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Sleep

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Original poster

Help. DS nearly 7 years has started waking at 5:30 a.m. every day for the last 2 weeks. What can I do?

20 replies

clumsymum · 18/07/2006 22:22

I'm tired, he's knackered. he seems to be getting more and more tired, I'm getting him to bed by 7:30 now, but he won't settle until he's had a read and so on.

He started this before the very hot weather started. I'm really wanting to get him back to his former routine of between 6:45 - 7:30 but don't know how. I used to think that was too early, esp at weekends, but now I'm at my wits-end, esp as he wants to come and talk to me, and I'm not good at mornings (dh away during the week).

OP posts:

bluejelly · 18/07/2006 22:29

My dd aged 6 was given a clock and told not to wake me before 7am. Amazingly she didn't, she reads in her room till then. Have you tried this approach? Maybe even put a snack out for him?
NB My dd only sleeps 10 hours a night if your son is going to bed at 7.30 quite likely to wake up early...

Original poster

clumsymum · 18/07/2006 22:32

But if he stays up later, he still wakes at 5:30, just is ratty and horrid, I've moved bed forward so he can get enough sleep. otherwise he gets in trouble at school.

He used to let us sleep in, when he woke at 6:45 ish, but just at the moment he won't leave me alone. That's one reason I'm so bothered.

OP posts:

bluejelly · 18/07/2006 22:42

Have you tried sticker charts, he can choose a toy at the end of the week if he hasn't woken you up before 7. In a way doesn't matter if he;s awake as long as he doesn't wake you.

Things will prob get better when the weather cools down too...

Much sympathy though I hate early starts

Original poster

clumsymum · 18/07/2006 22:47

Oh Bluejelly, I've done stickercharts and promising treats etc till I'm blue in the face. He's going thru a major defiant phase at the moment, and is being impossible to reason with. Partly cos he's tired (and partly cos I am too, off to bed now)

OP posts:

bluejelly · 18/07/2006 22:50

Oh sorry to hear that. What about ( shhhhh.... don't tell anyone) a tv in his bedroom?
Prob bad idea but when things get desperate I reckon you've got to think through all options
hope you have a better morning tomorrow

soapbox · 18/07/2006 22:53

I think an hour and a half is much too long to expect a 7yo to last before waking you. It would seem like an absolute age to a child that age.

I'd start in tiny little bits - first week not allowed to wake you before 5.45, second week 6m, 3rd week 6.15 and 4th week 6.30. And I think 6.30 is a reasonable time to get up, if he's been awake since 5.30.

Been through loads of these phases with my DCs, they do eventually pass

Original poster

clumsymum · 19/07/2006 10:49

I know soapbox, but I am trying to get him to stop waking so early, and hope that if I impose a rule of 7:00 he might let himself go back to sleep until later.

I just want him to get back to his routine of a few weeks ago, sleeping time was 8:00 p.m., and he woke somewhere between 6:30 and 7:15.

This started after we had one disrupted weekend for my sister's 50th birthday, and he stayed up one night until midnight.

And bluejelly, T.V. in his room .... OVER MY DEAD BODY.

OP posts:

tracyk · 19/07/2006 10:53

I reckon it must be a phase. ds is just over 2 and has been waking between 4.45 and 5.45am for the past month or so. When I mention it to anyone else - they all say - mine too! so I guess it must be the time of year? hopefully they will go back to sleeping later once it gets cooler/darker in the mornings.

Bozza · 19/07/2006 10:57

Personally I think you should be strict. He is not getting enought sleep. My DS is 5. He has a light on a timer in his room. It comes on at 7. He is not allowed to get up before that other than to go to the toilet.

trinityrhino · 19/07/2006 10:58

put a digital clock in his room and tell him he can't get up until the first number saysw......whatever you choose

be strict he's old enough to understand and he needs his sleep

Original poster

clumsymum · 19/07/2006 11:23

Cheers Bozza and Trinity.

I am being strict, last night I said if he woke me before 7 he would not go to his friend's house, nor watch any telly before school.

He came in to me at 6:08, 6:30 and at 6:40. When we came downstainrs I upheld the no telly rule. Major meltdown ensued, I locked myself in the bathroom and had a shower while he yelled and kicked the door for a while.

Eventually he calmed down and I came out, got him some breakfast and went to get dressed while he thought about his behaviour.

I wonder if tomorrow will be better.

OP posts:

Bozza · 19/07/2006 11:24

Sounds hard. Stick to it though.

trinityrhino · 19/07/2006 11:25

should be better quite soon, at that age he will realise tht you mean business quickly

Original poster

clumsymum · 19/07/2006 11:30

He's very cross because he can't control this situation ATM. I think some of the business of waking me is that it is one area he has control over right now.

I have episodes every few months with him when he tries to take control. It's a hard fight, but I've always won so far.

No one warned me about these mind games before I conceived

OP posts:

bluejelly · 19/07/2006 11:34

Good that you are being strict -- are you also being very positive about the things he is getting right and doing well?
( A Dr Tanya Byron tip)
My dd's behaviour has been challenging recently- I think part of it is being very tired, end of term etc

nooka · 19/07/2006 11:53

One thing we have noticed makes a difference is making sure they have enough to eat before they go to bed, as especially in this heat they may be eating less and then waking up hungry. My two have always been under strict instructions that they are not allowed to disturb me before 7am, and no TV at the weekends (which is when they are inclined to get up early) until 7.30. I am a very grouchy early morning person! I find that they can occupy themselves quite happily without me for considerable times now (at 5 and 7). I make sure that drinks and snacks are easily available, and that they know what they can and can't have. But I think having two of them helps. The other thing we have done is made sure that the curtains in their room are thick, so that the light doesnt wake them up. Good luck with the firmness. In the long term you will all benefit, but it is hard!

Original poster

clumsymum · 19/07/2006 20:27

Nooka, he has always had a blackout blind. My prob at the moment is that I have just got him dry at night, so his bladder wakes him, he goes to the bathroom and discovers it's light. It's impossible to black out the whole house (if I could I would).

As I say, we had a system that worked for a while, he won't do it now.

OP posts:

Bozza · 19/07/2006 21:22

I think 7 is old enough for you to explain that because it is light it does not mean it is time to get up yet and about how it gets light earlier in the summer. I think some sort of definite trigger like a clock or light might help also. My DS has been taking himself to the toilet and then back to bed (in dark or light) since he was just 4 so it is possible.

MamaG · 19/07/2006 21:23

Haven't read the other replies, but I have a DD the same age - she is told in no uncertain terms that she must wait in her room until I got get her in the morning - she can go to the loo tho!

She's allowed to read or play quietly.

Legacy · 19/07/2006 21:29

DS1 (6) is also doing the 5.30 thing at the moment. He is under strict instrcutions that he cannot go downstairs before 6.30, but must stay in his room & read, do lego, whatever.

This morning I heard him go to the loo at 5.30, then back to his room. DH & I woke up at 7.00 to find that he and DS2 (4) had been up for 1.5 hours, both got dressed (DS1 got DS2's clothes out for him ) and had also had breakfast (cereal, which they're allowed to do...)

I was gobsmacked - DS2 has never got himself dressed before!!

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