5 year old wakes to early help

[Skyw]

Help!!!! I am at my last straw. My son keeps getting up around 430-6am 5 out of the 7 days a week. I put him down for bed between 730- and 8 and then I have to go to bed too. He is showing signs of begin over tired and so am I. I take medicine and have a chronic illness that I need to have more sleep. About 9-10 hours. He gets up and comes to our bed in the middle of the night too.

So I was thinking....make him stay in his own bed and not get up until the alarm goes off or putting him to bed even earlier. I heard that works. HELP!!!!

 

[fireflymedic]

I think 10 hrs of sleep is about all you can hope for.

so later to bed maybe later to get up, that being said also sounds like that may be dawn

So my quetion is do you have black out curtains on the windows, if not keeping the room very dark in a.m. may help. Our brains are made to wake us up at first daylight so maybe little brains do the same.

 

[bear_mom]

Help!!!! I am at my last straw. My son keeps getting up around 430-6am 5 out of the 7 days a week. I put him down for bed between 730- and 8 and then I have to go to bed too. He is showing signs of begin over tired and so am I. I take medicine and have a chronic illness that I need to have more sleep. About 9-10 hours. He gets up and comes to our bed in the middle of the night too.

So I was thinking....make him stay in his own bed and not get up until the alarm goes off or putting him to bed even earlier. I heard that works. HELP!!!!

You are describing my dd. She has always been an early riser, so much so that at 9, she still goes to bed at 8 to get the amount of sleep she needs. Putting her to bed later doesn't help any, she still is up early (even after 8 days at Disney, she was still up by 7 at the latest).

What we did was put an alarm clock in her room and tell her she couldn't get out of bed until the first number said 7. We started this when she was 3 1/2. Starting about the age of 6 she could get up and watch TV without having to wake dh or I. Then somewhere around 7-8'ish she switched to being able to get out of bed at 6.

Emily

 

[RMulieri]

You can try to do the alarm clock thing but it may not work.My dd is 5 now and no matter what time she goes to bed( 7p or 9p) she still gets up at 5 am 7 days a week.We tried the room darkening shades and the alarm clock thing.She still gets up that early.The only good thing is that as she has gotten older she stays more in her room and plays.The bad news is she turns on all the lights and plays really really loud.

 

[Skyw]

I see that I am not the only one!!! Thanks for the advice so far....

I know what you mean...when I put DS down at 9...he gets up at 5. I put him down early, he gets up at 5. I have tried the curtains, and even bribe him. I am exhausted. My husband works a job in which he needs his rest (pilot). SO I am always to the one to get up.

Tonight he is going to be early. He is showing sign of being overtired. So I have to address that first.....

Thanks again

 

[zoemurr]

My kids have known since a very young age that they can get up whenever they want but they do not wake us up. (now it's only on weekends..they are 7/9.) At 3 DS would come down and get himself a yogurt and play quietly. Get him a digital clock and tell him that he can wake you up when the first number is 7 and let him know what he is allowed to do quietly in the am. I guess it's mean but if he comes in earlier just roll over and tell him it is not 7 yet. He'll eventually get the hint.

My kids also have CD players in their rooms. They enjoy laying in bed and listening to music, or books on tape.

As for the night time thing.. we put a sleeping bag by the side of our bed. DS was allowed to come and sleep there, but not in our bed and not to wake us up. This worked well for a long time. We would just find him there in the morning. (He got bored with it eventually and now stays in his own bed.)

I also have a condition where I need a lot of sleep and no one wants to mess with me if I don't get it.

Good luck. Next year my DD goes to middle school and will have to be on the bus at 7:30. I'm not thinking getting up too early is going to be a problem.

 

[GreyGooseCosmo]

I had to put a digital clock in the kids room and do the "don't get out of bed until the first number says 7" thing too. If the girls get up early, they go to bed early (same time correlation ... they're up at 6:30, then they go to bed a half-hour earlier).

I feel your pain.

 

[ilovejack02]

From about 3.5 our lil one also got up really early. I would get him something to drink and a snack and then he was back off to his room to stay until I told him he could come out . Took a bit of work but finally he got with the program.
Our bedroom is right across the hall.. so I could hear the second the door was opened.
Since he was about five .he gets up and grabs a juice box and banana and plays till I get up . The rule is dont mess with Mommy lol.

 

[brymolmom]

OP - I have been there. Right now - it is 6:30 for my dd who is 5. We consider this a very good streak. For a long time it was 5:30. That's just the way she's wired.

And I understand the ideas about getting them to entertain themselves, etc. but that doesn't help me. I might doze when there are kids awake in the house, but I'm such a light sleeper that I won't sleep if the kids are awake. I'll hear them talking/fighting/etc. or even just playing so it isn't very restful.

My kids have always shared a room so it's been tough to do the 'stay in your room until such and such time' rule since we let dd get out of the room so ds can try to sleep longer. Also, my dh is also a very early riser so it is tough to enforce a not allowed out of your room rule when she can HEAR her father down in the kitchen already. So, we usually do get up and put the TV on for her for awhile. However, if she was still getting up too early for her to be well rested (if she was doing a 4:30 or 5:00 thing) - I would have to do something, as I think you should since your child isn't getting enough rest. The alarm thing or just putting a digital clock in his room and saying 'not until first number is 6 (or 7) and second number is 3 or higher' or something similar to this. And insisting that he lay in bed resting (maybe allow looking at books in bed - he might fall back asleep this way). And, follow through with a fitting punishment if he doesn't follow the rules (maybe no TV before bed that night - instead just looking at books in bed like he was SUPPOSED to do that morning).

Good luck!

 

[MayzDisney4]

I would say it could just be the way the child is wired too. My daughter is such an early bird. She is getting up at 6:30 now too, which is a huge improvement from 5am, even earlier a few times.

She never really seemed overly tired and we have been fighting this issue for awhile now, so we have just settled with the fact that she is an early riser. She comes down in the morning so chatty, I can't take it sometimes, lol.

Our doctor had told us to try benadryl to see if it helps her sleep, it is safe on occasion, not on a regular basis. It did not change her sleep habits at all. So she only gets that for allergy issues.

She will play in her room, but not quiet enough, so most times she wakes up my son and then I must get out of bed too. We have a clock in her room and she is not allowed out of her room until 7am.

 

[RMulieri]

My kids have known since a very young age that they can get up whenever they want but they do not wake us up. (now it's only on weekends..they are 7/9.) At 3 DS would come down and get himself a yogurt and play quietly. Get him a digital clock and tell him that he can wake you up when the first number is 7 and let him know what he is allowed to do quietly in the am. I guess it's mean but if he comes in earlier just roll over and tell him it is not 7 yet. He'll eventually get the hint.

My kids also have CD players in their rooms. They enjoy laying in bed and listening to music, or books on tape.

As for the night time thing.. we put a sleeping bag by the side of our bed. DS was allowed to come and sleep there, but not in our bed and not to wake us up. This worked well for a long time. We would just find him there in the morning. (He got bored with it eventually and now stays in his own bed.)

I also have a condition where I need a lot of sleep and no one wants to mess with me if I don't get it.

Good luck. Next year my DD goes to middle school and will have to be on the bus at 7:30. I'm not thinking getting up too early is going to be a problem.

Mine tries to.But when you are an only ,you tend to want company.It is sometimes easier with other kids in the house.

 

[Skyw]

Yeah, my son will do things underhandedly to get me up if I let him watch TV. A fake Boo Boo or "can I pee in your bathroom." Gosh, I am up already now!!! I just can't believe I got an early bird for a kid.

Thanks for the info and idea's!!!!!!

 

[Tiffany_MommyOf3]

My son is the same way- except he wakes his brother up on purpose lol. So now they arent allowed to leave their room until its light outside - working so far.

 

[Sillyminny40]

Is it still dark out? If not, can you cover the windows to make it really dark in room? My ds12 was up at first crack of light at 4:30 am and then a friend told me to do this. You have probably already done this.

Another thought: some white noise in background like music for him to quietly listen to when he wakes up. He may fall back to sleep. Ipod? CD player?

I sleep until 7 am and a 5 am wake up would make me ill too. I usually work until 11 pm at night.

 

[ilandrazdsw]

I have the oposite problem...mine like to sleep in!!! Getting DS up for school (and DD to take him) is this issue...even with plenty of sleep.

 

[Manda]

My 5 year old is an early riser, too. No matter what time he goes to bed, he's up with the sun (or earlier). For the last year or two, we've had a alarm clock in his room (first with a CD player and now an iHome with his iPod). I have it set to go off at 6:45 - which is when it works out well for him to get up for school any way. The alarm just turns on to a very soft Disney Princess lullaby album; so, if my miracle he's still asleep, it won't wake him. But he knows he's not to leave his room until his music comes on. He can go to the bathroom, but go straight back to his bed to continue to at least "rest". He tests it occasionally, but it pretty much works. He's obviously usually up well before the alarm goes off because he strolls out at precisely 6:45 every morning wide awake. He falls asleep around 7:30 - 7:45 most nights and is out cold the minute his heads hits the pillow.

 

[disneybound2010]

I wish I could give you some advice,but I am in the same boat! DS is 2.5 and has always been an early riser...or nite owl. I haven't quite figured it out actually Whether he goes to bed at 7 or 10,he is up by 3am! He wakes up WIRED. I spend about an hour and a half trying to get him back to sleep only to have him back up by 630 or 7. I have tried cuttign his naptime down(sometimes altogether), benadryl occassionally(yeah that doesn't work),keeping to a set evening schedule so that he calms down and is ready for bed...NOTHING WORKS!!

I have resigned myself to the fact that my only hope for sanity is large amounts of coffee

 

[Skyw]

Wow, So it seems I am not the only one with this problem. Thanks again for the advice. I suppose I have to first get him out of my bed. And then an alarm clock for him. He still comes in everynight around 3am to our bed. I am too tired to fight it so I let him. And then he wakes up early and rolls around until I say he can get up...by then we are all up!!!! I will give you guys an update.....wish me luck and some sleep.

 

[MayzDisney4]

Good Luck!