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.

Your second might be completely different just to reassure you a bit! I had one horrific sleeper, didn't sleep through till after starting primary school. The second has been a dream and never wakes in the night or before 7 (please God don't let saying that jinx things!).

My children are 9 and 5 and they still get up at 6am every day. I’m so tired of being tired.

Surely you don't get up with them?

Leave them a wrapped croissant/brioche and juice carton in the living room and let them watch cartoons while you doze.

I came here to see whether parents of teens had been along to tell us all we don’t even know the meaning of parenting yet. I was not disappointed. 😂

Genuinely puzzles me how some children are waking at 5am daily and a later bedtime (plus blackout blinds) is not working. Later bedtime needs to be done over a period of time before the body clock gets used to it. If you moved to Australia their waking time would change wouldn’t it? I’m not trying to be goady, it’s just something I don’t understand.

I’m sure if you explain it so earnestly to all the children who won’t sodding sleep, they will nod wisely and accept their wrongness and sleep til 7am every day from now on.

OP I agree, it was a killer. Nothing so far is as bad, two of mine were v bad sleepers so up half the night and again at 5 or 6. My eldest was born in 2007, no smart TVs then. we used to record Peppa pig episodes and I would press play and fall asleep on the couch, but they didn't play into each other. I will never forget the horror of being reawoken at 5 min intervals. Torture

I’m not talking about children who won’t go to sleep or who wake up through the night, that’s a whole different thing

I remember this so well. In my house it was "let's play SpongeBob and you can be Squidward" and for some reason this involved stroking my cheek with a damp flannel. At 4.30am. 😂

It's genuinely lucky they are so cute.

There was a point where my eldest dc was 16/17yrs and started staying up til ridiculous hours like 2 or 3am and my youngest was 3/4yrs and was up at 5am every morning

Christ, I've come back to this thread hours later and it turns out that the teen is indeed Paris Hilton (if they're going out three times a week and demanding lifts that leave you exhausted have you considered... saying no sometimes?) and people are still going on about their teenagers.

If the thread says 'small children' then no one gives a flying fuck about your teenagers! Piss off and go post about your cat on threads in the doghouse or good books you're reading in Telly Addicts instead!

If you're in bed at 9 waking at 5 you're getting eight hours sleep. BUT you're pregnant so of course feeling tired anyway. It's not from lack of sleep but quality. Once baby arrives you're going to be up during the night anyway.

I'd have a nap when partner gets in and at weekend

But why are you feeding your kids so early? If you give them dinner at 5pm then of course they’re hungry for breakfast at 5am, it’s not rocket science. My 4yo has a snack at 5pm, then dinner at 7pm followed by bed at 8pm. He’s then up at the actually civilised time of somewhere between 7am and 8am…

This made me laugh so much - yes it's bonkers at the time isn't it?

But......

My girls are now 15 and 18 - and honestly - I mean this with all my heart. I would give my left arm for them to be like this again!!!

I think if I was a juror and the defendant was a mother who had attacked someone who had given her unsolicited sleep advice I'd have to say they had it coming.

I have teens OP - but I do remember the hell of 5am wake up call . One of mine didn’t even sleep through the night until he was 4.5 years old . I coped with it by having the tv on in the bedroom at 5 am and feeding them plastic cups of cheerios for an hour until we all got up for proper breakfast . Not super parent but my kids don’t seem stunted as a result .. raising teens is a rollercoaster where as toddlers are draining . My teens are still relatively early risers ( sorry) ..

Oh God, I feel your pain. DD was like this. I vividly remember going to bed (much earlier than is right for my own body clock) and literally hoping I died before she woke up. I felt so ill all the time for two solid years, and I was trying to hold down a job that needed my brain. We tried everything. I couldn’t contemplate a second child in case they were the same or worse.

She’s 13 now and a night owl like her mother- it does pass eventually. Life is much, much better now, I promise.

If it worked for your children, why are you wasting energy puzzling over different children who sleep differently? Maybe just believe what their parents say and sympathise or something.

Yes that’s what I did with mine foodwise, same as you. Still up at 5am. What’s your next suggestion? Maybe we should try rocket science.

My lot have tea around 4pm, supper around 6pm. Supper usually consists of cereals, toast, milk, cheeses etc. Calming foods for bedtime. Helps them sleep..but guess what, still up early! Some children are just hard wired to wake early. Even eating really well doesn't change that.

Please don’t give advice

Can people not read?!

@Questionquestionqu - mine was even worse - obsessed with being something else - I got “what would you do if I was that teddy”, “what would you say if I was a book” etc etc - just bloody unanswerable questions!! Went on for ages - or so it seemed!

15 yrs later I still have dark thoughts about work colleagues with good sleepers who gave helpful advice - maybe a black out blind etc. Ds1 was a terrible sleeper, we tried everything. It became a 24/7 problem ruining my life and they think they have the solution after 2 seconds of processing. Such arrogance. Still angry about it...

I never had the 5am start and I do wonder if keeping my children in their cot until 3.5 helped and no my three didn’t try climbing out . I genuinely don’t think I would have kept my sanity if that had happened.

I hear you. My DC is currently going through a phase of wide awake and ready to party at 2am. He's also hidden DH's bank card and the TV remote.