those of you whose toddlers wake at 5am

[CrushWithEyeliner]

like mine do you have any tips/strategies? How do you cope with it and is there any way i could encourage a longer morning sleep. She goes from 7am to 5am and i feel like I have taken a lot of hallucinogenic drugs

I just get up
it won't last for ever

I go to bed early. Bith DCs have had (long) phases of doing this. They get over it eventually.

I assume you've made her room dark.

Do you have blackout blinds?

maybe move bedtime forward an hour an blacken room as they tend to only need 10 hrs sleep

i put ds to bed at 8 and he will go through till 6 but have darkened room off if his tired and goes to bed earlier always up at 5

but to be honest if i have an early evenimng to myself it really doesnt bother me getting up at 5 as they have been in bed all that time and had evening to myself

if i want to have longer morning i pop him into bed with me and he will go back off to sleep

It is truly hideous, isn't it? I've been up since 5.30am, though he woke at 4.30 as well so it felt earlier - I've asked before but I'll ask again: why isn't there a tired emoticon on MN?

Anyhow, ds is currently doing this - I remember when dd went through a phase of early waking we'd put her in her cot with some special "only for first thing in the morning" toys that she loved which normally got us an extra half hour. Unfortunately he doesn't go for that. To my shame, when she got a bit older (maybe 2), early mornings would mean she came into our bed and watched a dvd on the laptop while we dozed, but ds is currently a bit small for that.

Please tell me it won't last forever - dd used to sleep until 7.30/8am, but since moving her to a bed she's up at 6am.

Her room is quiet, has a blackout blind and curtains - I know I should be happy she's a good sleeper through the night but sometimes a lie in until 7am would be wonderful

That should say 6am on a good day - 5am is not unheard of.

When she's 14, you'll be desperate to get her out of bed...
In the shorter term, it will pass - dd has slept until 7.30am for months and months. That said, the last 3 days she's been up at 6am which means I've had 2 to entertain. We've been dressed and breakfasted since 7am this morning -it's going to be a long day.

sigh, at least it's oddly comforting to know that while I'm staggering round the kitchen at 5 warming up milk, reading Meg and Mog and stubbing my toe on the tractor toys, you are all out there doing the same thing. Early am babysitting is on my christmas and birthday lists every year but somehow no one offers... I can manage fine if I go to bed really early (9.30) but DH wants to stay up as it's our only time together.

i would try moving her bed time later. ds used to get up at 5am when he went to bed at 7pm. now he goes at 9:30 and gets up at 7:30 to 8 - much more bearable.

i would try moving her bed time later. ds used to get up at 5am when he went to bed at 7pm. now he goes at 9:30 and gets up at 7:30 to 8 - much more bearable.

I've often thought about moving the bedtime later, but on balance I think I'd prefer to have my evenings free - not least because I think it's the only way anyone would want to babysit. I will also take comfort from the diea of other MNers staggering around at an ungodly hour tomorrow...my best friend's son used to wake early and we used to text each other words of sympathy at stupid o'clock but now he sleeps until 8am I've lost my texting buddy

Same as charmkin and madamant. Went to bed early myself and got up when they did. It's true, it doesn't last forever even though it might feel it will at the time.

ds regularly gets up at 5am, he's 2 and 2 months. I reckon (hope) it will get better when he ditches the lunch time sleep. He was in bed by 7.15 though last night so at least I had evening free

It's worse at this time of the year because it is light so bloody early. I think their biorythms kick in even if you have really good black-out blinds. DD1 used to get up at stupid-o-clock last summer; now it's usually 6ish which is bearable. But dd2 aged 6 months has us up half the night anyway so I'm still knackered.

I can't wait for the teenage years!

it is really hard. Mine take it in turns. We have the odd morning where they sleep till ooooh, maybe 6.45am, but it is very rare. I am pretty much alwasy awake from 5.15am.

They are always in bed by 7pm, as I want to have some time to myself sans kids at one end of the day! And if you've been up since 5ish you soooooo need them in bed early.

Not to mention that the times they have gone to bed later for some reason or another it makes absolutely no difference whatsoever to their wake up time.

Oh god!
I feel your pain, all of you!

DS is currently going through a phase of waking between 4-5am every morning and because he's so loud, I have to put him in his pushchair and walk around town with him otherwise he wakes his sister.
Not crying, btw, just baby babbling!

On the plus side, I pray know this is only a phase and I've met some nice early-morning people.

I heart our local newsagents as they even make me a coffee when I go in at 5am!

Yes to early a.m. wandering! If she was quiet I could go back to my teenage nerdy dawn birdwatching habits, but I think others in the hide might not want a round of the wheels on the bus with their binoculars adn thermoses.
Would a 5 am playgroup be a hit, do you think? With lots of coffee for mums?

Both my boys have always done this. My eldest is 5.5 and everyone said it would change when he started school - it hasn't. I get them to play in their rooms until 6am (use one of those rabbit clock things for my 3 year old and a clock for my eldest), then just get up. I tell them I'm planning my revenge when they hit their teenage years.

Putting them to bed earlier does not make a scrap of difference and neither do blackout blinds (they are often awake before it becomes light). And they are absolutley wide awake and ready to start the day.

At least you get time to get the homework done

is your dd eating enough before going to bed?
can you try leaving her in her bed or bringin her a milk and keeping the lights closed so she will entertain herself for another hour or so?
anyways, turn on some babytv and watch together quietly, at least that way you can sit down and lean for another hour....

How old is your DD. Just wondering if you could cut out the daytime sleep altogether.

wow thank you all - I have been napping with her.

She is 18m. It is so so hard. She also comes into my bed in the night so I co-sleep. I just do what i can.
Your messages have given me hope. I guess I just have to plough through this x i will also do a later bedtime thanks nappya, but I am so tired at 7pm I just want an evening to myself so am happy to put her down...

Same situation here with 2.2 year old. His room is pitch black (blackout blind and thick lined curtains).

I've tried cutting out the daytime nap and later bedtimes, which didn't work. He still woke up at 5.30 but was unbearable during the day. In fact, if he goes to bed late he wakes up all night long with night terrors, so that's a no-no here.

My only coping strategy is to have a stairgate across ds1's door. He wakes up and can't get out, so then potters around his room until 6.30/7, looking at books, playing with cars, banging things, singing etc. He can get out if he puts his mind to it (can open the stairgate), but generally doesn't.

I do hope this phase ends soon.

I'm going to convene a virtual playgroup here on MN, I think. Doors open at 5am, all welcome. Bring your own toys and I'll provide the cyber-coffee. Might make the early mornings a bit more bearable.

I will be there - mostly I am just lying there motionless waking up for an hour whilst DD watches Tikkabilla