What age did your DC start waking up at a civilised hour?

[MellowBird85]

DS is 22 months and I do count my blessings that he sleeps through as I know many children at this age don’t! I also know young children are naturally early risers but I just want to see some light at the end of the tunnel because I am so sick of getting up at 6am - it’s like being in the army! I’m jealous of people WFH / furloughed who are enjoying lovely, long lie-ins. I’ve never been one to laze about in bed all morning (7:30 - 8am at the latest pre-DS). So can you give me some hope of when I might expect DS to wake up at an acceptable time? I’m assuming people with children get lie-ins at some point?!

[Ruddle91]

Between 6-7 most days - so not too early. I'm up at 5 for work and used to that.

[MrsPear]

In our household it wasn’t so much that they got up later but the fact that I could trust them to go down by themselves, make breakfast and not destroy the house. They are 7 and 10 now and I can sleep in but ds 2 still lets me know he is going down.

[AriettyHomily]

Mine are 10 now and they still wake up at 545 am. Obviously they can sort themselves out now so it doesn't bother me. They take after me, I am naturally a morning person, but a 630 / 7 am person not before 6!

[zafferana]

It's not so much waking at a reasonable hour, but being able to take themselves downstairs and play quietly until a reasonable hour!

DS2 (9) still wakes around 6am. He's just an early bird. But he just comes downstairs, gets on his iPad and plays games. He also feeds the cat her breakfast, which is a bonus

[SandieCheeks]

I think it's more about the routine you have - most children cope with clocks changing twice a year so you can shift their sleep times by an hour fairly easily if you are consistent.

What you can't have though, is an early bedtime and a late wake up (and a nap).

[xyzandabc]

It's not a case of when they start to wake up later, it's a case of when they are capable enough to go downstairs and turn on cbeebies by themselves. Then they can get up when they like (within reason i.e not 4.30am!) and I can stay in bed. Even better when they can get a drink and breakfast so around 5 or 6. I have an 11 yr old that is happily up by 6-6.30am most days.

[Pipandmum]

My son was always an early riser: 5-5.30am throughout childhood. He got old enough to take care of himself before he slept in any later than that (he's 16 now and is still usually up before 7.30).

[Tentativesteps133]

We introduced a gro clock around 2 and it was miraculous! She knows that when the stars are out she has to be quiet and go back to sleep. We sometimes hear her playing and singing from 6.30 but she knows not to shout for us until the sun comes up (at 7 or 2.45 at nap time)

[Lula11]

One of mine, by about a year old, the others not until full time school 😭
Now they are teenagers, I am still up on the dot at 7am, and I have to hound them out of bed or they’d be there until mid afternoon.

[chubbyhotchoc]

5:45 - 6am still at age 6 but she goes to bed at 6:30 ish so I can't complain. Putting her to bed later doesn't change what time she gets up so at least I get peace in the evening

[vixb1]

Others have mentioned it, but I'd definitely try a gro clock. We've been using one since about that age and it works well for us.
I've actually no idea what time my daughter (3) actually wakes up in the morning, but she knows she shouldn't call us to get up until when her sun comes on her clock (7.15am). It's still a bloody shock as we've usually been up in the night with the baby, but it does work for us as at least she's not up bouncing on us from early!
Mostly she'll sit in bed and "read" books or sometimes she gets up and plays with the dolls house in her room. We won't tend to get up super early with her if she needs the toilet now. Good luck, I hope it gets better. Not enough sleep is just awful!

[Minai]

From about aged 2 my ds1 slept in until about 7.15/7.30 however I now have ds2 who thinks 5am is a perfectly acceptable wake up time and is often so loud it wakes ds1 up too. Cannot wait until they are old enough to go downstairs, get themselves some breakfast and watch cartoons so I can finally have a lie in!

[Rubyroost]

@Babyboomtastic that's true. Our boy has 12 hours sleep-9.30 til 9.30 but I don't get lots of time in the evening on my own. If he went to sleep at 7 he'd be up at 7 I guess. Eventually we will hqve to change his hours when he goes to nursery.

[Babyboomtastic]

I don't think they are all early risers. Mine hate getting up before 7, and have since literally 6 weeks old. But they aren't great sleepers and are natural night owls. You win some, you lose some I think sadly.

[mindutopia]

My 28 month old sleeps until somewhere between 6:30 and 7:30am. I think he is quite unusual in that he's always been a good sleeper. He was just born that way.

Unfortunately, now it's my 7 year old who bounds in the bedroom door at 6am. She was definitely waking at 5am still when she was 4. They're all different. It does get easier though when they are old enough to entertain themselves. We certainly started a bit of tablet watching in the morning around 3 on the weekends. It meant she could at least wake up but be quiet and entertained in our room with her tablet and headphones while we got an extra hour or two of dozing.

[Rubyroost]

I don't know about naturally early risers. I conditioned my first to wake at 9.30 he did this from 8 months onwards. I'm now working on my 12 week old and although he still wakes on the night he's picking up on the 9am vibe. 😂

[howlatthetrees]

My eldest is 4 and is still up at 5:30 every morning

[MellowBird85]

@heartbrokenfool he is bathed and in bed by 7 but doesn’t go to sleep until 7:30-8pm. Nap is 1.5 to 2 hours long starting at 12-12:30pm (I sometimes have to wake him up and he takes ages to go to sleep at bedtime if he’s had a 2 hour nap).

It’s looking like I’ll have to accept this is a lot to do with the individual child (sob).

[aSofaNearYou]

My 19 month old usually wakes up between 8am and 9am and has for months, so I think it entirely depends on the child, rather than the age.

For contrast, my step son will get up at 6:30am without fail and he is 7.

[Hippofrog]

My 9 yr old is still snoring😮 god help him when he goes back to sleep. He has never been one for waking early even on Christmas morning I’m the one who wakes him!

[heartbrokenfool]

23 month old sleeps from approx 7.30/8 until 8am.

What time is your child going to sleep and what is their nap schedule?

[userabcname]

Ds1 used to wake at 5am every day no matter what time he went to bed or how many times he woke during the night. He's 3 now and usually wakes between 6am-7am. Sometimes 8am! Although I now have ds2 to contend with so can't enjoy those potential lie-ins.

[TakemetoGreeceplease]

Mine was 10 before he started sleeping past 6.30am, sorry OP you could be in this for the long run. Saying that once he got to 5/6 he learned to play quietly in his room until it was time to get up. In some ways early rising was a good thing as I had to be up for work early anyway and ds always bounced out of bed, no issues getting ready for school etc, it was just the weekends I would have liked to sleep later.
Now at 11 he's like a teenager and i have to wake him most days.

[MellowBird85]

Thank you for all your replies, as I thought, there’s so much contrast!

@ScarfLadysBag yes I agree about the 12 hour thing...DS is closer to 10.5. And we’ve tried putting him to bed later - makes no difference. Sigh.

@nervousnelly8 5am bless you!

[millionaireshortie]

Depends on the child. I have one who would sleep in until 10am often if we allowed (age 8) - never ever wakes me up.

And one who gets up 4.55am-6am every day NO MATTER what he eats, activity level, bedtime. I don't expect him to lie in until he hits puberty