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Parenting

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Original poster

3yr old wakes at 6.30am - what do you do with them?

118 replies

omri · 01/08/2014 15:38

Just want to know what people do with their kids when they wake so early. I've a 4 month old baby and am tired so early in the morning. My 3yo ds has started waking at 6.30ish every morning and I've started letting him watch tv for an hour or more until baby wakes at 8ish for a feed.
I know it's bad but can't face getting up with him! Ds is never v hungry in the morn and can easily wait til 8.30 for his porridge.

Just wondering what others do in similar situations?
It's a bad habit now ...

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lagoon · 02/08/2014 17:42

6:30 is not early, my DS has woken at 6am without fail since he started sleeping through aged 6 months. He is nearly ten now and still always up at 6. I have to be at 6 every day for work anyway and at the weekends he is old enough to entertain himself til I get up nearer 8am..... I am rarely in bed ready to sleep past 10:30, you may need to adjust your bedtime too OP..... blackout blinds may help your DS too.

ocelot41 · 02/08/2014 18:24

6.30 is fine FFS. We got jammed on 5.07 for 18 months at that age. As long as your child has had enough sleep (check black out blind and gro-clock because the light in the morning in summer is a killer) that's just life. Sorry.

weebairn · 02/08/2014 18:51

If DD (nearly 2) wakes at 6.30am, me and DP are so happy about it!! More typically it is 5.30/5.45 and DP kindly goes and dozes with her for an hour if she'll let him. Sometimes she drifts back off, other times she pokes him, or gets up…

We are not very interesting parents before 6.30am. Teletubbies usually. But 6.30 is ok. We normally eat at 6.30 and take the day from there.

I am a reasonably early riser myself and if she ever sleeps till 7 it's bliss. I have a shower and eat some food without toddler taking it off me and screaming MINE!

So I think 6.30 is pretty reasonable. But I guess it depends on bedtime. She goes down between 7 and 8 and we reliably get undisturbed evenings.

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weebairn · 02/08/2014 19:00

We also go to bed earlier these days. 10pm absolute latest.

SureFootedWhispher · 02/08/2014 19:18

Amazing the amount of people who will come on and tell you how much worse they have it.

I wouldn't worry OP. Do what you need to do. You have a baby and are probably exhausted. 0630 is early when you have had little sleep or a hard day.

plinth · 02/08/2014 19:28

Yes surefooted, I wondered about the competitive misery on this thread too

Thurlow · 02/08/2014 19:36

I love the fact that just because other people are happy to get up at 6.30, you're not allowed to find it early

The gro-clock worked really well for us, DD started waking at 6.30 and it wasn't doing anyone any good, even she was tired. Thick blackout curtains and about a week of training to get her to understand the clock, and it went back to 7.30. It's worth a try if the money won't be too missed if the clock doesn't work.

weebairn · 02/08/2014 19:40

When do gro clocks work from, as in what age? DP jusT bought DD a sticker reward chart for each night she sleeps through, gets up past 6. I laughed at him. She is 22 months.

SirChenjin · 02/08/2014 19:41

Agree Thurlow.

I also think that the main point of the OP has been missed by some - she's up through the night with a small baby and is then being woken at an early hour by a toddler with a long day stretching in front of her when she's already sleep deprived, whereas many of the '6.30 isn't early FFS' brigade only have one child. It's a completely different kettle of fish when you have a baby and a toddler, and you're struggling with lack of sleep.

marne2 · 02/08/2014 19:41

My 8 year old wakes at 5 am every morning ( sometimes earlier ), I let her go on the iPad or play lego but she can often be seen outside jumping on the trampoline naked ( she has ASD and has a thing about removing her clothes and escaping outside ). I wish she woke up at 6.30am.

ICanHearYou · 02/08/2014 19:42

cbeebies, blanket (for me) kip on the sofa. I do this A LOT.

Thurlow · 02/08/2014 19:44

Our gro clock started working at about 27m, I think? There's no set age but essentially I'd say they need to understand the language behind "blue means stay in bed, yellow means get up". I know my 2.5yo probably wouldn't understand a sticker chart yet!

hollie84 · 02/08/2014 19:46

DS1 started to get the idea of the clock from 2.5, but was 100% reliable with it by 3.

Makinglists · 02/08/2014 19:48

We've just invested in a Gro clock and its helping DS2 to stay put until 7/7.15. I tend just to get up and do breakfast potter round but then I am a morning person (by 9pm I'm dead though) - normally don't do Cbeebies in the morning but if I needed a break I certainly wouldn't think twice about it.

DoristheCamel · 02/08/2014 19:49

Mine was a 5.30am waker. I used to get up, breakfast go to the supermarket get the days dinner prepped and then when they have a nap later in the day put my feet up with a cuppa and chill for a while.

It was hard but really I just accepted that was the way life was going to be for a while and just got on with it and went to bed earlier myself to compensate. It was a stage that didnt last for ever, although it did last a few years.

Once I accepted it - it was easier and yes I still used TV first thing whilst I came to myself in the mornings.

weebairn · 02/08/2014 19:50

Yes it was a rather desperate purchase. Yawn. Sorry to be one of the 6 30 isn't early people. I am still feeling it and due another baby shortly so not looking forward to the early mornings then.

hollie84 · 02/08/2014 19:55

If you like to have them in bed by 7pm and don't mind early mornings so much yourself (would rather have the evening free than a lie in) then 6am is fine. I'm not one of those people though, I would much rather stay in bed til 7am and have a bit less child free time in the evenings.

baffledmum · 02/08/2014 22:04

DD1 is 10 & only recently started sleeping past 6!! Getting used to it was terrible but at least, once she turned 6ish, she learned to stay in her room and read. It's hard going (unless you are an early riser yourself and I'm not) so you have my sympathies with it. I laugh when people tell me their new borns
are sleeping through -it's once they realise they can get out of the cot that the testing period starts!

weebairn · 03/08/2014 07:11

4.30 am this morning

Getting really really anxious about how we're going to cope with new baby...

rosepetalsoup · 03/08/2014 07:42

weebairn try getting them to have longer nap / go to bed earlier. Sounds crazy but sometimes works for us.

LittleLionMansMummy · 03/08/2014 08:38

Bought our gro clock last summer when ds b began waking early with the light mornings. He was 2.5 then and I remember it was recommended between 2 and 3. It took maybe a week of training and returning him to bed but it really did work like a dream. Would recommend trying it to anyone who wants a bit more sleep!

wannabestressfree · 03/08/2014 09:19

My ten year old is still up at 6.30 every morning :)

MrsMarigold · 03/08/2014 11:21

Mine aged 3 and nearly 2 are quite late risers. I'm not sure if it is genetic I'm an early bird but DH is not. But as soon as my DS opens his eyes he yodels "Mummy" until I go through, sometimes I don't hear him if I'm in the kitchen. With DD she often wakes around six and I just pop her in the pram and she goes to sleep again till 8.30 when my DS starts his yodelling. DD still naps but never after 3pm and never more than two hours. DS doesn't but we read stories in the afternoon. Bedtime is a total nightmare and although I hear about other children enjoying a calm quiet time mine are wild after the bath.

Kveta · 03/08/2014 16:16

Mine are 2 and nearly 5, and up between 4.30 and 5.30 every morning, regardless of bedtime/naps/gro clock etc, so we are well used to it now.

normally they get to just play with their toys until CBeebies or Milkshake starts, if they are being particularly obnoxious I might put a DVD on. Some mornings we don't bother with TV at all, others we need it.

I also get them a beaker of milk each first thing (or DH does, he is normally up with them in the week). Mostly though, they are completely ignored until we are awake enough to see to them. DD (2 yo) is up at night quite a bit too, so we are not a chirpy, early morning, family. DS normally sleeps most of the night these days though, and sometimes even sleeps until 6am on a very good day!

TerrifiedMothertobe · 03/08/2014 18:55

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news. Our eldest has been waking at 5am reliably in summer months since he was 18 months old. He is now 3. Our second arrived 8 months ago, and we are only just getting down to one night feed. It is a complete killer. Night feeds and an early riser.

Just do what to can for you, and if it's TV/iPads (we use) then go for it.

We have tried everything to get him back to bed or to sleep longer, and nothing has worked. Last year it got better around October. I am hoping for the same again.

Best of luck.

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