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.

I'll ask again. Why is your partner not doing half of this?!
I have an early riser but it's not every day. It 3-4days a week as husband takes half. Then we each get a good lie in on the weekend. Sounds like you're doing the lions share. And what will you do when you've been up 5 times with a baby and toddler wakes at 5? Get your partner to do their share.

That’s lovely. I hope my teens are as little trouble as yours. Did you miss though that the title was about parenting small children? The OP wasn’t asking about parenting teens at all - you just decided to start making comparisons.

Worst thing is having the 5am start getting to mid morning when toddler is getting bored so you drag yourself to something child related to keep them occupied and maybe grab a coffee. Getting asked how they sleep, you grumble your shattered and some random women goes 'oh really little noah/lewis/Emily-mae [insert whatever name you like here] has sleep through from being 4 weeks they love their sleep!' And then decides to ramble on about the importance of a good bed time routine or other amazing sleep ideas they can come up with whilst you just zone out wishing that their little darling grows up to be an appalling teen.

If someone started a thread about “the worst thing about parenting teenagers” then I’m sure the responses would make many parents of toddlers thank their lucky stars that they aren’t yet at that stage, but that’s not what the OP started the thread to talk about.

How tone deaf and awful would it be for me to go onto a thread on teenagers where someone is genuinely having an awful time and say how much worse I have it?

Maybe think of that before doing that to me.

@whosaidtha simply because funnily enough, we don’t live in a mansion. When you are woken by a crying child, it isn’t as simple as him being taken by someone else and rolling over and going back to sleep.

This morning for instance DH did try to take him but he was in such an obnoxious mood (which in itself is because he’s tired) that nothing anyone did was good enough. Then when I did actually manage to sneak back upstairs and try to get some sleep, DS had a tantrum downstairs which woke me and then came charging in anyway and sat on my head saying ‘poo’ (which funnily enough I knew anyway as I was choking!)

I am generally fairly laid back and have a sense of humour about it, but I am extremely tired today and so is DS, he’s fallen asleep on the way to the activity I’ve already paid for so … Arghh.

Teens aren't more exhausting. They cause you more emotional turmoil and you're less in control but toddlers are far more exhausting. I have teens and I often nap on the weekends while they watch TV, play Xbox, read etc.

It will pass OP! The 5am wakeup for the day are full energy is awful. Mine both stopped around 3.

Yeah it’s absolutely shit.

I particularly hate when people say “ohh these are the best days of your life” or “you’ll miss all this one day”. Hhmmm WILL I REALLY THO?

Whilst I appreciate that it’s probably true, when you’re in the trenches it’s infuriating.

Sending solidarity to the no sleeping club.

Hahaha THIS! Offering all their suggestions as if you haven’t tried everything under the sun to get some sleep.
Do you have a bed time routine? Have you tried white noise? Blah blah blah.

The OP was " isn't this the hardest thing?" and it's AIBU so personally I think it's OK to say " no actually it isn't".

OP then insisited it must be and if I personally find teenagers tougher, it's due to my parenting.

This has me laughing 😂

Ive got quite a large age gap (7 years) and I remember the toddler years with my eldest being crap at the time, but I did look back with rose tinted glasses and thought it couldn’t have been THAT bad and maybe, just maybe, it was actually quite lovely.

So I had another baby.

Thar baby is now a toddler.

Its not lovely. It’s as shit as the first time.

Yes, there ARE lovely moments. But also lots of shit ones.

No doubt when this one gets bigger I’ll convince myself it wasn’t really that bad, like I have already done with pregnancy, c sections and recovery, and having a newborn.

It’s also never a random suggestion either.

I’d understand “oh we accidentally discovered that if you add half an avocado to their dinner they sleep” because it’s not something you’d expect.

Its always “have you got a blackout blind” or “have you tried a set routine?”

Your brain skipped over the “parenting small children” bit

If you’d explained you are unable to read full sentences I wouldn’t have been so snappy

My grandparents did this to my mum and her siblings. My mum said on Sunday mornings after she'd had a night out, my grandma would vac the house making sure to 'accidentally' bash all the bedroom doors whilst my (partially deaf so very loud) grandad sang Elvis in the shower. 😂😂😂

There are other parts of parenting small children that may be tougher for different people of course. I have to say that early rising isn’t so much of an issue for me because mine like to come into bed with me for a cuddle - they aren’t up for a party. I always feel so sorry for the people with babies that want a 3-hr party in the middle of the night - one of mine woke every 45 minutes of the night for 18 months but I could remain horizontal the whole time. Likewise at 5am mine come into my bed and let me doze, so I feel pretty lucky about that.

So the worst bit of small children, maybe but like others I'd give the prize to the 2am vomit of people too young to make it to the bathroom.

Sure, and that happens every single day, doesn’t it? Without fail. Totally.

Are you OK OP ? Really? you seem very angry about this and absolutely determined that this is the worst thing in the world. It isn't, it's fairly common, it can be tweaked but probably only fixed with time.

Good sleep, good food and good coffee may make you feel better about this. I would add regular exercise and taking a multi vit if you can. You can do this honestly.

YES this is definitely one of the big ones.

Life would be so much easier all round if little ones slept until a reasonable hour!

Same with the tired/sugar/fat struggle.

The thing that strikes me from your posts is that you 2yo is knackered so actually doesn’t seem to thrive on the 5am wakings. Some children are naturally wired that way and will always be early risers but it doesn’t necessarily sound like it’s the natural preference here. That might mean your DS does start to grow out of it or there is something you might be able to alter. Ive got one night owl and she’s a disaster in the morning (but is still jumping around at 9pm) and one lark who is her best self first thing.

Yep. In my case, a 2yo, a 3yo and me, all with D&V and only one loo.

Hell. Pure hell.

Reading this thread reminds me I made the best decision not to have children.
I can do what I like, when I like and sleep whenever…… I don’t understand why people do it?
And I’m 40’s, so not some young thing whose biological clock is yet to tick……..

Good for you. The sleepless nights and early mornings are short lived. Perhaps when the op is a elderly woman with adult children and grandchildren around to support her, she will say it's all been worth it.

@Comedycook if you have kids so they can ‘support you’ when you’re older, that strikes me as a very poor decision.
There’s no guarantee they would even stay in the same country!