Help! I have an almost 4 year old who is getting up every morning at 5:15. We have tried going to bed anywhere between 7 and 9 (we've tried each time for at least 5 days) and he still gets up then. He's been wanting to nap in the afternoon, since he's up so early. I've tried not letting him nap, and letting him nap for anywhere between 45 minutes and 2 hours (again, trying each option for 5 days). It doesn't seem to make any difference. He's still up bright and early. We've also tried bribing him with treats/prizes if he stays in bed until his alarm goes off (it's set for 6). Nothing works. The other problem is when we keep putting him back in his bed, he gets mad and starts screaming--which wakes up our other kids. We've tried tying his door shut (it has no lock), then he just bangs on the door--again, waking up the others. Most days he has a BM at 5:15 when first wakes up, so I can't just ignore that. Then, he just won't settle back to sleep.
I'm exhausted, since I work at night and don't get home until 11. Does anyone have any suggestions. I'm open to any ideas!!
Some people are early risers while others are not. You can't force him to change his natural sleep patterns and shouldn't. If you're working until 11pm, I'm assuming your husband get's home earlier, it should be his responsibility to get up early with your son to allow you a little bit more sleep.
Wonderfully and sadly kids at this age are so literal so in the mornig to them is not quite the same as us adults. I agree with the other women that it's impossible to keep them in bed. For older children who are very familar with their numbers the digital clock is great. I havea friend who took an inexpensive clock and colored the face according to blue for sleeping, red for quite play time and green for okay to talk to be up and noisy. This worked great for them and kept a small things of books and other QUIET things to keep her quiet.
I hate getting up myself but my husband I take turns getting up. At this age they learn the most early in the morning so we don't want to miss out.
It is wrong to expect him to stay in bed longer. The fact that his body is moving that early is proof that his body clock requires early rising. However, you can teach him what he can do.
How about getting him a small night-light and a stash of books, small chalkboard and chalk etc.. Tell him he may sit on his bed and play quietly if he doesn't wake up anyone else. Explain to him that it's ok for him to be awake. But other people need to sleep and he needs to be safe.
I'm sure it's hard with your work schedule. Could you and dad take turns getting up early?
Suzi
I have a 3 year old son who is doing the exact same thing right now. We thought he would outgrow it, but it's been going on for almost 6 months. He wakes up around 5. We ended up putting a baby gate on his door for when he gets up. Then he can just play until we get up at 6:15. He doesn't mind playing. If we don't put up the gate, he still gets up. But we find ourselves getting up with him because he gets in to the fridge and turns on all the lights which wakes up my other kids.
I had early risers too. For the most part, it wasn't too bad until Saturday rolled around. Something about getting up before 8:00 on a Saturday just threw me off. So, at a very early age, we taught our boys what 8:00 looked like on both a digital clock and an analog clock. We put a digital clock in their room. The rule was, if the clock said 8:something, you can go wake Mommy up. If there was a 6 or a 7 for the first number, they had to read or play quietly in their room. Because Mommy was kind of like a Mama Bear in the mornings, if she woke up too early, she would growl like a bear! :) We had a baby gate across the doorway of their room. That way, they didn't feel so isolated. Maybe you could put a little potty in the corner of her room so that she could still have her BM in the morning? As they got older, the baby gate came down and they could go watch TV until 8:00. They are now teenagers and we still have the "8:00 rule" in our house. Although now one of them out-sleeps me! Which ever method you choose, just be persistant.
