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Original poster

The early rising, when did it end?

49 replies

houseargh · 28/01/2023 07:10

Not looking for advice, because honestly, we've tried it all. DD sleeps 9.5 hours on a good night. We aim for 8 - 5.30 as that gives us the best balance of some evening time plus survivable mornings. But not infrequently she does less and wakes up before that. This morning it was 4.45, coming on the back of a long and exhausting week at work, and my turn to get up with her. She doesn't even want to watch cartoons today but is determined to have me read the same book over and over / climb all over me / whinge about the temperature of her cup of milk, so I can't even mentally check out. We've got a big day with no chance of a nap (for me at least) later and I'm feeling super down about it.

If you had an early riser, when did it end for you? Either because they started waking up at a human hour, or what age did you stop getting up with them? Honestly thought it would be at least a bit better by now (2yrs, 4m).

OP posts:

CatOnTheChair · 28/01/2023 08:18

IMO, never.
They just get to the point where when you wake up at 7am on a Saturday, your teen has made pancakes for everyone for breakfast! But apparently teens shouldn't be awake yet......

Life got much better at 4 and 6 (as a pair) when they were trusted to be able to read a clock - we found DS1 watching TV at 4am one day.... and so were sent down stairs alone for an hour or so to have breakfast ad watch TV without an adult.

But yes, they will either start sleeping later, or not need you first thing. It will get better one way or the other.

Everydayitsgettingcloser · 28/01/2023 08:21

We never had any success with the "treat it like a night wake" thing - I would be interested in more detail from those who have made it work.

When we have tried it, basically our kids have just cried solidly until the time we set for morning. I don't know if the people it works for just persisted for longer but we did do it for 2-3 weeks at least and not once did our kids go back to sleep. The problem we had was that for them it wasn't a night waking, it was morning, and no amount of being told it was night time made them feel differently.

We have more success with the gro clock - they don't go back to sleep but they stay in their rooms until 6:15 or so which we can live with. DS2 is less compliant but he does broadly go along with it. It was like magic for DS1, though he now (at 6) sleeps till 7 naturally

tanqueray10 · 28/01/2023 08:21

Probably around age 7 for my chronic early riser. It was hard going but he’s nearly 10 now and I regularly have to wake him and drag him out of bed for school. Hang on in there x

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Boneweary · 28/01/2023 08:22

Same @Everydayitsgettingcloser

I am not sure he’d fully understand a Gro clock, maybe in a few months.

Matleavemummy · 28/01/2023 08:24

Hi @houseargh I know you didn’t ask for advice but she might need to stop napping. You say in your post there’s no chance of a nap today, so try putting her to be earlier then 8pm and see what happens.

is she still in a cot? If so agree that anything before 6am is too early and don’t go and get her.

Sleepwalkingintothewall · 28/01/2023 08:25

6-7 for my dc1. Dc2 (3) still wakes at 4-5 daily.

hopsalong · 28/01/2023 08:51

I wouldn't say she's an early riser. She's a short sleeper. Some adults have about that much sleep at night and they also would be awake at 4:30 if going to bed at 8pm.

My older son is like this. I think it is rare in a child of that age.

If you want to stop the early rising you need to cut out any day-time sleep. He gave up his nap before he was 2, after six months of nursery trying to get him to lie down with the little ones. His younger brother (a 'normal' sleeper was still out for the count every afternoon at 3). Then you can put her to bed at that time and she'll stay in till 6:30 or so for a few more years.

At that point she will probably be able to read and/or go down and put the TV on. My older son now reads in bed from 8:30 to 10 and gets up between 6:30 and 7.

EsmeShelby · 28/01/2023 08:53

Never stopped just got old enough to entertain himself. Brings us tea now

lyson · 28/01/2023 08:57

Boneweary · 28/01/2023 07:42

The problem with treating anything before 6 as a night wake is that if they are awake, then they are awake. DS generally sleeps through but he does occasionally wake in the night. If that happens I go in, reassure him and go out again. It’s fine. Do that at 545 and it just doesn’t work! He’s ready to get up.

So I am looking forward to this ending too, but it isn’t forever, in the meantime, thank god for CBeebies.

Yeah they're awake but you don't need to encourage it by getting them up. You encourage them to stay in bed for a bit, just a few minutes and increasingly they'll learn

lyson · 28/01/2023 08:58

Boneweary · 28/01/2023 07:42

So I am looking forward to this ending too, but it isn’t forever, in the meantime, thank god for CBeebies.

I mean yeah 5:45 I'd get them up

Panda368 · 28/01/2023 09:00

We had no luck with the grow clock but got a yoto which has helped loads.

4 year old has gone from waking at 4.45-5.30 to between 6 and 7 which is manageable.

many time he gets up before 6.10 and he gets taken back to bed. If he can’t sleep then he listens to a story in his room until it’s time to get up
i think some kids are just early risers though

paintitallover · 28/01/2023 09:01

I had one like this. After a month of it I started to put him back to bed, and thankfully it worked. I first did it on a morning he was super irritable.

BoringLittleMe · 28/01/2023 09:04

After about the age of 3, or maybe 3 1/2, DC went from anywhere between 4:30-6am to now around 6am consistently. DC is 4 now.

tired40 · 28/01/2023 09:05

DS is now 17. I could still count on one hand the number of times he has slept past 6am. It only got better when he was old enough to keep himself entertained.

Thatsnotmybee · 28/01/2023 09:32

The Gro clock worked for a bit, but DS is now 3.5 and has worked out how to unlock it and change it back to yellow!

My policy is now if it's pre 6am he gets put back to bed, post 6am I let him get in with us and at 6.30 generally shove him my phone to play on the CBeebies app which buys me 15 minutes!

Blendandmix · 28/01/2023 09:36

I read somewhere that if they wake at 4/5 it's due to temperature? Worth a try!

lyson · 28/01/2023 09:51

Blendandmix · 28/01/2023 09:36

I read somewhere that if they wake at 4/5 it's due to temperature? Worth a try!

Yes definitely can be. I have an oil radiator in my baby's room, really helps

MaverickGooseGoose · 28/01/2023 10:00

Well mine are 11 and still get up at 6 regardless of what time they go to bed. Obviously self sufficient in the mornings now but when they were babies before 5 was normal and fucking horrific. Just how they are wired.

CatSoupKitchen · 28/01/2023 10:00

I had a 5am riser until she started reception and was a bit more tired at the end of the day, so started waking around 6:30.

It changed again around age 11 to 8/9pm-7/8am.

Workinghardeveryday · 28/01/2023 10:11

You have my sympathy @houseargh

my dd17 was like this, we just accepted it until the twins came along.

I sat her down and explained in detail very kindly how sleep is so important for everyone including us.

I told her going forward as we are awake most of the night with the twins, if she wakes before 6.30 (she has one of those things you can buy in her room that lets her know if it’s time to get up or go back to sleep), then she is to try to go back to sleep or read a book etc.

It worked.

Workinghardeveryday · 28/01/2023 10:12

Lol she wasn’t 17 at the time she was older than your dd, she was 5 just. Wish I had done it years before though

Original poster

houseargh · 02/02/2023 13:58

Thanks all (and sorry for very slow response - hate those post and leave threads, but looooooong week!). Sounds like a total mixed bag - I'm going to go ahead and REALLY hope she's one of those 'it gets better around 3' kids, but not hold my breath...

To the person who asked when it started - day 1 really. I can count on my two hands the number of times she has woken up at a time that started with the number 6, and even when I was feeding her to sleep I knew that for any night waking/feed after about 4am she wouldn't properly fall back asleep, just doze on me, so I'd have to sit up in bed with her for the next couple of hours.

And yep, she is definitely on the lower end of the scale of overnight sleep duration (though within the normal range according to NHS / health visitors, so I'm not concerned - only on mumsnet do they all seem to do 12 hours overnight). But we value our toddler-free evenings so really don't want to put her down later than 8pm, and we don't gain an hour for an hour IYSWIM - I could put her down an hour later and she might wake up 30 mins later - not really worth it.

Will definitely be ordering a gro-clock and really hoping she's one of the ones it works for. She's in a cot still (thank god) but for future will also consider the Yoto tip because yeah - when she's up she's definitely up, so will need something to do. The whole 'treat it like a night waking' thing hasn't worked for us (or when it does, it takes half an hour to get her down and then she wakes up again half an hour later....)

Have been umming and ahhing about dropping the nap - she seems to still really need it. And every now and then she'll go through a phase of waking up at 5.45 instead of 4.45 so I am hopeful things might slowly improve regardless. It also hasn't made a difference on the odd days she hasn't napped, and while I know you need to try sleep things for a couple of weeks to see an effect, it feels like there's no going back from a fortnight with no naps so I am hesitant! But I guess that's the next thing to try if we make no progress in the next couple of months...

On the plus side, she woke up at 5.15 today, instead of 4.30... I'll take that 5:... when I see it now!

OP posts:

BabyB2022 · 02/02/2023 15:50

lyson · 28/01/2023 07:38

We also treated anything before 6am as a night wake

We do the same, sorted out her early rising and now sleeps until 6.30/7 unless she naps for too long!

sunflowerandivy · 02/02/2023 16:29

Camillialane · 28/01/2023 07:28

When we got the Gro Clock and started treating any wake-up before 7am as a night time wake up.

Yeah, groclock helped a lot. At around 3 years old. She woke at 5am from 8 months until 2.5 years old, then it settled to 6-7 after the nap drop but then creeped earlier until we needed gro clock

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