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3 year old early waking

11 replies

MaverickSnoopy · 24/10/2021 07:01

She's just turned 3 and for the last few weeks has been waking at 5am. This morning it was 4.30am. Sometimes she's up 2-3 times a night as well. She moved into a bunkbed with her sister about 2.5 months ago and has never settled and slept as well as she did in her own room (which is now occupied by her 10yo sister who very much needs her own room).

We've tried the gentle retreat and it's not worked. Once she's decided that she's up for the day she screams the house down, like a banshee. She will attempt every trick in the book to get out of bed. Even if we get her into bed she will sit there bouncing up and down wired. Her sister who she shares with is the total opposite desperately needs sleep and is getting very disrupted. It makes no difference at all of she naps in the day or not, or the time she goes to bed. She's just totally wired and currently unwell, seems to be getting worse. This is classic overtiredness and I can see a link to behaviour in the day when she hasn't had enough sleep.

We have always been consistent about sleep since having children. Bedtime at 7 (or thereabouts) and up at 7. The rule has always been that if they wake after 6 they can look at books in bed, but she's up at 5 and isn't interested in books in the morning, she just wants to be loud and disruptive or play.

I really really want to avoid just getting her up. Both myself and my husband have jobs that need us to really concentrate and making mistakes would be terrible. We're pretty sleep deprived and need to find a way to help her sleep, so we can all start sleeping again.

Help!

OP posts:
MaverickSnoopy · 24/10/2021 07:03

I've just reported my own post for posting in the wrong place, probably due to my sleep deprived state!

OP posts:
Putdownthecake · 24/10/2021 07:07

I have no idea other than my almost 3 year old is the same and he's slept perfectly happy 7/7:30pm to 7/8 pretty much since birth. I know they go through quite a leap at this age so I'm hoping it's that. Could your little one be getting cold and waking up because of it?

feb2022 · 24/10/2021 07:19

I've got no help but I'd just like to share that my nearly 3 year old has also been up since 4:30 every morning for the past 3 weeks!
I have to take him downstairs and put paw patrol on (don't judge me) and then I try and have a little doze on the sofa before DS2 wakes up at around 6, he's nearly 2 and they are both full of cold and they are really grumbly all day 😭
Your not on your own!... it's bloody hard work
I'm a stay at home parent at the moment so I can't even imagine if I had to do a mentally demanding job on hardly any sleep!... I take my hat off to you!
Sending you ☕️

Rosiiiiie · 24/10/2021 07:22

No advice here but some babies are just early birds. I’m in the same boat with my 5 yr old up at 6 every morning. And yes, he did go through a phase of thinking 4.30-5am was an appropriate wake up time. He sort of outgrew it when starting school because I think he just needed more rest.

Rosiiiiie · 24/10/2021 07:24

@feb2022 tv was also my go to! Didn’t want him waking anyone else in the house and I also wanted to lie down a bit longer. Now that he’s older he knows how to use Netflix on the tv so he’ll usually take himself downstairs and watch tv. He knows not to come into our bedroom until it’s light outside!

careerchangeperhaps · 24/10/2021 07:24

Get a gro clock and be strict about treating early wake ups as nighttime wakings. Even if there's only 5/10 minutes until the wake up time (when the sun shows on the clock), she gets put back to bed with minimal interaction. Repeat ad infinitim. LOTS of praise for staying in bed until the sun shows on the clock. The first days will be hard but consistency will pay off.
Start with a wake up time of 5:30 or something and put it back by 5 mins every few days until you reach the desired wake up time. The clock doesn't alarm so if she's still asleep at 5:30 it won't wake her.

CarolineMumsnet · 24/10/2021 10:14

Hey there OP we're going to move this one over to sleep for you now. Flowers

MaverickSnoopy · 31/10/2021 06:51

Glad to hear that I'm not alone, but also sorry to hear that I'm not alone.

It's tricky. I really want to avoid taking her down to watch TV as then she'll never learn, plus it doesn't help us to get the sleep we need.

She is our third and we've always been consistent about sleep. She's had a gro clock for as long as I can remember. We've had gro clocks for 9 years between all of our children and have always been strict with them. It worked with the others but not dd3. She was great at sleeping until we moved her out of her cot and into a bed and then that was it, free reign.

OP posts:
grafittiartist · 31/10/2021 06:54

Thinking of you all today with the clock change making an early start of 5 am- 4am!!

It does get better. They do start getting later I promise!

Hetyanni · 31/10/2021 07:01

In your situation, I would hire a sleep consultant. That's what we did for our 7 month old - different situation obviously, but it was honestly life changing and she has slept fine ever since (she is now 4). We used Andrea Grace (London).

EmmaJR1 · 31/10/2021 08:45

My 2 both had a "regression" at 3 also.

Both normal were 7-7 typically and then both (separately, a year apart) started waking at 4-5am.

I thought I was going to die! But in both cases it lasted a couple of months and they went back to normal thank goodness!

Good luck 🤞

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