Early rising toddler. DREADING the clocks going back - anyone else??

[Babayaggatheboneylegged]

My daughter is 25 months and has always been an early riser. When the clocks went forward this spring, I hoped it would 'cure' her from a 6am wake-up time to 7am (which has always been THE DREAM.)

However, after two days she reverted to 6am again, and since then, apart from a couple of tantalising weeks mid-summer where she was waking up close to 7, she's typically been waking any time from 5-6am.

I cannot STAND waking up before 6. Anything after that I could just about cope with, but as it stands, when the clocks change, we are now looking at her waking up 4-5am. NO NO NO.

I have tried putting her to bed late in the hope that she'll wake up later SO many times, and it never, ever works. We recently went on holiday for a week where she stayed up late a lot - sometimes going to bed between 9 & 10pm, but she still woke at around 6am the next day.

Typically she goes to sleep between 7.30 & 8pm. I've been trying to make it 7.30 religiously for the past few nights, but she's still been getting up before 6.

She does still usually have a daytime nap, but on Saturday didn't have one (and seemed chirpy enough) and I thought, SURELY she will sleep later, because incredibly I haven't yet learned not to get my hopes up, and she still woke at 5.55am.

We have a GloClock, which we have been trying to use, but to be honest she doesn't give a shit about it. She just wants to get up. This morning, at 5.30, I was trying to explain to her how it was still nighttime, and we needed the clock to be yellow before we got up, and she just looked at me hopefully and said, 'DINOSAURS?!'

Is there anything left to try? I feel like I've tried earlier bedtimes (although am too scared to try a really early bedtime, and as I work FT, we don't get in from nursery until 6pm, then have to have dinner, bath etc so I don't know how early we could realistically manage). I've tried later bedtimes, I've tried messing about with naps, I've tried a GloClock, and nothing seems to work!

I've thought about trying the Wake to Sleep method, but not sure if she's too old for that to work?

Anybody else in the same boat or been in the same boat and fixed the problem? I am feeling desperate!

At 25 months I'd be inclined to leave her be. Put a stair gate on her door and let her play. If she yells for you, just go in and tell her that "Mummy is sleeping, it's still sleepytime". Personally I'd ask her to get back into bed and say night night until you're ready to get up. but I'm a hard bitch

Think you just need to accept it and move on.

She's 25 months old, doesn't give a fig about your gro clock or telling her what time is the 'correct' time to waken.

As far as she's concerned, if she's awake then that's just the amount of sleep she needs.

I'd say try to get her to bed earlier. DS (now 4) was a staunch 5.30am riser until I put his bedtime back to 630. I work FT and had to change my hours to facilitate leaving early enough to get it all done, but he now sleeps past 630 every morning and has done for almost a year now. More sleep = more sleep. Good luck.

I have no advice.
My 19mo dd wakes, crying for me, at 5am (or 4am). So i too, am dreading the clocks going back.
The next person who asks me if i have considered blackout blinds might get one, rolled up.
DS started to sleep until 6 or 7 when he was about 3.
Not sure if i will survive that long tbh. I feel like my brain has been shredded and fried.

But earlier bedtimes (7 rather than 8), an hour of downtime before bed and a decent daytime nap have all helped to reduce/ eliminate her night wakings.

No advice just sympathy. My DD is exactly the same, I could have written your post. Your line about the Groclock made me lol, same here...I had such high hopes and she couldn't give a toss!

Oh god, me too. I should be thankful that ds now sleeps through from 7 after a year of 2 hourly wakings, but the thought of hearing him at 430 from the end of oct makes me shudder. Same here with blackout blinds. He's got one hell of an internal clock.

I'm dreading the clocks changing.

Yuk. I REFUSE to start the day before 6. If my DD (who is 23 months) wakes before then I treat it the same as if she woke in the night and either leave her or settle her and put her back down. If she wails I leave her for a bit before going back in and repeating the same. Would that work?

I am in the same hellish boat. I have tried everything you mention with my 22 month old. Wake to sleep on two occasions, once for about 4 days, then a few weeks later as he got a cold I started again for 6 horrible nights. No change. Just 'bix, bix' wanting weetabix at 5.10 to 5.50am most days.
I think the only thing to do is keep re-settling them until your designated acceptable getting up time as someone above says. I haven't persisted with that one as my 3 year old would wake up and that's just game over for everyone.

I think that they'll just get used to the new time and revert back to the usual waking after a few days, I had high hopes that my ds would start regularly waking an hour later (7 instead of 6) but after 2 days he was waking at 6 again I think it was because breakfast, lunch, nap at nursery was all the same so he just readjusted.

He goes through stages of waking at different times anywhere between 5.30 (I refuse to get up until at least 6) and 7.45 (this was a magical time in the summer, no idea why he woke so late for such a long time but it was lovely!) now he wakes at 6.20 pretty consistently so hopefully when the clocks go back that won't become 5.20 zzzzz

Im having some (minor) success.
DD has been waking up through the night (teething and a cold) and then always awake at 5. So she is still waking with the cold, but now i can get her to go back to sleep at 5 and this morning she slept until 6.
Praying for more progress.

Who ever thought 6am would be a lie-in...!!?!?!

I just used to get up -play for a bit and start the day or bring her into my bed, turn on side light and read books.

when she started sleeping later-I still hot up early so I could have a coffee in peace.

It is a stage that does pass -in some children -yes ds I am talking about you -still up at 6 but at the age of 10 doesn't wake me until 6:30 weekdays and 7 at weekends

When ROAR told me I’ve just got to suck it up I thought, ‘humph!’ but after another week where she seemed to be waking in ever earlier increments, to the point where 5.45 would’ve felt like the lie-in of luxury, I’ve decided that it’s just not going to get better and I DO need to take a different approach.

Leaving her to it isn’t really an option because she quickly becomes hysterical and starts screaming the house down, which isn’t conducive to us getting any more sleep, probably isn't very nice for her, and as we live in a terraced house, probably isn’t that kind to the neighbours either.

Also can’t rearrange my working life to get her to bed earlier unfortunately, although I am keen to try earlier bedtimes at weekends to see if that has an effect.

So this week I’ve decided to reorder my life in a bid to make 5am starts feel less torturous. Last night I was in bed by 9.45am. DD woke at 4.45 (nngh – her room was quite cold, silly mistake on my part!) I got her to resettle until 5.15, then she woke up for good at 5.45.

By 6am I was preparing tonight’s dinner for the slow cooker. And we all had a nice relaxing breakfast together of poached eggs on toast. And coffee. STRONG coffee. My plan from now on is to prep dinner in the morning, so that all I’ve got to do in the evening is get her to bed, eat dinner, tidy and wash up. This morning I was letting the novelty of this experiment run away with me and imagining doing early morning baking and all sorts! (There is a ricktus grin on my face as I type this, cos I really REALLY have to convince myself that this getting up early business is a GOOD. THING.)

And at weekends, pre-6.30am I'm going to try sticking Peppa Pig on the iPad and putting it in her cot, which does sometimes buy us an extra 45mins to an hour if we're lucky.

Ever the optimist, we’re planning on buying her a big girl’s bed this weekend, and there is part of me that is grasping at straws wondering if that will help? Taking her into our bed never works (think it’s too much disruption and by the time we get her in there, she just wants to get up and go downstairs) but maybe if one of us could crawl in beside her she might be more likely to settle back down? Not that I imagine we’d get any sleep doing that, but hey, we’re not getting any sleep as it is!

p.s. TheRealAmanda, I totally know what you mean about the blackout blinds. If anything, the darker the mornings have been, the earlier my child has been waking up!

Has she got a pillow? Weirdly it really seemed to work to give my DD's something to cuddle into.

If she's a crack of dawn riser I'd avoid any sign of a big girls bed until after the clocks go back. Can you get her used to a duvet/blanket in her cot? Being a bit warmer might help too.

Hmm, could something as simple as a pillow really be the answer?! She does sleep with various cuddly toys, but sometimes when I try to encourage her to snuggle into those it's like she cottons on that I'm trying to get her back to sleep and it really narks her!

She normally sleeps either in a sleeping bag or under a fleecy blanket at the moment, but I'd left the vents on her bedroom windows open all summer, and this morning when she woke at 4.45 I realised it'd got a bit parky so I put an extra blanket over the top of her. Might start putting the central heating timer back on to make sure the chilliness isn't making her wake up extra early.

I'm fully aware a big girl's bed could be the worst thing we've done yet, but am always so tempted to tinker with things incase I hit upon the magic cure!

Worked a treat for my two but they got it around 18months. Temperature is definitely a factor too I think but it's tricky when they are little because of the SIDS risk. I love the new grobag babygros with the thick sleeves though DD2 is too old for them now I think.

DD2 is still an early riser but just not at ludicrouso'clock. Giving her a pillow [not too thick - but an adult one all the same, toddlers ones are crap] gave us back an hour in the morning. A properly big cuddly toy too, on the size of a 6 month old.

I'm flirting with a cot duvet at the moment but it's a bit now or never really as it will be too cold to be ok if she throws it off, plus she will definitely start trying to climb out of the cot without the grobag hobbling her So on balance I think I will wait until the spring for the duvet and bed so I don't spend the winter nights sitting on a cold floor willing her back to sleep.

I just wanted to sympathise - saw this post and thought that used to be me! I do think some kids are just early risers. My ds was a 5.30am riser (VERY long Thomas Tank engine tape while I slept on the sofa!) He still gets up early now (7/7.30ish - he's 11) but that's actually quite good for going to school etc. I think Babayagga has it right - go to bed a bit earlier and reorganise the day a bit (not helpful, but probably realistic) and remember it won't last forever.