For people with early wakers and no judgey pants, is there SOMETHING we can give them?

[MissHonkover]

It's been about 10 months of waking any time from 4.30ish to 5.15ish. We can't stand it any longer. Utterly sick of it.

Is there anything that can be prescribed or bought?

Please, I don't want to hear from anyone who says "just go to bed earlier".

kalskirata- your situation is very different. It must be awful to hqve q child waking every half hour- I can't how you do it. But the op is talking about a child who sleeps well- just not at times convenient to her mother. A very different thing. All the op has to do is adapt her behaviour tmporarily to suit her baby. Which she does not want to do.

It's all very well saying go to bed early but by the time both my 2 are down and I have tidied away the toys and cleared up the kitchen it is half 8 at earliest. I need at some time to relax with my DH as first time can do this all day. Even if I do go to bed at 9.30-10, waking up @ 4.30-5 is still sooo hard.

I really, really don't get this. Yes, going to bed early doe!'t give you the perfect evening. But surely it's better to do that,mhave enoughtnsleep and not have completely shitty mornings trying to force an awake baby to go back to sleep for two hours? It's one of those things that will fix itself in time- you can have a miserable time trying to fix it and not having headspace for anything else or an ok time waiting for it to fix. Both wil take the same amount of time- one will be ghastly- one won't. It's a no - brained.

I agree that the best thing is to stop fighting it! Dd2 was and still is a very early riser (but has progessed from 4-5 am to 5-6 am), and we tried all the suggestions made on this thread and others, but in the end found that a combination of taking it in turns, curling up under duvet watching dvd, a few early nights a week (for us) and taking it in turns to nap/have a lie in at the weekend means that we all get (just about) enough sleep.

Ds is a different matter, he is up at 4.30/5 every morning, and half the evening and several times in the night, but a lot of these are due to swallowing issues (he has sn). There really is no fighting it, but we work out ways to get all of us as much sleep as we need to stay sane - and I have learnt how to make a mean cup of rocket fuel coffee for the days where I am suffering!

DS did this at a similar age. Sometimes we could get him back to sleep, sometimes not.

It was an age where his sleep needs were changing - dropping his morning nap which took about 3'months. We dropped it too quickly, he got overtired so had to bring it back somedays and tweak bedtime. Bedtime had to be early when he went through the early phase -'6.30 some nights.

I remember being thoroughly fed up. Dh and I started doing the morning wake in shifts and give the other one a lie in for an hour or two.

Then it passed once DS had settled into one nap (about 20/21 months) and teething had calmed down (the signs are subtle in the day as he is distracted).

Now at 2.4 we get early wakings when his molars play up or if he's ill (we've given calpol in the night if bad and he sleeps longer). Also if he goes through a run of unsettled nights, I won't cut his nap because it makes it worse in the long run.

I keep seeing posts talking about melatonin. The body produces this naturally so surely it would be better to promote its natural production (in much the same way we do with seratonin and UV lights for those with SAD) than take it as a prescription? Melatonin production is triggered by the switch from daytime to night time. As it gets dark, it is secreted and helps people get to sleep naturally. So why not try exposing your LO to loads of daytime light, and also taking him/ her for a walk in the evening as it's getting dark. Seriously, it has helped lots of children re-adjust their circadian rhythms naturally and is worth a shot. I think you have to do it on a fairly regular basis though and not as a one off.

And. You got to run toddlers like dogs in the day. As hard and as fast as you can in fresh air, even cold fresh air.
on the days ds does not run like a loon, those days almost guarantee 5:30am starts.

Totally agree with that Pavlovthecat. Are you the other mummy with a lunge whip at my park?

Do you get up and stay up after your DD wakes? Our DS is 15mo and generally wakes between 4.30am and 5.30am. He sounds very similiar to your DD in that he wants to be playing and isn't really interested in watching tv. Even if I lie down for a moment he starts pulling me up.
What we do to make it more bearable is that I get up at 5am (or when he wakes) and do an hour and then at 6am I get DH up and I go back to bed. It feels much better waking at 7am even if I've been up for an hour before. Not sure if that would make you feel better.
DS changed to one nap after Christmas and for a brief few weeks at the beginning of the year he was waking after 5.30am - sometimes even 6.30am! He's gone back to waking around 5am now and it is very depressing. Am looking forward to trying a GroClock when he gets older.
To those of you who suggested putting audio books and toys in the cot do you have a nightlight in the room? DS's room has blackout blinds in the hope that will make him sleep longer.

yup that's me!

Totally agree with seeker on this. Babies will eventually sleep (or at least, be able to get through the night without needing you - I am 37 and still don't sleep through - I regularly wake for drinks of water and always have done). It's not that hard to adjust ourselves to them (unless you already have a toddler who's also up all night), and sleep-training (or drugging) seems as bad as force-feeding, in some ways.

I'm living in hope that seeker is wise and right. We had a stretch of 4 blissful weeks in January where DD1 slept in her own bed from 8pm to 6am/6.30. Then for absolutely no reason at the end of the month the wheels fell off and I've had a tough few weeks with 2 little girls having interrupted nights. I can cope with one of them not sleeping well-usually they end up in bed with us and once cuddled go back to sleep. But both not sleeping sends me crackers. I'm up and down like a yoyo and either end up with all 4 of us in bed which means I'm practically hanging into the edge, or I start off in my bed, add one child at some random hour, the get into another bed with another child an hour or so later!
Y biggest grumble the past week has been DD1 waking at silly o'clock ( 5am ish) and being very loud which then wakes DD2 and then I'm stuffed as there is no chance of them both going back to sleep!

I live in hope that DD1 will refund her sleep button. In the meantime I'm off to bed!

One of the problems with my DS waking early is he now gets approx 2 hours less sleep a day than he did a month ago. So instead of being a generally happy child he is gets tired and frustrated - often by 9am. Me going to bed early may help me cope better with him during the day but I'd love to find a solution to help him sleep better and be happier again .

Much to my surprise I've witnessed instant results with the groclock. I'm utterly amazed. For the past 2 nights DD1 has slept from 8pm to 6.30. Today she had clearly woken before the sun woke up but she stayed in her bed. Complete progress from where she was a week ago when she was waking at 5am to start the day and also sometime climbing into my bed part way through.

Call me cynical (3.5yrs of bad sleep allows me to be I think) but the test is whether this continues or whether it's a blip.

The difference in her behaviour is marked too. She's still shattered by the end of the day but we've not had complete melt-downs and no daytime snoozes either.

Now if only the antibiotics would kick in with DD2 and her chest infection and I might feel we are making progress

I found lots of exercise helped. DD had always been a very early riser but when she started to walk, and do so confidently, I've found the more exercise the better.

We walk into to town every day (she walks one way and it's about 3/4 mile) and in the afternoon after her nap we go to the park, and she walks one way - about 1/2 mile.

DD is now 18 months old and has been sleeping until about 7.30 for several months now.

Also, keeping her room warmer helps. If she does wake earlier, she plays with the toys in her cot rather than crying for attention and then drops back off to sleep until 7.30.

Have read entire thread agog.
DS is driving me potty at 5am! Agree with OP that drugs would be so much easier . Yet agree with Seeker about what will be. I was an early riser!
He is 19m

I made him walk home from CM in last daylight (circadian rhythm tip) and to wear him out more. I have put him to bed with an extra snack oat biscuit and a good talking to. Bribes about chocolate tomorrow if he stays in his bed.

Have let him choose books and a toy to put in my bedroom so he plays on his own while we sleep.
I am going to do the morning put back in bed. Repeat as nececssary, instead of DH who frankly is a soft touch! I want to try and crack it a bit before school for big sis (in reception so knackered) starts again.

Fingers crossed.
I'll update.
Thanks for all the tips.