Sleeping - Blue Springs, MO

I concur with just about everyone else: there's not much you can do with an early riser but go to be earlier yourself. My almost 4 year old ALWAYS gets up between 5:30 and 6:15 every morning no matter what time she goes to bed - whether 7 or 10 p.m. So, we put her to bed by 7:30 or 8 to give ourselves some quiet time at night. She has only slept until 7:30 one time in her entire life (and I kept checking on her because I thought something might be wrong!).

She FIANLLY knows what 6 o'clock looks like on her digital alarm clock, so isn't allowed to wake me up until then. But, it doesn't always work. One thing we did try that worked for a while (before she knew her numbers) was to get one of those songbird-type alarm clocks. We set the alarm for 6 a.m. and she wasn't allowed to leave her bed until the "birds woke up". The thing we are doing right now is that she doesn't get a bed time story if she wakes me up in the middle of the night or before 6 a.m. It's harsh and there are lots of tears and complaining about not getting a story before bed, but it seems to be working and I'm getting a little more sleep.

I'm sorry to tell you that if you've got an early riser they will probably ALWAYS be an early riser. I'm a case in point. I remember as a kid in elementary school getting up at 5 a.m., getting my own breakfast and watching old black and white reruns on t.v. By highschool, I was on the bus to school before the rest of my family even got out of bed! And in college, I crammed for tests and wrote papers by getting up at 5 a.m. instead of staying up all night. A night owl I'm not even now! :-) Good luck!

I don't have any advice, just wanted to say that I am right there with you! My daughter goes to bed by 9 and always wakes up around 6 am, she also only naps about 1.5 hours in the afternoon. I guess some kids just get by on less sleep! Lucky us!

I haven't slept in since I started dating my husband (8 years ago)and of course my daughter(9mths) is the same and is up at 6-6:30 everyday. Both are morning people. My husband doesn't even need an alarm clock to wake up. Both go to bed at 8pm or so and both up at 6 am. I am a total night person and it is hard to make myself go to bed when it is still light out! I think this is just kids. They sleep better b/c they have a lot less stress and no worries. (just a thought)

I know how you feel my 7 and 9 year olds are like that to their bed times are 8:00 and 8:45 and they always are up very early no matter what time they go to bed.Don't really have any advice for you,but you are not the only one with early risers.It would be nice if they would sleep later lol,I would like that.
J.

my daughter does the same thing. The only way I have been able to get her to sleep a little later is to cover her window with foil so that virtually no light gets in, it seems to trick her in to sleeping until almost 7:30. Hope this helps.

I, too, have an early bird, he's now almost 13, and he's still an early riser. Some kids are just morning people. The only way I got around it was to change my own routine. Instead of staying up til really late, I started going to bed by 10pm, that way I felt better when I had to get up with him in the morning. He will get old enough to get up by himself and entertain himself for a little while in his room, or learn to turn on the tv and watch cartoons. :) Until then, there is really no solution except to get more rest yourself. If you can't seem to get to bed early enough, then take a nap with him...you'll feel better.

Enjoy! It really is fun having an earlybird for a kid. My son now has all his chores done before his brother & sister are even thinking about waking up! It gives us some alone time together.

S.