleep when he was a baby. He used to wake at 4am!! I had an average 4 hours a night unbroken sleep. I was on my knees with tiredness. 10 years on, he loves his sleep. My DD and other DS were brilliant sleepers when babies and still are. 15 and 12. Maybe if you can cut out a nap time. It gets easier.

My 6yo still wakes at 5.30am every morning.

I've tried all the things mentioned and putting him to bed later, consistently for several weeks just results in a very tired and grumpy child and even earlier wake ups.

My 3yo sleeps until 7am, later if she stays up later or is particularly tired.

Meant to add. Sorry you lost your mum when you were a child.❤

I hear you OP. My 15 month old is up by 530 every morning and several times in the night too. I'm constantly wrecked, especially now I'm back at work full time. I know it gets easier as I have a 10yo who rises early but looks after herself, but solidarity with the tiredness

@TheOrigRights the same way we do. Surely you end up back to your normal waking time after a few days or weeks of clocks changing?

I personally would love a 5 am lie in! My eldest is 8 and he is up anywhere from 3.45 - 4.15.
We have blackout blinds and curtains, he goes to an after school activity, he is also usually running around the park on top of that, tried a good filling meal before dinner. Doesn't make any difference.
Doesnt help that he won't go downstairs and sit quietly he has to slam all the doors, turn on and off the lights, throw things into his siblings room so now everyone is up at the exact same time 🙃

God I remember those days, getting up before CBeebies even started 😱😂 Yes it’ll change and yes it is horrendous at the time, sending 🍫

I think they all go through this phase as I remember dd doing it

I used to give her her breakfast, pop her in her swing, and let her watch The Hoobs and a couple of programs on milkshake whilst I dozed on the sofa.

Oh god, don't feel guilty about the playpen. Mine gets up anytime between 4.30 and 5.30 and she is 100% watching whatever brain-rotting rubbish she wants until I've had time to wake myself up with a coffee (this takes a while)

Does anyone else remember the song CBeebies used to play from 5.30-6.00 as it didn’t start properly until 6, ingrained on my brain and one of my kids is a teen

Exactly. But many people say their kids WILL NOT adjust to later bedtime or will wake at 6am whatever they do. How do those children adjust?

Mine started doing this at around a year, sleeping through but super early start. Actually preferred a quick 1am wake up then back to sleep till 7am than the early morning. He's 2 now and still a fair amount of 5.30am starts, I'm just used to it now. As others have said, early nights for you, and putting in playpen while you doze is great idea, I do same thing and put music on which keeps him entertained for ages (I prefer the idea of music / audiobook to TV atm). Don't feel guilty if they are happily playing! Think they quite like a bit of quiet time to theirselves. It's much better than having to get up and play with them at that time in the morning as you'll be knackered by midday!! Mine started getting up at 4am so I cut his nap to 1/1.5hrs max and that seemed to work. So 5.30 feels reasonable compared with 4 lol (a very tired mummy over here)

Both of ours had a phase of doing this - maybe six plus months each? We took it in turns, and drank lots of coffee. But it did end!

Nothing stays the same with children although the rough patches seem to go on forever. I had the world's crankiest baby he often cried for hours on end, woke several times a night and always got up at 5.30. He's three now and very chilled sleeps 7 to 7.30am most nights. He's still a ball of energy and very quick tempered but so much easier to manage. Lots of coffee, Catnaps and cocomelon will get you through those early mornings ❤️

Nope at some point they become teens and you will barely see them before PM

Yes I promise you it gets better!!!!

Before you invest in blackout blinds, try using tin foil on the windows to see if it makes a difference. You should be able to use masking tape to make it stick!

We had this at a similar age - around the 2-1 nap transition where you probably should drop the morning nap but they're absolutely exhausted by lunchtime if you do. I'd try to push out to 1 nap around 11 (take them out in the morning to try and combat tired grumpiness) and give them a good snack around 10. No breakfast before 7. Seemed to work for us but as with most parenting tips, especially around sleep, correlation doesn't necessarily mean causation and it could just be a phase that naturally passes.

To be honest I think you have a win there. She is sleeping through - from when you put her down to the 5.30 get up. That’s the hardest bit cracked. Sure, it’s no picnic getting up that early but she is doing really well to go through that long.

It gradually gets easier, you may find if you stick to a good routine that she’s sleeping a bit later in the morning as she gets older. What time do you go down yourself? My head used to hit the pillow as soon as baby was down and I do mean within minutes. Sometimes it’s just about survival during the little years

@TheOrigRights I see what you're saying. I'll sound like a hippie now but I feel like it's more to do with the sun/moon and that we all synch to our normal waking patterns (which are all different) rather than what is forced upon us by intervening with naps/bedtimes. I'm sure that won't make sense but it does in my head 😂

Yes I see your point. I'd far rather a stupidly early start than multiple wake ups in the night.

She went down later tonight - 8.45pm. I'm still sitting in bed on Mumsnet. I should be sleeping!! What is wrong with me!?😂

Ridiculous. Of course they're not. My child gets up far later than 5 30. Put them straight back in bed and keep repeating the process until they get the message.

is that you Gina?

I do think some people are just the type to wake up early. Mine are older primary so aren't babies anymore but they've all had identical approaches from us in terms of sleep training etc. One naturally gets himself up at 630 each day. Another would sleep well beyond 9 if you let her, the other wakes fully for the day any time from 5am. It's just how they are. Looking back to the baby years the two who now naturally get to early have always been like that!

Side note to those saying just treat it like a middle of the night wake-up / put them back in bed until they get the message - there was another thread the other day about neighbor baby noise where people were generally of the mind that you shouldn't let your baby wail for ages if it's going to disturb your neighbors (which mine absolutely does unless you let her get up). You can't win. I have a chronic early riser who also used to wake up five times a night and I disagree that this is a win. In the vast majority of cases there is a solution to the night wakings (for those with parents who will do it) - sleep training. But it doesn't work in the mornings because they're all out of sleep debt and will just keep crying and crying. All the other proposed solutions seem much more hit and miss. Even our sleep consultant who helped with the night wakings ended her crib sheet on how to deal with early mornings by saying 'this all might not work, some babies just wake up really early, sorry!!' Up today at 4.45 even though she's ill and that's normally the one time she sleeps later - these mornings truly are the pits.