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[spartan_mum]

Any suggestions on how to tackle my 17 month old B/G twins rising before the crack of dawn?

They have never been good sleepers but after finally getting them into a proper routine at bed time they go to sleep  (relatively) easy between 7-7.30pm each night.

Then one or both of them will wake up between 2.30am - 3.30am every night. My DD will go back to sleep if i give her her dummy but DS will cry and cry until he comes into our bed. Which i don't mind doing but he squirms so i rarely go back to sleep and it doesn't even matter if i do as they ware both wide awake and ready to play at 5am!

Daylight savings made no difference, after three days it was back to 5am wake ups which i could probably deal with if they slept through till 5am but they don't. They are still having two sleeps a day because they get tired by 9am then need another one in the afternoon as well. This is partly why their bed time in sometimes as late at 7.30

Has anyone had success with dealing with early risers? They put themselves to sleep going to bed so they can do it but just refuse to do it early in the morning. My DH and I have three weeks off over Christmas so we want to tackle the problem now.

Sorry for the long post, i'm just so tired and out of ideas but cant go on like this for much longer (I work part time, have a 4 year old  as well and a husband who is out of the house 13 hours a day)

Edited by spartan_mum, 21 December 2017 - 10:42 AM.

[PooksLikeChristmas]

I’d probably suffer over tiredness for a few weeks and work on ditching a nap, and have just the one at midday. Would a mattress on the floor next to your bed be acceptable for Mr Wriggleworm? Helps DS and I get more sleep when he comes in.

[Mollyksy]

You poor thing. Any chance you could start to transition to a single late morning nap and an earlier bedtime? My DS falls asleep easily but the wakeup and stupid o'clock starts used to mean too much daytime sleep. He was on one sleep by that age.

For DS it seemed like he needed 11 hours sleep. It was just a matter of allocating it. More sleep in the day meant less at night.

That said, some kids just are early risers. But think about the one nap idea. It'll be an adjustment and some days they might need two naps. Personally when on on nap my DS went to bed late morning not of an afternoon. It worked for us.

Good luck!!

[magnanimous]

Agree with other PP’s - cut to one nap only and make it much later. That’s the only thing that solved my early early risers.

I feel for you - that sounds very hard.

[Dianalynch]

Agree, one nap, good luck you may also want to go to bed when they do for a few nights, get some more sleep

[Hini]

Definitely totally rejig the routine. One nap at 11:30am or so.

I know this doesn't work for all kids but both mine went through stages of trying to wake early. I put blackout blinds in their room and got them a gro clock. I just didn't get them up until 7 no matter how much they complained. I put in earplugs if necessary. Both of them tried it on for a few days and then started sleeping until 7.

They are 2 & 4 now and legendary sleepers. They will even sometimes both sleep until 8 if they're tired and we don't get up and start rustling around.

Good luck. You must be exhausted!

[Lady Gray]

I feel for you, I know that blockout blinds are critical for my kiddo to sleep through.  I would also drop down to one nap a day.  My girl goes down at midday after lunch and sleeps until 3pm and then bedtime is 6:30pm/7pm and I do not get her up before 7:30am (unless she's sick or something is wrong).  She needs that sleep, she's a happier baby with a good night sleep and our days are much better when we both get a good nights' sleep.

A few things that also help, a bottle of milk before she goes to bed and she keeps the bottle in bed with her.  I leave a few books at the end of her cot and she'll play with them in the morning if she's up early.  She has a comfort toy and a white noise machine so that we don't have to tiptoe around the apartment (or wherever we are) when she goes down to bed.  I also try and get us out of the house for at least 4-6 hours a day so that by the time bedtime rolls around, she is ready to sleep.  

If you don't want to invest in blockout blinds, you could get some blockout fabric and pin it up over the windows.  We travel a lot at the moment and I do this from time-to-time.

[rosie28]

I’d ditch a nap and aim for one nap at around 11am, working it slowly back to start at noon, awake no later than 2.30 and in bed at 7-7.30. It’s a tough transition from 2-1 nap but it sounds like it will help.

[spartan_mum]

You are all right, I need to drop the two naps and i think i will focus on that first and hopefully that will help somewhat. I couldn't remember how many sleeps my older DS1 had at this age. I thought it was only one but i can hardly remember what i had for lunch at the moment let alone what happened two years ago.

I might also get those block out blinds because i know what we have now does let light in so that probably isn't helping the situation either.

Thank you all for your replies, it has helped a lot.

[dearydo]

One nap would definitely be the norm at that age. It might work or might not but worth a try.

My oldest has always woken early, even as a very little baby. From 2-4 years it was 4:34am every. single.morning.  4 years down the track it's normally 5:15-5:30am. Nothing we ever did has shifted it (block out blinds, clocks, late to bed, early to bed, etc), just the way they are. Thankfully i now i occasionally get a morning that they don't wake me. I have younger ones that still wake so appreciate the want of more sleep, good luck.

[Manicmum]

Mine, at 7 learnt to make coffee before she wakes me, not before 6am. Clearly, I have no advice on the matter. Nothing worked for me.

[spartan_mum]

SuperMombie3, on 22 December 2017 - 05:22 AM, said:

We added a grow anywhere blind (blackout blind) which helped DS1 & 2 who were 2.5 & 6 months at the time to go back to sleep in the early hours.  They're now usually up around 530/545 which is a massive improvement on 4/430am which as far as I'm concerned is still the middle of the night.  

I’d be happy with 5.30/5.45 as well if the slept through. I’m currently trying to distract them so they stay awake during there normal first morning sleep so we will see how it goes.

Edited by spartan_mum, 22 December 2017 - 07:55 AM.

[cvbn]

I used water play when I was cutting out sleeps. Some funnels and plastic tubing, on the kitchen floor with a big salad bowl. I had some old towels for the mess.

Good luck!

[mandala]

I found that when going to one nap, a bit of quiet time in the morning at around 9/9:30 helped, along with a bit of a snack. We'd have some morning tea in front of Play School, and it gave him enough of a second wind to push through to an early nap.

The transition is a bit of a tricky one, but given a month or two more it will be much more stable.

[kirtyw]

my DS (now 10) got up between 5-530 every day until 2.  It was the queens birthday weekend of 2009 the first time he slept past 6... ah the memories.

He dropped his day nap at 2. Looking back probably should have been at 1 1/2 .. to balance that he did sleep 730 - 5 which is almost 10 hours.

His day sleep was always a morning sleep.  If I tried to keep him up until after lunch he got overtired and wouldn't sleep at all.

I tried to have a 'quiet' time in the afternoon, maybe some tv or a bath.... or a walk in the pram.... or a drive (not that he'd sleep!!)..

He just didn't need as much sleep....

just remember.. this will pass.... good luck.. you're not alone.