Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Original poster

Reception child waking up far too early

34 replies

CrawlWalkRun · 09/09/2018 09:37

DS was 4 in July, he started school last week (afternoons only). His sleep has been difficult all his life, he was one of those babies who napped badly, woke constantly through the night, basically needed lots of effort to achieve any sleep at all.

He now sleeps a full night from about 7.30pm, but he wakes up so early every day - 5am some days. Any attempt to get him back to sleep is met by pleas of hunger (he always eats a decent tea the nights before), tears, shouting, and crying, which wakes the baby up and everyone else up.

A later bedtime has been tried several times and does not improve things. Has anyone found the school routine helps with sleep? Here’s hoping......

OP posts:
stellabird · 09/09/2018 09:46

From my own experience I'd say that as he does more hours at school, his sleep patterns will change. My DD was a nightmare at the same age, but once she was doing a full day at school, and sport on a few afternoons as well, she slept much later in the mornings.

One idea that you might try is a Gro-Clock or something similar which reminds the child that "it isn't time to get up yet" www.todaysparent.com/toddler/get-the-most-out-of-your-gro-clock/

Original poster
CrawlWalkRun · 09/09/2018 10:09

Thanks stellabird I’m glad it worked for your dd,, so hopefully it will for us too. We did actually have a Gro clock when he was a toddler but we gave it away as we didn’t have any luck, I think we tried it when he was too young.

He’s a happy little boy and very excited about school, but his behaviour/concentration/mood is affected when he’s tired so I just want him to have a decent night’s sleep to make the day nicer for him.

OP posts:
user789653241 · 09/09/2018 10:15

Does he have proper black out curtain that keeps him in the complete darkness in the early morning?
Can you leave some breakfast bar or something for him to eat in his room, and encourage him to stay and play in his room until appropriate time?
When my ds got up early, he used to play with lego or something in his room until we are all up.
But like pp says, they start to get more tired as school become full time and start doing some after school activities.

Original poster
CrawlWalkRun · 09/09/2018 11:19

irvine yeah, he’s got a roller blind and also black out curtains. I’m hoping the darker mornings might help as well. I’m not sure leaving a snack would work, I can see him wandering into our room and just asking to go downstairs, but it will be worth a go if nothing else works.

OP posts:
RedSkyLastNight · 09/09/2018 11:51

My experience with similar child was (sorry) that starting school made no difference at all and DS didn't start sleeping in until puberty kicked in.
We did develop coping mechanisms, so we had a rule that he couldn't get up until 7, but could read or play quietly in bed.
When he was a bit older we sais it was ok for him to get up quietly, go down stars and watch tv.

Original poster
CrawlWalkRun · 09/09/2018 12:09

redsky we do sometimes wonder if that will be the case with our DS, joking that when he’s a teen he’ll finally be in bed longer than we are!

It escalates from him stirring to him very quickly becoming tearful if he’s not allowed to get up. Then for the sake of everyone else (we have a baby DD too), either myself of DH ends up getting up with him. There hasn’t been one single occasion where he’s managed to fall back to sleep with cuddles, or when we’ve said things like ‘it’s still night time!’.....his eyes open and that’s him awake. He has a lovely evening routine of bath, teeth, stories and sleep and falls asleep quite easily any time between 7.15 and 7.45 but if he could just do an hour or two longer in the morning it would be amazing

OP posts:
FurryGiraffe · 09/09/2018 16:52

He sounds very like my DS1, who is a naturally early riser, and once he's awake, is just awake. There's no getting him back to sleep, no matter how tired he is. For years the idea of him sleeping through till six am seemed a distant dream (even if he had a really late night). We found things improved hugely between 4 and 4 1/2. Possibly exhausted by school or possibly just sleep development- who can tell?! He still rarely sleeps past 6.15 though.

DS2 though, is a natural night owl and will merrily sleep till 9 if up late the night before.

Millybingbong · 09/09/2018 17:07

I think this is pretty normal. Once they are awake then they are awake.

You train them to stay in their room until a time you consider civilised. A few mornings of tears until he gets the new routine is annoying but after that it is zzz zzz 😴 all the way

Yura · 09/09/2018 17:14

My oldest was similar to yours. he started sleeping through at around 4 years old...
But since his first half term he sleeps 7:30 to 6:00 each bight, sometimes even 6:30. it took a couple if weeks in reception but things have improved massively (he's now in year 1)

Yura · 09/09/2018 17:17

(to the people recommending just letting them cry - bad sleepers aren't bad sleepers for no reason, mine for example got awful night terrors when he wasn't absolutely sure somebody would come if he called - think terrified child in absolute panic)

DunesOfSand · 09/09/2018 17:21

Hmmm, sorry. Mine is 8, and still wakes between 5 and half past.

TittyGolightly · 09/09/2018 17:30

We had the opposite issue. The night before starting full time school (aged 3) DD finally went to sleep at about 11pm (she’s a night owl). A couple of weeks later she was going to sleep at about 9:30pm.

So they do kinda sort it out themselves. I guess early waking is the price of getting the evening to yourself.

TittyGolightly · 09/09/2018 17:31

At almost 8 DD is just about adjusting to her 7:30am wake up time. She sleeps till 8:30-9am on weekends.

1forsorrow2forjoy · 09/09/2018 17:41

I have an 8 yr oldDD. It makes no difference what time she goes to bed, what she does in the day etc she is always up between 5 and 6 ( usually a lot closer to 5). Thankfully she is old enough now to get herself some breakfast and watch the TV!

Kardashianlove · 09/09/2018 18:39

I would try the gro-clock again and just use whatever techniques you can to get him to stay in bed until you feel it’s acceptable. The same way you would if he tried to get up at 2/3/4am.
At least if he’s not sleeping, he’s lying quietly ‘resting’ rather than being up for the day which may help his mood. In time, his body might adjust to sleeping longer/going back to sleep.

Original poster
CrawlWalkRun · 09/09/2018 18:42

Thanks everyone. He loves his Duplo at the moment and gets really into building stuff, so I might suggest that he plays with that quietly in his room until say 6.30am if he wakes up horribly early. He was up early this morning, and we went out to an outdoor wildlife place this afternoon - he fell asleep in the car en route and then was disinterested and grumpy when we arrived, not great to see when it’s his first full day of school tomorrow!

1forsorrow that’s the dream! I loved getting up before my mum when I was a kid Grin sitting watching cartoons and eating my Krispies was a total luxury! Grin

OP posts:
Kardashianlove · 09/09/2018 20:01

Will he go back to sleep if you go and lie with him? I’d say getting up and playing with duplo isn’t going to help him with the tiredness issue.

I would maybe say he has to stay in bed until whatever time you think isn’t too early for him. Maybe just do 15 mins later every few days so he gets used to it gradually.

Or putting him to bed at 6.30/7?

Leyani · 10/09/2018 01:32

Mine did this for a few weeks. I think maybe it was all the newness, lots to process. It definitely got better after a few weeks which was a relief as he was fairly grumpy as always tired. And then of course all the pre-Christmas excitement kicked in and he was too excited again to sleep longer.

DunesOfSand · 10/09/2018 04:31

Umm, if you do toys in the room, you also need to set a minimum time to get up.
So, maybe stay in bed til 6, stay in room quietly til 7?
Otherwise, you will find him waking earlier and earlier to play.

icklekid · 10/09/2018 04:41

Ds is same age starting reception and we have persevered with gro clock which now goes yellow at 6. We started at 5.15 and worked later and later. He now wakes around 5.45-6.15 but if it's any earlier we don't know because he doesn't come into our room before then. I often leave for gym at 6 so take him downstairs and put TV on/ give him breakfast. I hope school will help but I think he's going to be horribly over tired for at least a term to get through before that helps. Dd is 2 and will sleep past 7.30 so I don't think it's us just how he is.

icklekid · 10/09/2018 04:42

Oh meant to add if he wakes before it's yellow he has a bedside light he puts on and he can play with toy car or read books. He also likes to open his curtains and look out the windkw!

Original poster
CrawlWalkRun · 10/09/2018 08:21

Kardashianlove no, sadly he doesn’t, he lost fidgets and keeps chattering away, waking himself up more in the process.

I’ve just ordered a Gro clock....

OP posts:
Stormzyandme · 10/09/2018 08:26

I watched a programme on this once, & the solution was to bring bedtime to earlier.

I tried it with DD & it worked. It takes about 3 nights, so dont give up!

You could start it on Friday night, in case he wakes up early Saturday.

Its definately worth a try.

GuestWW · 10/09/2018 12:46

My daughter was very similar. She is now 11 and if it is any conciliation she is still an early riser, 6:30am ish. This is a GREAT thing now, she gets much more out of her days and I don't hassle her to get out of bed like I do her sister.

Longer term he just might be one of those people who doesn't need as much sleep and my experience is that is a good thing. But it is impossibly hard when they are little.

palindromeam · 10/09/2018 13:51

I feel your pain. I hope the gro clock works. It never did for us - they eventually worked out how to reset it and make the bloody sun come up at a time to suit them.

We've finally got to a place where DS will stay in his room reading until 7am when he appears in our room. He's just turned 10.

Now pinning my hopes on puberty!