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Parenting

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Original poster

Is 5AM normal wake up time for toddler?

57 replies

user1489844432 · 11/05/2019 07:43

My DC is 15mths old. We put him to bed about 7.30PM and he wakes up 5-5.30AM.

He appears to be sleepy from 7AM onwards and usually has a nap around 8.30-9.

I am wondering if this is to be expected at this age/going go bed 7.30PM or if there is a problem there I need to address? Ideally I would like him to sleep until about 6.30 but dont want to force him if it is more sleep than he needs having said that it doesnt feel 'normal' he gets sleepy about 2hrs after waking up. He doesnt get sleepy so quickly after his afternoon nap.

In terms of his sleeping routing he goes to bed 7.30PM and wakes up 5-5.30AM and during the weekend when he is at home he has 1-1.30hrs nap around 9AM and another nap at 2PM again about 1-1.30hrs. Mon-Fri when he is in the nursery he has only one nap at 1PM about 2-2.30hrs

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olivesandolives · 11/05/2019 22:11

I have always treated anything before 6.30am as night time, dealt with any waking as a night waking, and definitely didn't get up/out of the bedroom.

If I did this then it would just involve my ds crying for an hour and a half. Instinctively you know whether they're up for the day or not when they wake at 5am,unfortunately my 2yr old is, I always bring him into my bed for dozy cuddles but he rarely goes back to sleep. It's VERY annoying but fiddling about with naps/bedtime hasn't made any difference so I'm riding it out. My dd used to go through these phases but generally sleeps till at least 6.30am now so I'm hoping he'll grow out of it.

Still can't quite believe I consider 6.30am a reasonable wake up time.

Lazypuppy · 11/05/2019 22:13

I have always treated anything before 6.30am as night time, dealt with any waking as a night waking, and definitely didn't get up/out of the bedroom.

Yep this is what i do, and have always done.

AbbyHammond · 11/05/2019 22:14

Do 5am wakers start waking at 4am when the clocks change, or do you just adjust the whole routine to move them an hour later?

I would just do the same with a 5am waker to move them to 6 or 7.

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bakingisnotforwimps · 11/05/2019 22:15

It is for mine 😴

olivesandolives · 11/05/2019 22:17

But if you treat it as night waking, how long do you attempt to get them back to sleep for? I can't be arsed to flog a dead horse!

AbbyHammond · 11/05/2019 22:18

If you're happy to get up at that time then it's fine! But whether it is 11pm, 2am or 5am I'd treat it the same.

olivesandolives · 11/05/2019 22:20

I suppose I'm happier to get up than listen to an hour of crying or shouting.

MacrosomicMumma · 11/05/2019 22:20

Yep.

Redwinestillfine · 11/05/2019 22:21

Only if you let it be. Get up is 7am in this house. Anything before is still night time and they need to go back to bed. Both mine went through the wanting to start the day at 5 am phase. The Gro clock is your friend. It's very tempting to let them into your bed when they wake that early/ just get up with them. Find if you really want to set that precedent, but much better for long term sanity if you take the hit on a few weeks of making it clear that they need to go back to bed/ stay in their room until a more respectable get up time. I feel your pain, I remember those days

DryHeave · 11/05/2019 22:27

My DS did the same for a few weeks at that age. Now 18m and does 6:30-6:30 reliably. I did find that he groaned/sung himself back to sleep sometimes at 3/4/5am. Is there anything disturbing your LO? For us, our pets woke DS up at 5am and when we realise this and intervened we went to 6:30am wakings.

Chippychipsforme · 11/05/2019 23:12

olivesandolives, spot on. Plus I quite like my neighbours, they really shouldn't have to listen to my kid screaming at 5.39am every morning.

AbbyHammond · 11/05/2019 23:21

I find it only takes a few days to adjust to a new routine, so they wouldn't have to listen to screaming for long. I'd settle them back to bed rather than let them scream anyway.

sometimesalways · 11/05/2019 23:27

Yep we definitely went through a phase like that. They grow out of it eventually although how long it can take can vary... try dropping the morning nap, might help? Or is it early? Can't remember when DS drop his hmm

blondiehip · 11/05/2019 23:32

My son has woken up at 5am since he was 4 months old. He is now 3. Bed at 7, up at 5. Even if I out him to bed at 9pm be will still be up at 5. You learn to live with it 👍

AbbyHammond · 11/05/2019 23:36

Does he get up at 4 when the clocks go back or do you alter the routine? Why not switch it another hour?

NannaNoodleman · 11/05/2019 23:38

My godson is 10 and has always woken up at 5am. It doesn't matter what time he goes to bed. At least now he can get up and make himself breakfast, watch tv, do homework for a few hours.

I've always treated before 6:30 as nighttime and my kids have tolerated that. I don't think my godson would've resettled.

However... who are you people who have children who play in their rooms for an hour?!?!? The minute my kids are awake they want mummy to do this and that or to talk about some toddler shite! Or to jump on my face or pretend to eat my toes!!!

BackforGood · 12/05/2019 00:03

I have always treated anything before 6.30am as night time, dealt with any waking as a night waking, and definitely didn't get up/out of the bedroom.

Me too - treated the same as when they woke at 2am or 3am. dc1 used to think it was time to get up at those ridiculous hours too, and yes, there was many a night that one of us would be up with him for 2 hours, convincing him that it was the middle of the night and we weren't leaving the room nor putting lights on nor playing.

DrWhy · 12/05/2019 22:17

olivesandolives if you treat it as a night waking then you stick it out as long as you need to until your set morning time - when the sun comes up on the gro clock (those things are amazing!). I think I had blanked out those periods in my previous post. I have had occasions where I have laid on his bedroom floor with a blanket, holding his hand in his toddler bed waiting for the sun to come up. Or with him in my bed, or both of us on the floor. Cuddles but no lights, no talking, no sitting or standing up. It was particularly fun when I was pregnant with DD.
Even now we get occasional blips, he was asleep early (by his standards) at 8, when we were staying at my mums. His room was also not so blacked out. He tried to get up at 6.30 - he can press buttons on his gro clock until it shows a sun and then claims the sun came up! My mum was all for getting up and taking him downstairs- I was mean mummy and asked her to just take him into her bed for half an hour so they snuggled and after 15 mins or so they read stories in bed in dim light. The gro clock has to remain sacred!!

NameChange30 · 12/05/2019 22:23

The gro clock sorted it for us, they are amazing.
Before that DS would wake around 5am and only go back to sleep and stay asleep if I brought him into my bed and breastfed him or if one of us literally held him the whole time.

OP, in your case the morning nap can't be doing you any favours. I suggest you gradually push the nap later and also reduce the length of it.

NameChange30 · 12/05/2019 22:24

drwhy
Groclock has a lock function so they can't mess with it. You press and hold some buttons but I forget which

Hugtheduggee · 13/05/2019 09:40

A late night isnt going to shift a bedtime as a one off, but its going to work eventually. Children eventually adjust to changing clocks, time zones etc, even if it takes a few weeks.

I also have a.child with a 8-8 or sometimes 9-9 sleeping habit. I note that no one here who has an early riser has a child who goes to bed particularly late, so its more a matter if shifting their clock rather than increasing how much they sleep.

DrWhy · 13/05/2019 15:00

@namechange30 I didn’t realise that! To be honest that he seems to think I possess some kind of magic that I know when sun hasn’t really come up so I might leave him thinking I’m amazing!!

TwittleBee · 13/05/2019 15:09

Hugtheduggee in fairness we did try to shift our DS' sleep routine by an hour (so 7.30pm instead of 6.30) to attempt a 5am rise to shift to a 6am rise. We attempted this for 2 weeks but it just made for a very grumpy toddler. Now we have a 7pm bedtime but still a 5am rise (rather than a 5.30am rise).

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 13/05/2019 15:19

My neighbours son (3) is in bed at 9.30pm and up at 6.30, that doesn’t seem good enough- I’d rather be up and hour earlier and have more of an evening

NameChange30 · 13/05/2019 15:57

Or you could just get a gro clock and have it all, decent bedtime and wake time!
7.45pm to 7am here (he often wakes from 6.30am onwards but is quiet/happy until 7)
Honestly he was a terrible sleeper so I'm not being smug, I just love the gro clock so much!

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