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Toddler waking at 5am!

  1. #1
    plumtree is offline Registered User
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    Toddler waking at 5am!

    Hi

    Hoping for a few lifesaving tips from experienced mummies and daddies out there. My toddler is 2 years 4 months and a week ago we transitioned him into a toddler bed so his brother (6 months) could use the cot. A bit of protesting initially, but now said toddler has discovered that the benefits of a bed are that he can COME OUT OF HIS ROOM AND RUN AROUND AT 5am! (Aargh!). We've tried putting him back into his bed and telling him it's too early to wake up, but he soon pops out again. The way the room door is structured, we can't put a baby gate up though that would be the best solution.

    He goes to morning pre-nursery and is just so tired during the class because he's been getting up early.

    In a cot, he used to get up and we'd hear him in his room playing, but then he'd fall back to sleep until about 6:30 or 7am. He's so excited about his new found freedom that he won't go back to sleep and it's not really safe to have him wandering the house alone, so we all have to get up.

    We've had a clock in his room but he complained about the ticking and he can't yet read numbers. I thought of going to get him an LCD clock and telling him he can only get up when the hands reach 6.

    Does anyone out there have any other good solutions besides buying a second hand cot and fencing him again (which he might not like)?

    THANKS!


  2. #2
    plumtree is offline Registered User
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    Forgot to say that I can't have him screaming and protesting too much at 5am because he wakes the baby (not to mention all my poor neighbours!).


  3. #3
    Sazzy is offline Registered User
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    My friend has told her son that there are monsters in the living room if mummy isnt there.................. not nice but he stays in bed.


  4. #4
    southside852 is offline Registered User
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    My son is 28 months old and had a similar situation - waking up at 5am and then getting up at night from his bed.

    Honestly, the best and safest way is to gate his room. We gate his room and leave his door open though so he still feels connected to us.

    What time do you put him down for bed? At child that age only needs 9.5/10 hours of sleep at night and a 2 hr nap during the day. We shifted our son's sleeping habits which took around 4 days and he now sleeps from 8:30pm - 6:30am straight with no wake-ups or getting out of bed.


  5. #5
    plumtree is offline Registered User
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    Hi Thanks for the ideas! Hmmm, if I tell him there are monsters, he might come into our bedroom, which is worse because the baby sleeps in there at the moment and I've just managed to get baby to sleep through till 630am. Can't quite gate his room because of the way the door is but I'll look into 'free standing' gates (or chain link fences LOL) if there are such things.

    We put him to bed at about 8-8:15pm so I guess 5:30am means he's already getting 9-9.5 hours of sleep. I am reluctant to put him to bed any later not least because the adults want some adult time too! I guess I'm bothered by the 5am wake up call because when he gets up at 6:30 he's well rested and happy, whereas with the 5am wake up, he's grisly and grouchy by late morning. And his parents end up absolutely knackered...

    Last edited by plumtree; 04-26-2010 at 02:31 PM. Reason: typos

  6. #6
    plumtree is offline Registered User
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    Forgot to say he has a two hour nap.


  7. #7
    Sazzy is offline Registered User
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    How about shortening the lunch time nap ?? Try 90 minutes instead?? or a hour and see how he is ??


  8. #8
    plumtree is offline Registered User
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    We can't make it too short or he gets as grumpy as a grizzly bear in the afternoon, and a grumpy toddler is not a nice thing. We woke him up today after 1hr 45 mins: he was grumpy but it passed. Fingers crossed for tonight!


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