Would a consistently later bedtime help my early riser?

[lisasimpson]

My DS1 has woken early (between 5.30 and 6.30 depending on the time of year) pretty much every day of his four years. After trying every reward/negotiation/withdrawal of treats we have managed to get him to stay in bed until 6.30 but he very rarely goes back to sleep. We know this because he is very vocal (he wants to get up however tired he still is) for company.
He is usually asleep by 7.30/7.45 so is managing about 10 hours sleep a night which is not enough. He is always tired/irritable and mean to everyone which we know is directly related. He had a recent spell in hospital and with drugs and feeling poorly slept alot more and came home a different child.
Putting him to bed later on occasion has usually meant waking at the same time (and more grumpy for it) and he refuses to nap in the day.
Not only are we fed up with the early waking but we are also paying the price with his behaviour too. We rarely bother with later nights any more as it's just not worth feeling crap the next day!
Is it worth trying a later bedtime over a longer period of time - has anyone else had any success?

NO

Is that clear enough..........

Doeswork, believe me I've tried it. You just end up with an over tired miserable child. School isthe only thing that works. DD started reception in September and since then (sleep wise) she is a different child.

Sorry the start of that post should read "doesn't work" .

NO

Growing up is the only thing that works - my 9 year old now sleeps in at weekends. However, her 18 month old sister doesn't...

Nope ...believe me i've tried it. They just get overtired and stroppy. Ds used to get up at 5.30 -6am every morning untill he was 4. He's now 9 and gets up somewhere between 6-6.30am.I'm just hoping he gets better as he gets older. At least he stays in his own room now (untill dd or someone else gets up) anyway.

Will he go to bed any earlier? Is that possible at all? Ds is like this and wakes very early but is a different child if he gets enough sleep. Could he got to bed at 7pm some days a week een if you can't manage that every day it may be worth sacrificing a bath some nights to get him to bed erlier- even if he just gets a bit longer on some days a week it may make a bit of a difference to his mood.

I have logged on today specifically to post exactly this question, although with me it is our 2 year old who has been waking at 5am for the last month. Won't go back to sleep, won't even stay in his own bed, and even in with us he just fidgets. I had decided it was a habit he has learnt, and that we needed to put him to bed later like DOG tired tonight to see if we could break the habit but after this thread I don't think I will. He naps in the day at lunchtime for about an hour (really needs it as is miserable without it) and goes straight down at 6.30pm so i thought he was just getting too much sleep. We did try a slightly later bed time and it made no difference at all so I was going to really knacker him out today and let him stay up till we went to bed tonight, just to see if we could "un-hardwire" him for tomorrow morning, but maybe we'll just have to stick it out.....sigh. December so far is just one tired blur, dotted with ratty arguments. i would let him shinge at his stair gate but he wakes up his 4 month old brother that way........grrrrrr.......

that of course should be "whinge" not "shinge"....

i was also going to suggest an EARLIER bed time. i don't think you can change an early riser, but you can help to ensure that they get enough sleep.

dd, 4.75, is the same. she gets up a bit later now she's at school. he may improve a little when he starts school- assuming he hasnt already.

no, absolutely not. I would try and gradually move bedtome earlier. I would also try lots of physical exercise in the afternoon and (if he won't nap in the day) at least a period of "quiet time".
FWIW I have two early risers. I woudl consider 6amto be a triumph. but dd1 is now 3 and a half and is just going through to 6.30am/7am now. unfortunately her sister is NOT.

Agree with the others - later bedtime doesn't work in my experience.

My dd2 got up at 5.30 am on the dot for pretty much her first eighteen months. She's in bed between 7-7.15pm, and the bedtime had no impact on her getting up time. For the last two months she has (shhhhh don't say it too loud) started going through till 6.30am pretty reliably. I think it's just a matter of them growing out of it, though I see by your posts that we've been lucky that she did it so soon. I'm also glad we stuck with her bedtime as now she really is getting a fairly decent night's sleep and is a much happier child. So if anything I would try putting to bed earlier.

The only other hope with an older child is that bribery might work. But as we know, not all children can be 'bought'!

The plus of an even earlier bedtime is that

1 you can have more of an evening too and try and get to bed a bit earlier for those lovely 5am wake-ups !!

2 If your Ds is better rested you won't find the days so difficult and an early wake-up becomes more easy to manage.

3 Also as he gets older you can use the clock idea (get him an alarm clock that shows the time in digits and explain that he can come/call you when it says (6am/7am - whatever) so that although he is awake he is not allowed to come in to you until a set time.

That way he gets enough sleep by going to bed early and you get a bit longer in bed in the morning.

thanks everyone for your input, unfortunately we have found in the past that an earlier bedtime just means earlier waking or waking for long periods during the night - he just can't seem to string enough hours together. It seems as though he really does see sleep as some kind of punishment!
I guess New Year's Eve is just something that will be happening to other people again this year

just out of interest, how does he cope with clocks going back/forwad?

he'll still awake at the original time but will adjust after a few days. We can apply bribery etc. to get him to stay in bed longer but he very rarely goes back to sleep. This morning it was 5.15.