To think this is the worst thing about parenting small children?

[Iheartherain]

5 bloody am.

I thought the clocks going forward had reverted us to a more civilised wake-up time of around 6, but no.

Please don’t give advice as a year or more of trying to fix this hasn’t worked 😅 but honestly it is pretty miserable. I can’t have hobbies in an evening or watch ‘adult’ TV or nights out or date nights if we got a babysitter.

I am sick of being tired and yawning, fat because I seek sugar to boost my energy and always have a headache. It’s shit.

Mine did this, lasted about 4 months, almost killed me but did end (eventually). Mine used to get up and want to get dressed.

Look forward to when they’re 15 and they sleep in until 3pm. 😊

They will sleep one day and you will miss the days they got up early, while you try and drag them out of their bed for school, 😂 yet they some how get up earlier on the holidays… huh! Soon be age of going out of play on their own with friends and you will get a bit of down time it gets better, but the young age is the golden years, sadly we don’t realise until it’s gone. When they sit in their room and do their thing while you sit wondering where they went.. it’s hard being a parent. I promise the early mornings don’t last forever xx

They will sleep one day and you will miss the days they got up early

I won't. Same as I don't miss sitting up at 3am in silence to breastfeed.

I have to say I never arrived home at 6am as a teenager either.

I have the same problem ! Late nights! Like 10-10.30 but wakes up at 7.30! I have no me time and he’s difficult to get to school on time so always trying to bring it forward but he seems to be a naturally late owl!

I remember thinking that EVERYTHING in my life would be fine as soon as I had more sleep.
Your deep sleep being interrupted for a long period of time is not healthy.
It wasn't even the amount of time that made you quite crazy - it was the lack of a single, long stretch. If you don't get a single sleep cycle it will make you ill.

So yes the lack of sleep is dreadful.
For me it was tummy bugs. Dealing with sick everywhere, and the bug ripping through the family. The kids reaching an age where they could make the bucket was a watershed moment.

tbf I think that parents of teens will forget the under 5 age when it’s physically back breaking and the parents of under 5’s aren’t fully able to comprehend the emotional nightmare that teens unleash. Although, they possibly do get it because the age 2-3 is pretty unreasonable and is really rough too. Possibly just nuance is needed… it’s shit either way at certain times.

Good luck my son is almost 5 and still wakes up between 5-6am! I think I had it too cushy with my daughter as she was always a good sleeper so thought I’d have another and he’s a horrid sleeper😩

@Missola I don’t mind in the slightest someone who is having problems with a teen saying they are finding it tough; I do object to having that right taken away from me and being told that it will get so much worse and then spurious reasons about partying teens being made up.

I don’t frequent the teenager board on here to tell parents of teens that having a toddler is worse. I don’t inform women struggling with a first pregnancy it’s worse with a toddler in the equation. It’s not helpful and it’s horribly self obsessed.

My now 5 year old DS used to wake around 2am every night, for 3 hours,until he was 2. I'd love to say he started sleeping through at 2 but he didn't until he was 4 and a half, even now it isn't guaranteed every night. And he doesn't go to sleep until about 10pm.
That was definitely the hardest thing for me about parenting small children.
I won't even start on the teenager...

I absolutely adore reading your responses. And I’m in the same boat apart from swap the pregnancy for attempting to run a business. I am utterly exhausted I understand the feeling of wondering if it’s possible to die slowly due to the lack of sleep. Solidarity it’s not forever. Luckily I slept like a log before becoming a mum but still unsure as to wether it’s a good or bad thing. Vitamin b12 jabs when you can 🙏🏼

@Iheartherain I completely agree with you. It’s a race to the bottom sometimes on here. I was just trying to say that everyone always feels they have it slightly worse than the other. It’s like a human condition.

Personally I’m also stuck in a never ending cycle of a BF 2 year old that wakes multiple times a night still, has separation anxiety in the day & a 5 year old that wants me to play and entertain all day. It’s absolutely exhausting and miserable at times. I understand what you’re saying & you should be able to say it without someone trying to minimise your experience!

2 things op

First my kid would wake somewhere between 4 and 5 every single bl*"dy morning. I feel your pain - you aren't alive you aren't dead. But it can certainly make you wish you were. Being polite to adults is certainly an optional extra!!!!

Second - get Netflix or some similar streaming service. Get up sit somewhere comfy try to take care of the tiny dictator while watching some TV that is at least some interest to you

If you can try to claim a 5 hour window on the evening say 7 - 12 to get some sleep

Good luck and best of luck. If it helps you need sleep to form memories properly so it does tend to blur with time.

Crying 😂😂😂

My 😂😂 was to questionquestionqu
’pretend I’m a horse a you are the horses sister’ 😂😂

My youngest started sleeping through a year ago. He woke at 4 am for the morning the other day and I felt like death. I don't know how much damage I did to my poor body doing that regularly. I was so tired. I don't know how I used to care for kids and cook and drive. In hindsight I must have been too tired to drive regularly.

Anyone who posts on here saying that they would hit a child for waking up is pretty much the definition of scum of the earth to be honest.

There have been insane posts on this thread, parents of teens old enough to be independent claiming that that independence is in itself exhausting because of the ‘mental worry’ (ie they can’t bear it that it’s not all about them) but that post is revolting. Take a look at yourself FGS. What the hell has the child done wrong? He woke up. Yes, it’s exhausting for me. But he woke up. That’s it.

Anyway …

Sleep deprivation is the worst! At least 5am in the warmer months somehow feels less soul destroying then during the winter months. The midnight wake ups where they stay awake for a few hours used to be my pet peeve. I hated those nights

And for those who are wondering why I’m being so sharp to the ‘just you wait’ posters, it is partly because it is very annoying not being able to have a bit of a moan but also it is more than that. I actually find it a little creepy how insistent some are that parenting a teen is ‘exhausting’ when logic screams it isn’t - yes, midnight drop offs but not every night and besides, you aren’t then woken at 5am the next day unless you have younger children too.

So what people are claiming is that their teen causes them such worry that they lie awake endlessly fretting about them and that is what is exhausting, and that is both peculiar and if true a bit sinister because the worry is caused by nothing more than independence. I mean, I have read posts here which say things along the lines of ‘I can no longer control my child’s life and this worries me so much.’

I could be an anomaly here but it comes as no shock to me to know my children will be independent of me and they will do things I might not personally choose to do. Perhaps because I’ve got a reasonably good head on my shoulders, but I don’t see this as inherently risky. My teenage child goes to a party and sure, there are a thousand possibilities that could lead to harm but all are pretty unlikely and mostly it will be ‘oh, well have a good time.’

There’s a million futures out there for my kids. Not all are pretty and not all are long and I so hope they are, but they are their futures, not mine. Lying awake fretting about them not only will not bring them a more positive future but actually impedes it. Try ‘I have confidence in you to make sensible choices’ rather than ‘I worry so much about a choice you haven’t even made yet.’

Agree

Try going to bed 30/60 mins earlier, I mean the kid not u.
We had that happen thru illness once and carried on cos DD then slept more in the morning.
The earlier small kids go to bed the later they sleep in the morning.
Mine used to sleep @ 8pm and wake by 6am. After illness we carried on with 7/7.30 bedtime and she slept til 7am+!!

Do you really think someone on their knees after over a year of sleep deprivation hasn’t tried an earlier bed time?

You’d spank a child to make them sleep?

I mean, if you want your child to be scared and stay silent it may work, but it’s not actually going to induce sleep

However, if fear is your parenting goal you’ve no place having a child

I've got those too, I use them when my GC stay, they just won't sleep once it starts to get light. I used them in our new place too, before I got blinds and curtains.