If you had an early riser...

[Rowlie]

DS 12m has woken at 5-5.30am since around 8m. He sleeps through most of the the time so I am grateful for this. We have tried everything to move wake up time forward, even just to 6am, but nothing has worked. This has included changing naps, earlier/later bedtime, etc. I thought that with the darker mornings it would improve, but it's now dark at that time and no change. We have changed things for 3 weeks at a time to give it time, no difference. Occasionally we can get him to resettle with a cuddle and he'll then sleep until 7ish (when I wake him). Once every few weeks he'll randomly sleep until 6.30-7am, but there is no rhyme or reason to it. I have been driving myself mad for months (I preferred when he was waking at night for milk but would then sleep until 7am!)

I am comforted by the fact this early wake time seems to be relatively common however I'm just wondering if there is ever an end in sight, or do we just have to wait until he's old enough to have one of those clocks and be told to stay in his room. I'm finding it hard and I'm sure he needs more sleep.

Did your early risers eventually grow out of it? Or did you do one thing that immediately stopped the early wakes?

For us. I couldn't pin point what stopped early wakes. Things we did. Which worked for us. Which can take 3 weeks to work, for our lo it took a week.
Pink noise louder to stop birds.
Having blinds on all windows upstairs so no light could escape.
Later bedtime.
Cutting down first nap a bit and moving later.
Adding a supper and milk later to keep full.
Making sure decent afternoon nap with milk before hand to ensure nice and full to sleep long.

Other one I heard off is wake to sleep. I was never brave enough to do.

Moving kids’ bedtime to 8.30-9 has them waking 7-8. What time is your DC going to bed? I would suggest a permanent significant later bedtime will work, but that doesn’t work for those who really need their evening time (I need a lot of sleep and am happy with an hour watching telly after kids are in bed so this trade-off is totally fine by me)

Mine definitely has grown out of it but even at very nearly 15 he's awake early. This morning I got up at 7:15 and he had been awake for a while. Thank goodness he just watches tv now instead of leaping around like a wild animal.

My 5yo still wakes between 5.30 and 6.00 usually. The difference now is that I tell him what time he is allowed to get up and not to shout for me. He just takes himself off to watch tv

I think it's just normal and part of having a baby, especially if they are sleeping through. I wouldn't mess around with it and just enjoy the solid stretch as it might go with a sleep regression..!

We had this with DC1. Moving the afternoon nap earlier seemed to help a bit. I think I did try wake to sleep (where you set an alarm for 4am and go and give them a little poke so they half wake, and then they resettle for longer. You have to repeat it for 2-3 days I think - possibly a Baby Whisperer technique?). It’s a hazy memory (she’s a teen now and sleeps in late) but I think that helped a bit too.

Mainly, it just improved with time. Good luck!

Try a gro clock? You set it for the time the baby currently wakes. Make a big fuss the sun is shining on the clock when you go in. Get them to buy into it. Then every few days edge it forward 5 mins. They will learn to relax and very slowly start sleeping in till later

We tried it at 14 months on the advice of a sleep consultant and it worked a treat! You might need to wait a month or two until he's old enough to recognise it etc

My girls (DC1 & DC3) grew out of it by around a year/18 months. On a school day, if DC2 doesn’t wake them first, they’ll usually sleep until my alarm goes off at 7am.
The boy (DC2) however 😳🤯 he’s been a disgustingly early riser for as long as I can remember. He’s up any time from 4:30am onwards every single day. I could put him to bed at midnight and he’d still get up at the crack of dawn. Now, I have set a timer on his tablet so it’s off all night, but comes on at 5:30am, and I leave it at his bedroom door. That way, he’s got something to keep him entertained which stops him waking up the entire house most of the time.
I keep telling him “I don’t care if you’re awake at that time, as long as you don’t wake everyone else up!”

Yeah... uuurmmm....
It definitely gets better when they can read in bed before getting up. And also when they know what time they can go down stairs and find food or watch TV.
My two are not allowed lights on before 6. Not up before 7. They are both at secondary, and regularly wake at or before 6.
I'm almost certain DS1 still doesn't sleep through, but he doesn't wake anyone else these days.

He already goes to bed 7.30-8pm and had 2 hrs of day time sleep so only getting around 12 hours in 24 which does not seem enough for a 12m old.

Placemarking! DD1 has been like this since 10 months old, and is still like it at 4. Later bedtime makes no difference!

DD was 8, I'm afraid.
Nothing made a difference not matter what we tried.

The irony when she became a teen and started sleeping in

It doesn’t get much better in my experience! The 18MO has basically stopped napping (maybe 15 minutes in the car or stroller), and sleeps 11 hours 7pm-6am. Which I suppose is an improvement on his waking at 5am before he dropped the nap. The 5YO is up before 6 whether it’s dark or light and she sets her own bedtime. Our only rules are if she’s not sleeping then play quietly in her room between 7.30pm and 6am! We could probably push the get up time later but there’s no point when her brother is up anyway.

The only difference is they now don’t wake me. Still an early riser but old enough to watch tv and get some food. Tried many things none worked, made my peace with it and now waiting for the day they can wake me up with a cup of tea!

Nope. My son is 19 and still up early, even in a weekend.
On occasion he pulls a marathon nap, but he's a high energy guy so is generally up and at the gym before work.

Mine only stopped the 5:30 wake up once they started full time school

Always went to bed at 7 and couldn't move that any later as they just didn't cope with staying up later

My early riser (non sleeping generally) baby is now an early wake up 13 year old. But by 2 he mostly followed the grow clock, and now he just gets up and does his own thing, breakfast, homework etc. DS2 is the opposite and always has been.

My 2 have always been early risers. It does get better once they can read or play on their own after waking. Letting them watch tv and make their own breakfast when the youngest was 4 was a total game changer.
dd is 16 and still a reasonably early riser, ds is 18 and can easily sleep into the afternoon - after having been out until 2am, which means I can’t sleep properly until he is home… sorry!

@Digestive28 what age are they?!

My 23mo still wakes at 5am every day, doesn't fall asleep until 8pm at the earliest and wakes 1-2 times most nights. I just go to bed early. It sucks to only get 30mins to myself each evening, but I'd rather that than feel exhausted all day.

@Sleepbabysleeppls now 9 but from about 2 or 3 they could work the iPad in my bed whilst I slept then from about 6 went downstairs by themselves. I had many morning naps to CBeebies in the background…
what also helped is I stopped trying to get them to sleep, my priority was for me to get more sleep and if that meant screen time so be it. I am a better parent if I have slept so it was the best decision for us all.

My DD (now 13!) used to wake at 5.20 every day from about 9 months until 22 months. We also tried everything. It killed us!! Then one day she didn't wake until 9.30am. Spent a few weeks sleeping in (it was over Christmas so I remember us really taking advantage of the lay ins) then moved to a more respectable 6.30-7.30.

She will happily stay in her room until midday now

Nothing we did changed the ridiculous early starts of ds1 he would wake anytime from 4.30am to 6am and was full on. He grew out of it around age 14.

oh I have found that I'm still traumatised by it apparently, because if I come across children's early morning tv, I'm right back there! tired anxious and teary. I change the channel pretty quick though 😁

@thirstyformore oh I’m praying this happens for us at 22m 🙏🏼🤣 only 10 more months to go if that’s the case. If I knew there was an end in sight I think it would help.

@Digestive28 completely agree. However early I go to bed I still feel exhausted after a 5am wake. But maybe i’ll just get used to it if I’ve got 10 years ahead of me of it 🤣 I’m in bed by 9.30pm most nights now