Advice on early waking, please!

[flyingmummy]

Our DS (3.5) was always a great sleeper but for the last 5 months he has been waking between half 4 and half 5 every morning. It doesn't matter whether he goes to bed at 6pm or 9pm its still the same and we are at our wits end! Any advice on how to deal with this would be very gratefully received!

It may seem obvious, but could it be the central heating kicking in, or next door's alarm clock, or the milkman?

Or it could be that he's cold?? The timimg does coincide with the Winter
Poor you - crappy isn't it?

Just realised - assumed you were in UK - sorry

blackout blinds, blackout curtains, blankets over the windows....
but they do go through a bit of a phase when they do this for a while.
Try putting a digital alarm clock in his room - makes it easier for them to recognise the earliest they are allowed in our house if they must. If waking up so early, I'd probably suggest 6 or 6.30 to start with. If they can wake up and recognise that its not time yet, they might, just might, go back to sleep. Or if not it might mean he tries to stay in his room for some quiet time until the right time.
Don't know where you are, but there are those 'bunny clocks' - their ears stick up and eyes open as an alarm if you don't think a digital one is appropriate.
Good luck!

Thanks for the advice. We're in the UK and it has been going on over the winter when its been really dark until 7.30 ish so don't really think its the sun coming up. Also its not the central heating as I've changed this to make sure it wasn't waking him. Am sure its not next door, but have been tempted to snooze in his room from 4am onwards to find out! - desperate i know! We have got a bunny clock but he knows how to turn it off! Have just been reading in the top tips section and a few people suggest putting a light in the bedroom with a timer on it and telling him to stay in his bed until the light comes on - may give that a go.

Perhaps he's just an early riser (yikes!). Mine did the same. Don't worry it won't last forever (I hear you can't shift teenagers out of bed for anything!!!) All the best

You say it won't last forever, how long did it last with yours? I know every child is different and yes I am grasping at straws, but....

ooh, can't remember, but then I can't remember when I last had a full nights sleep! But it does pass. Is he hungry when he wakes up?
If you are desperate could he come into your bed for a snuggle (and a few extra zzzz's for you). I know its encouraging 'bad habits' but I quite like my morning cuddles. We had a TV in our room so we could put Thomas the Tank engine on for DS1, because we were just over it.
Sometimes things do just go to pot, but I firmly believe that you can pull it back together when you've regained your energy.
Or you have to go to bed that extra bit earlier if you can to get your hours in too. Boring, but practical.

Hi Flyingmummy

We've had this for ages now and have thrown the towel in. We tried black-out blinds and everything suggested here but our kids (boy - nearly 6, girl nearly 4) are just plain early risers.

We tell them to play quietly in their room or they are allowed downstairs to switch the TV on but they are NOT allowed in the kitchen or any other rooms - if necessary, put catches on the doors to any other rooms to be safe.

They do need to use the bathroom, so we've moved lotions and potions out of reach and each night, before bed, we tighten the taps to the point where the kids can't turn them on - we had a near flood one morning and it was a pretty hairy experience!

We, like you, thought the later to bed thing would work but they just woke up at the same time and were tired, grumpy gits for the rest of the day.

I long for arsey teenagers who stay in bed all day!!!!! Suits me just fine!

Don't dispair Flyingmummy, just work around it - if you and partner are grumpy AND the kids are tired, you're in for some rubbish weekends! At least if you and partner are getting the right amount of sleep, you can keep your cool much easier with the children when they do that mid-afternoon 'droop'.

Keash