4 year old started waking early

[CharlieB74]

I?m looking for some suggestions with my DD who is 4 years old sleep pattern. DD usually goes to bed about 7.30pm and wakes between 7.10am ? 7.40am.

However, over the last couple of weeks she has been waking anywhere between 6.40am and 7am which I don?t mind as we are usually up with DH getting ready for work and me to take DD to nursery. However, with waking early I?m finding she is getting very tired in the afternoon and extremely grumpy before bath and bed so much, so that a few nights she has been in bed by 7pm but that means she is waking up even earlier and again is very tired during the day. I?ve actually had to put her to bed a couple of afternoons for a nap and she has slept. I put her to bed later 8.30pm and she woke about 7.10am, which I was surprised at considering she had had a long nap.

I?m just wondering should I leave her bedtime at 7.30pm or put her down earlier. I?m not sure the best thing to do to make sure she gets enough sleep and does not wake too early. I know it?s not the light morning wakening her, as her room has two sets of blackout blinds so is very dark.

Looking for tips too

Thinking of buying a digital clock and taping over numbers overvrhan hour and saying dont come in til 7 but that won't solve his grumpiness because he's tired!

do you and your DH make noise in the morning? could that be waking her? I know you don't mind her getting up, but are you incentivising (is that even a word) her to get up?

When DS wakes early he has to stay in his room quietly with his books.

If she was mine I wouldn't introduce a nap, but move bedtime forward. I found that my DS sometimes gets silly and overtired. Moving bedtime forward weirdly made him sleep longer, I think as he was less exhausted at bedtime.

allthefires I have a groclock which is ace for making them stay in bed (you have to lay the law down at the beginning)

We don?t usually get up to just before 7am so we are not making any noise when she wakes early. Her room is the opposite end of the landing from ours and we have an en suite so if she does hear us it?s not usually until DH has gone down stairs. I have tried a glow clock to get her to stay in bed until 7am and that worked for a few days but now she still comes through.

My worry is if I put her to bed earlier, she will wake even earlier and then will be even more tired the following day. It?s so hard knowing what to do for the best.

Oh well, not sire what to do as she seems to be getting earlier and earlier but is so tired during the day she is falling asleep which is not helping. Any suggestions??

what happens when she gets up?

In my house there is no telly or breakfast until the time on the clock. I make it as boring as I can.

I'd ride it out, no naps.

Bedtime as early as you can get away with, not after 7.

Iron rule with the clock, aim low to start with, say 6am then move the time later 5 mins a day.

Nothing happens if she wakes before the clock. No tv, no food, no talking. IT IS NIGHT TIME GO TO SLEEP.

Normally when she wakes, she comes through to our room, cuddles in and then ends up watching some tv. This morning I did put her back to bed but she got up needing a pee and then did stay in bed with a bit of a fuss until her clock changed at 7.10am. I will try moving the time earlier to maybe about 6.15am and then move it later again. When she first got the clock, she stayed in bed but now just gets up as she says it takes too long to change. I'm hoping no nap today and we can get back into a normal routine., however, the problem is we have to go out in the car and that?s when she falls asleep!!

Thanks for suggestions :)

Well I managed to keep DD awake yesterday and we put her to bed at 8pm and she came through at 7.10am which was a more reasonable time :-) I?m keeping my fingers crossed that she will stay awake today ad we can do the same tonight and hopefully her body will get back into her normal routine.

:)

Thanks Adagoo for your help and suggestions, much appreciated :)