3 kids up at 4:45........any ides?

[jmg1]

I have two girls age 2 and 3 + a boy of 5. They all go to bed at 19:30-20:00. The two year old wakes up about 5:30 to 6:30 (a lie-in!). She then does a good job of waking everyone else up. Tried putting them to bed later but makes no difference. She was up at 5:30 yesterday and 4:45 today, any magical ideas on how to:
a. ensure she wakes up later
b. get 3 of em back to sleep at 4:45 in the morning
As I have enough trouble sleeping nowadays I feel like I am loosing the plot at the moment.

Poor you. I'm not experienced (dd only 8 months) and sure I have all this to come...do her curtains keep the light out in the mornings? That's the only thing i can think of. DD has been waking earlier recently and I wondered if it was because I was leaving her window open a little at night and the birds are really noisy outside at dawn. Or you could always get up and play with them for two hours before breakfast like Lowri Turner does with hers like that would improve your sanity...

Does Lowri Turner actually play with them or stick the tv on while she drinks coffee and eats doughnuts?

No good advice here but does she get up and start causing mayhem - is there any way of persuading her to just play quietly for a couple of hours?

Have you tried using a blackout curtain in the bedroom(s)? The lighter mornings often fool their bodyclocks into believing it's later than it really is.

Lots of sympathy. We have 2 non-sleepers. Our 3yr is usually still awake at 11pm and the 1yr old is often still wide awake at midnight.

Oh god you poor creature, three of them at it.
Sorry I have no advice to offer you as I am a tormetned zombie myself.
Perhaps we could all get together in a safely padded environment and bounceoff the walls together for a little break

Save me a place in the Zombie Room. I'll be needing it too.

Why do they do it to us? Is it revenge for evil doing in a past life?
Hey maybe we could have a sleep deprived Zombie Board, stranger boards have been started.
Got to go in to a playtent with my two boys while we watch thunderbirds throught the flap. Oh Joy!

we saw a marked improvement with blackout blinds behind the curtains, it could also be bird noise - right time of day, do you have trees nearby? cut them all down , or get a cat, that sorted out our bird problem. Course now we have a poor grey squirrel stuck up our gutter and one mouse in humane trap as two that got away. Bloody thing.
Lowri Turner is lying, surely to god.
We also used a clock, from age 3 my ds was able to know when the clock hit 6.30am, we used an alarm, he was not allowed to get out of bed before then, this did work as he got a treat for being good, also when we were out getting drunk one night we played with his clock to get some extra sleep and it worked!!
tee hee

There seem to be lots of threads about early morning wakings at the moment so I think the 'light mornings' theory must be correct. I'm going to buy some black out blind myself this weekend.

the windows have roman blinds with black out lining. the kids rooms are next floor above mine, the good bit is that they normally all play well together but unfortuneatly their floor is the only one constructed of wood (all the lower floors are made of reinforced concrete), so their running around and opening/ banging drawers to try clothes on etc, all sounds like an earthquake is happening above me.
Anyway some of your replies have made me laugh thanks for that.
I guess it is all part of having kids, when they are older I probably wont be able to get them up in the morning!
padded cells sounds like a great idea, there is business potential there, just install adult padded cells at all kids soft play areas
Like the clock idea, but my girls somehow already seem to have bad attitudes like you would expect from teenagers and they are far too smart for their age imo.

Does the 2 year old still have a nap? If so, try shortening it.

Put down a velcro carpet in their rooms. Attach velcro strips to the bottom of their feet and hey presto! No more noisy movements - or any movement at all.

Mumsnet definitely needs a Zombie Board.

Shriek ct!!! Is that how you keep yours under control while they're playing with the bounty of your mass shoplifting sprees??

WK - I've spent many long nights considering the best ways to get my boys to sleep or at least to stay quiet. I'd also considered a velcro wall and 2 sets of child-sized velcro suits. The taping them to their beds idea seemed a bit extreme but could possibly be considered at a later date......

Nothing wrong with taping them to the bed - I'm sure Gina Ford's about to put it in her next book!!

another business idea - velcro mattresses and velcro pyjamas.....bingo!

jmg - you'll have your problem solved and make millions into the bargain!

and finally loose my f***g mind altogether thinking of what to spend it on!

Is it worthwhile putting a stairgate on the 2 year olds bedroom, if she is the culprit that is waking up the others? I would try to ignore them and get a bit more sleep in the meantime.

If you make millions from velcro PJ's I want a small percentage as commission. I wonder how many inventions were first thought of during sleep-deprived nights...

much sympathy jmg. I only have one (he gets up anywhere between 5 and 6) and I'm knackered so god knows how you feel.

I have no solutions. we have tried everything. he now lifts up the black out blinds and says "look mummy it IS morningtime"

if i heard on of mine wake up unusually early. iw ould make them get their pillow and duvet and come in my room and sleep on the floor.

not on the bed - cos thats a reward.

thing is they dont go to sleep but after a couple of days their litle brain tells them to go back to sleep rather than being bored shitless in mummies room where she tells you to "shhh!" all the time

worked for me