FOR THE LOVE OF GOD...what do you do when they wake up so early?

[swiftyknickers]

DS is 2.8, always been an early riser-6.30 ish but on some days is waking at 5am...WIDE AWAKE, i am exhausetd, he is exhausted and i am at wits end. how do you get them to go back to sleep?

its causing problems with DP and we are all crabby

help!!

5am, ouch, is he still having his daytime sleep?

(i had this with DD1 for over a year at this age, totally exhausting but she is now a near 7am girl.

btw 6.30 is not early - i think that's quite acceptable for a LO. You need to get yourselves to bed earlier!

TBH i am happy with anything after 6-but 5 am????

he still has an hour sleep inthe day, have tried dropping and he is beyond a nightmare by 4pm!!!

he is going to bed too late, last night was 8 o clock...his dad was off work yest so they just woop around the house not realising its wind down time

DD1 never really stopped her early morning waking til she was well out of her daytime sleep and i stopped giving her milk in the morning in bed.

the transition is hard, you'll have a couple of weeks when you're doing everything you can to keep him awake after 4pm.

i'm about to go through it with DD2 as she is 2.6 and starting to wake earlier and earlier... this morning was almost 6am but she did go back to bed with a bottle . I don't think she went to sleep, just lay there and played with her teddies etc.

i also find the later they go to bed quite often the earlier they wake - with more sleep the next day, and in the cycle. Sometimes i just go with it, but when dh is away (like this week) they are both in bed by 7 and much better for it.

oh and about getting them to stay in bed, this bunny clock did work for DD1 after the age of about 3, DD2 doesn't quite "get it" yet. Similarly star charts - very effective for DD1 but DD2 just self-awards a thousand stars and it becomes a master piece .

bunny clock

ah thanks for that, am getting a bunny clock this week actually so see if that helps.am a big fan of star charts so will try that

am goinmg to give him 30/40 mins to keep him going and then bed by 7 tonight

god iam knackered already!!!

I still have problems with Husband not realising the importance of wind down time. My dc are 10 and 12.

I'd say get very stern about wind down time with your DH and make it ultra clear to him that it matters a huge amount to you. There's no point in following my example and being knackered when it is unnecessary.

Now I shall follow my own advice

He's in a cycle of overtiredness.
Drop the nap a bit at a time. He only needs it because of the early waking.

would be good to know how you get on with the bunny clock.