To not play first thing in morning

[arianwe]

I've got 2 children - (nearly 3 & a newborn).
Older child quite needy, wants attention all day. I do my best to spend quality time with her.

Obviously I am also up a lot in the night feeding newborn which leaves me somewhat knackered in the morning. My eldest has started waking up at about 5am and running in to my room and demanding I play. I normally do, but was far too tired this morning.

I took her downstairs made her brekkie, a drink and put the telly on (don't kill me), while I lay on the sofa for half hour. I explained that mummy was really tired and needs a little rest. She must have asked me to play about 600 times while I lay there and looked really upset, saying she doesn't like playing alone and saying "what a shame that mummy doesn't want to play with me". Never felt so guilty in all my life. Am I doing some sort of damage to her?? Feel like I'm ruining her confidence/self esteem by saying no, but equally, I'm knackered.

Great ideas, thank you so much! I will be noting all of these down tonight and hopefully it will all work out!

My DD is 6 now but early mornings were common in my house until she started school. I wish I'd thought of a surprise bag rather than using the TV every morning...brilliant!

With regards to independent play, I've often taken inspiration from her old nursery and laid a couple of toys or activities out for her and more often than not she takes the bait and gets stuck in. So maybe some playmobil or lego in the living room and some colouring or modelling clay in the kitchen. Then swap it around in the afternoon. Also I'll happily do games and jigsaws and craft activities but I'm rubbish at imaginative play so if she wants to do that I'll usually start her off and throw some ideas in and then make noises about the washing up or something....often she's happy to continue by herself then. Her attention span has got much better as she's got older.

Oh god no, at 5am I am not getting up they can get in my bed or go back to their room and play quietly. A gro clock might help you

5 am is far too early to play with children even without a baby to consider . At that age mine were alllowed to play and watch tV with a big bowl of dry cereal while I lay comatose on the sofa