New Found Freedom

[Betty1970]

My dd moved to a bed a couple of weeks ago, and for the fist week and a half was sleeping until her usual 7.30 and then coming in to see us. Now all of a sudden this week, dd has been getting up at 6.15 and coming in. I appreciate for some, this time in the morning is normal, but has anyone else had this, and did the novelty wear off and they returned to their normal sleep pattern? Or is this it from now on!?
I'd be really interested to hear.

yeah my DD always used to wake at 7 then it started to be 5, but she wasn't crying she was just talking to herself and then within 10 mins would be back off to sleep have you tried letting her go to back to sleep

Unfortunately she wakes up, gets up and comes in to our room, and is full of beans! I have tried ignoring her in the hope she may get the hint, but not yet! I have also suggested to her that it is still night night time, but again to no avail. Here's hoping it is a stage.

Quick tip and then im off to bed (been a hard day!) I read somewhere that someone used one of those plugin lights that have a timer on them and told their dd that it's only time to get up when the light goes on.

Wow, NickyJB, you are going to miss Big Brother! Not a bad tip though. Not sure if dd will understand though; she has only just turned 2 and whilst v bright, may just think it is a game.
Thanks though, and have a lovely sleep!

might just be because of getting light earlier? have you tried black out curtains/blinds?

Yes, she has a black out blind which has been up since she was born, and we even blue tack it against the window frame to get maximum effect! It is just so odd, and bloody exhausting when you are not used to it!

My two and a half year old is just the same. I bought him an alarm clock that is in the shape of a rabbit with eyes that close and ears that drop down when you set it (Blooming Marvellous). When the alarm goes off (you can turn the sound off by the way!) it's eyes open and ears pop up. I tell him that bunny will fall asleep when he does (coz you can't set it for 7am at 7pm obviously!) but if bunny is still asleep when he wakes up he must stay very quiet in his bed until bunny wakes. He still wakes early but tends to stay in bed talking or singing to his teddy until he hears us get up. Also, we've put a stair gate across his bedroom door so he can't come in to our room anyway.

we have a rule that ds can't come into our room until 'the man on the radio is talking' ie the radio alarm - this works OK for us (we started this when he moved into a bed). The last two mornings he has come in at 5:30am, but gone back to bed with a tut when I told him that the man wasn't on the radio yet! DS is 2.8 by the way.

And re blackout curtains - we discovered that the light coming in from the bathroom was waking up our DS last year, so had to buy blackout blinds for there too!

Oh yes, forgot about that. The light from the bathroom and any other rooms upstairs was also waking up our toddler, so we make sure that all the doors are closed upstairs when he goes to bed.

Hi we're another one that uses the Rabbit clock and DS is just 2 and he understands really well - even to the extent when he went to stay at Grandmas he stayed quietly talking in his cot until the rabbit woke and then started shouting at Grandma - Rabbit Wake, Rabbit Wake made us laugh when she told us, she wasn't very happy mind.

During this hot weather he has started waking up about 5.30 (again ) and shouting at us, but if I go in and say Rabbit isn't awake yet, so you can't get up yet and walk out he objects for a couple of minutes and then snuggles back down for sleep again.

Another idea might just be take her straight back to bed with out talking and put her back in and then say it's not time to get up yet - we'll come and get you when it is? might mean you have to do this several times a morning for a few mornings until she gets the idea that it's not time for her to get up yet but eventually it should get the message over?

Good luck, and let us know how you get on.
H x

Harrizeb where did you get teh rabbit clock from... I have been looking for one for ages

Umm DH found one, I'll have a quick look for the link and post other wise I'll post later this evening with it when I've got home.

H x

Dd didn't come in until 7.00 ; so progress indeed. I think someone said you can buy the rabbit alarm clock from Blooming Marvellous.

I think dd may have woken up early on those 2 occasions cos she didn't have her usual amount of milk at bed time - normally she has 8 oz's still, and last night she did.

Who knows? The bunny clock sounds fab; I think a purchase is on the cards!

Hi sorry this has taken so long, did a google and found a couple of sites - appolgies if the links don't work first time - fingers crossed.

great little trading co
baby sleep shop

and blooming marvellous do it too
blooming marvellous

H x

I have ordered one! I expect there will be a mad rush on for them now!

We were baaaaad parents and when ds started coming in earlier and earlier in the morning when he moved from a cot to a bed (at about 2.5), we hooked a "spider" (bungee elastic with hooks at either end) round his door handle and round the handle of a cupboard in the hall way. Meant that he culd open the door very slightly, but couldn't get out.

He soon got the message!

We did the same one night at my parents after putting him down while we had our evening meal: one wee yelp of "help" and he went straight back to bed.

I'll have to keep that in mind - we might need that tack tick yet