I have an early riser. Those clocks.. Do they really work? Tell me your stories.

[peachygirl]

We have resisted buying one up to now.

DD1 (3.6) and DD2 (11 months) are in together.

DD1 has always been an early riser and it looks like DD2 is going that way too. We have black out liners on the curtains and have bought one of those exra 'stick on' black out blinds which has helped a bit.

We are finding the monrnings 5- 5.30 am most days very draining.
In fact DH has been sleeping lots on the sofa bed for this reason. Girls coming into our room very early!

So now we are wondering if we should try one of those clocks - the ones with the eyes??

Do they work??

Do you mean the rabbit one with the eyes that open?

We don't have that one as the reviews I read said that when the eyes open, they do so with a loud "click" which would wake the child if they'd managed to sleep up until the 'wake up' time so you had absolutely no chance of a lie in while using it. We got the Grobag Clock instead which has a LCD screen with a sun/moon on it to show the sleep/wake-up time.

I would say they do work as long as you are strict with them at first. We had a couple of weeks of taking DS back to bed repeatedly until the clock changed to the sun symbol to show it was time to get up before he understood that he had to wait for it before he could get up.

A good tip we got was to start off setting the clock earlier than you would like to get up and close to thier normal wake-up time so that they don't get bored waiting for the sunshine symbol and come to find you anyway. That way, you can have a few days of praising them for getting up at the 'right' time before you start putting the time forward in small increments until you reach the time you'd like to start the day.

The Grobag clock also comes with a story book which explains the clock to the children in a fun way that they can understand. I think it helped DS.

We had one like the gro bag clock but with a picture of a rabbit either in bed or skipping off to school. It worked particularly well when the rabbit brought the children a wee treat for sleeping until he was ready to get up ; )

rabbit clock dreadful, inaccurate and DD1 just woke the bunny up herself when she wanted to get up

the gro clock is v good. worked for DD1 and the book helped. you do have to be consistent, and strict. they might wake up early but have to learn it isn't acceptable to get up, and that lying in bed resting is beneficial for them. DD1 was a 5am girl, we didn't let her up before 6 and then now gradually have got her to 7. Sometimes she gets up a bit earlier than 7 (now aged 6) but doesn't wake anyone.

Hiya we got a gro clock, as we heard bad things about the rabbit clock. Worked wonders on our 2.5 year old. She loves it! She is always awake at the same early time, but sees the clock and either settles herself back to sleep or reads stories in bed until 'the sun comes up'. Would recommend. Also, my friend uses fairy lights on a timer, as her son is only 18 months and doesn't get the clock concept

We've used several things for our 3. Eldest had a light-up globe on a timer and he wasn't to get out of bed till the 'sun came up' (globe lit up).
At the moment it's ds2 who wakes at 5.30. He needs a night light so we have fairy lights on all night ('stars' - on the ceiling) and he can't get up til the stars go out.
As AlCrowley and amidaiwish say, you have to be strict at first and insist they go back to bed.

We have the rabbit clock, don't waste your money. DS just gets up and wakes the bunny up himself. Times are not accurate and it is a v. loud "snap" noise when it wakes.

We have this one

• kidsleep - on john lewis website

It works very well, better as she got older but started about 2.5. We got from 5.30 to 7.00 in about 4 months. Very gradually!

However, I paid £23 and I note it now costs £39 bloody rip off for plastic made in china.
Also, don't plug it in a partition wall, the plug buzzes and makes a noise, but the clock itself is silent. (unless you click onto the alarm clock which cocka doodle doohs your children into a heart attack!)

I would recommend it. Not at £39 tho - go to ebay!

Oh and do as Alcrowly says about bumping it forward, this is how we did it too.