How to keep my 3yo in his own bedroom 'til a reasonable time??

[rachels103]

My ds is a lark and I'm an owl...this I have just about accepted, and can live with.

However, at 3, I do think that if he insists on waking up before 6 o'clock in the morning, he should now be able to stay in his own room until we are awake (6.30 I don't have a problem with but any earlier and I struggle for the whole day)
We've tried explaining to him that he needs to snuggle in bed with a book until mummy and daddy say it's ok to come in and it worked for a while, but we now seem to be having tantrums every morning if he tries to get into bed with us and we tell him it's too early. I wouldn't mind if he snuggled down and went back to sleep, but he doesn't - he's firing on all 4 cylinders and I just can't cope.
I'm 16wks pg and working full time (dh is a sahd 3 days a week) and need to find a solution to this. Dh will get up with him at weekends but during the week it's not worth it as I need to get up at 6.45 anyway.
I hate starting the day in such a negative way. Have we just got to give in and let him clamber into bed and jump all over us at 5.30am, or has anyone found anything that works? I've thought about the bunny clock, but kind of don't want to use that as I have the fear about anything Gina Ford related...but I'm not sure what else to try.
I hope I don't sound really heartless and horrible for not wanting my little boy in bed with me - when he sleeps til 6.30 and creeps in for a cuddle and a story it's my favourite part of the day, but 5.30 wake ups several times a week are killing me.

Now my sis had this problem with her two boys (4 and 6).

She got a cheap night light from Mothercare, and put it on one of those timers, and set it for 6am to start with. She explained to the boys that they didn't get up till the light came on.

Shock horror this worked, we don't know why, she was told to try it. She has now got to 6:50 by changing it by 5 mins every now and then.

I have no idea if this will work, but it might be worth a shot as its harmless!!

ow poor you. This worked for us with DS - we put a little light on a timer to come on in the morning and told him that he had to stay in bed (or you could maybe say room) unitl the light comes on. We then pushed the timer back by 5 mins every other day. He really loves his special light and is so proud of it!

Might be worth a try!

Lights worked for us as well - I think the key is to set it a bit earlier than they usually wake the first few days, so they wake and can get up straight away, and feel proud of themselves. Then we gradually shifted the timer by 5 minutes every few days. Now she has to be woken at 7 for preschool!!!

The bunny alarm clock is a pile of crap waste of money. At this time of year it's too dark to see it anyway. Lights and timers all teh way.

I have a similar problem so I"m interested in the night light/timer idea. How old are the little ones, btw?

My 2 year old DS is getting out of bed 1-5 times during the night. Usually he's just out of bed and hovering in our doorway! Sometimes there's a reason (he does sleep walk on the very odd occasion); sometimes he just gets up to 'see mummy', when asked. He can sleep through for a week or so and then he'll start getting out of bed again. He's not ill, he's not teething, he's not hungry or thirsty... It's driving us nuts!

We bought DS (2.7) a light on a timer - it has a day and night picture and swaps. DS loves it. But the first day he had it, he realised you could move the switch to make it wake up - so at 6am he was there with it woken up. Sigh.

I used fairy lights on a timer for dd and told her she couldnt come through till the fairies woke up. It was originally set for 6am and over the period of a few weeks we gradually set them to come on later and later until we got to 7am. Now she is older (5) she just has a digital clock in her room and can come through when it says 7:00.

Ooh, fairy lights! Sounds like a nice idea. Very special.

DS is 3.6. The light worked like a dream for us. His light is under his chest of drawers so he can't get at it and also it isn't so bright as to wake him up.

Thank you everyone who has responded. Looks like I'm off to find a light on a timer this weekend. I'll report back on whether it works!

Try Wilkinsons!

You can always reinforce the light and timer for the first couple of weeks with a sticker for each time he gets it right and the promise of a cheap reward at the end of the week. It worked a treat with ds!

My nephew had the bunny clock and it worked for him. He also has a sticker reward system for if he stays in his room from 7-7 and that seems to work too.