Warm milk logistics / early riser

[MontanaView]

So my DS is 5 and an early riser around 5.30/6am. He has a gro clock which is set to 6am, any later than that and he's coming into our room every 5 mins asking when he can get up, which is worse than just getting up with him!

He is sometimes happy to take himself downstairs and watch TV but usually wants one of us with him (understandable) and most importantly for him, he likes/needs a cup of warm milk to start his day.

I don't really want to hear how he's way too old to have warm milk, or we should have nipped this in the bud a long time ago or whatever.

I'm just wondering if there is a safe way he can get his own warm milk to buy us an extra 15 mins in bed. (And yes, I'm probably a terrible mum and I should leave my husband to boot.)

We normally do it in the microwave but I'm not comfortable letting him do that by himself. Would it keep in a flask overnight? I assume that might be a bit gross after 8 hours but has anyone done this?

Baby bottle warmer?

(Sorry, I know he’s not having it in the baby bottle - I just meant warm it in a bottle in the bottle warmer then tip into a cup? I don’t have a 5yo yet so not sure how practical that is!)

That's an amazing idea! I've never used one before, I assume they just heat it to a safe temp so that's good. He might be able to unscrew a bottle and tip it into a cup competently (but never underestimate the ways in which a 5 year old can surprise you with new ways to make a mess!)

what is your concern with a microwave? My 5 year old can use the microwave for something like that. Can have a cup in fridge night before so all he has to do is transport it to microwave and know how long to count to. We use count to 10 for everything here so simple to remember and little opportunity for things to become too hot.

My son is accident prone!

We usually just press the '30 seconds' button but it's easy to press twice and end up with super heated milk.

Good idea about putting it in the night before so he wouldn't have to do the pouring bit at least.

He can operate the microwave just worry about him accidentally doing it for 3 minutes or something and scalding himself.

Would one of the insulated bottle holders work? Make it really hot just before you go to bed and leave it in the holder, and see how it is in the morning?

Obviously you’d need to do a test run to make sure it was still nice to drink etc, but those insulated holders are great for keeping things warm for hours.

Yeah this is what I don't know - is warm milk safe to drink after being left like that?

My 5yo is up early every single day. I just get up with him. Couldn't trust him to be left on his own in the living room. They are teenagers before you know it and you won't be able to wake them before noon!

My eldest is almost 16yo and it's so difficult to wake him up if we need to be up really early.

Sounds a bit like how I make yogurt. I wouldn’t like to drink it.

I know, and I do 99% of the time and accept this. But he's a sensible kid and fine in the living room by himself.... just sometimes when I need a bit more rest would be good!

I think he will always be an early riser, lots of my family are, I am too but don't like to HAVE to leap out of bed. And if you go down with him to make the milk he won't let you go back to bed!

DD on the other hand is 2 and I already have to drag her out if bed at 7.30am for nursery. She'll be a nightmare in her teens!

I wonder if you could do a second milk alarm type thing.

He knows he can't get up until the grow clock alarm. He's old enough to understand that he can't have his milk until you're up. Have a second clock downstairs or if he's watching CBeebies say he can have it after a set cartoon.

We use CBeebies as a time measure in the morning. The kids know that breakfast is during second Bluey and go Jetters. Going out wees for school after Peter rabbit.

Guess you could try the insulated cups for coffee

Dh will make his at 7am and if been. Busy May not drink all of it and will be warm /tepid once home 12hrs later

Or trust with a microwave

My now 6 but was 5yr would microwave for hot chocolate under
My supervision and can do it ok on her own

She knows to press the button once and 30sec to come up

She also knows twice is too hot

At 5 teach him to use a real clock and yes time to kick the warm milk on the head to be honest. Put his milk in a cup in the fridge, he can help himself to that if he's thirsty or tell him you get up at 8am on weekends! He'll adjust quickly

That's a great idea. He can go downstairs when his gro clock is up but then he knows that mummy and daddy don't get up until the second signal/a certain time.

In this scenario I could always put the cup of cold milk in the fridge and if he's desperate he can just drink it cold. He does drink cold milk at school.

Yes on teaching him to use the clock and also yes, maybe at least on weekends we put the milk in the cup in the fridge and he can wait or not wait. It's right, at some point his need for warm milk may have to give and take with our need for rest! He was sleeping later for a few days after the clock change and it was bliss. I was in a much better mood!

I don’t think there is an age where children become too old for a cup of milk in the morning.
I have always drunk milk in the mornings and now I’m in my early thirties.
For a good chunk of my children that cup of milk was poured on my cereal. Then as a teen I liked a cup of hot chocolate in the morning. As an adult, I like a milky coffee.
It doesn’t make any difference to the milk from a nutritional perspective whether you drink it cold on cereal or warm in a cup. My kids will be allowed to drink milk in the mornings as long they want.

Suggest cold milk for summer maybe OP? And then revisit the microwave thing in the autumn?
You can’t leave milk at that gently warm temperature overnight, it will curdle.

Yes, that's a good shout.