2.5 Year Old WILL NOT Get up in the Morning!

Is you daughter like this on the weekends too? If not, maybe she doesn't like something at her day care and this is her way of expressing it.

What about giving her a new reason to get up? You could buy a goldfish and have the pet store employee explain to her that it is very important that she feed the fish at X time each morning.

I can't tell if you're taking her to day care or not, so I'll answer as if you are. Talk to your day care teacher and see if it would be a problem to bring her straight from bed. You could pack a change of clothes, a toothbrush, and whatever else she needs and see if that helps.

My son did that for a little while when he was around 2 1/2, but I realized later it was his way of controlling when we were leaving. We'd end up in a screaming match, and finally a friend counseled me to go into his room and wake him up and give him the choice to get up, get dressed and eat breakfast or he could go to school dirty and hungry. Then when he made his choice I walked out and got ready. I had the bag packed (and had talked to his day care teacher) and once everything was in the car, I picked him up and put him in his car seat, dirty diaper and all. He was MAD! He was going on about he was hungry (they have snack time at the school, so I wasn't worried) and he needed a diaper change (the school knew it was coming). We only had to do this once--he didn't like going to school like that. And I'd just remind him that he could be hungry if he wants when he'd start whining about getting up.

Don't know if that helps, but it worked for us!

Honestly, I don't have a good answer for you. Some kids just seem tougher than others in this department. But I did want to say you sound like a wonderful mom! You've tried so many gentle ways to try and resolve the problem. Wonderful ideas! You could also try to push her bedtime to 8pm, and cut her nap time to one hour. Also I sell vitamins so I'm kind of a freak about getting enough nutrition. So many things can be helped with good nutrition. Consider that too.

I agree with Reace. Talk to your day care ahead of time, though. At 2 1/2, she is old enough to understand natural consequences. If she doesn't want to get up, go about your normal morning routine. When you and your husband are ready to go, go get her & put her in the car. Have some kind of travel breakfast ready for her to eat in the car. There is nothing wrong with her wearing her pj's to day care if that's what it takes.

My daughter is still this way at age 8. We are often late and it drives me insane. However, she also simply needs more sleep than other people. At age 8, she still needs to go to sleep at 7 p.m. in order to be able to get up at 7 a.m. I read somewhere that there are people who simply need more sleep than others and if your child needs to go to bed at 6:00 p.m., then so be it. You could have one of these.

Some of the things that help with my daughter (notice I didn't say "work"):
- I crawl into bed with her 1/2 an hour before she needs to be up and cuddle with her for a few minutes so that she starts waking up. I repeat this 10 minutes before she needs to wake up and then 5 minutes before I want her up for good.
- If the house smells like yummy breakfast, she is more willing to slowly get up
- COLD juice or water (although in her head, she thinks she wants hot chocolate, so we do that sometimes, too). I can say, "I'll meet you on the couch with your hot chocolate," and somehow she gets herself there. :)
- As others have mentioned, the more things are ready to go the night before, the easier our mornings are
- When she was little, we kept "special" toys that she REALLY wanted to play with in the car, and they were never allowed out of the car. This helped get her moving, because when she was ready to go she got to play with the special toys in the car.
- My daughter and I race. I say something like, "You have to brush your teeth and wash your face, and I still have to get dressed and take a shower. Let's see if you can beat me." Usually I still win, but turning it into a game makes everything better.

Maybe some of those strategies will work for you... I'll keep an eye on the answers to see if someone else has more strategies that I can use, as well! Good luck and hang in there!

At my wedding 33 years ago our toast was" Good luck waking him up in the morning!" It was given by his roommate and everyone in the family and all close friends were laughing.

Sill the same, why fight it, he is happy second shift his normal clock cannot be re set.
Things I have tried: really bright lights...removing all blankets.... having his room colder or warmer...music he does not like (poka).....early to bed....later to bed....bribes etc

good luck to you!

If you think she's been getting enough sleep, then, you're doing fine.

Do you have a furry pet in the house? At my house, putting a cat into the bed always does the trick. The child and cat cuddle for awhile, and he always wakes with a smile on his face, because he's interacting with a live animal.

On the mornings when I can't find the cat, then I stick my head under his arm in bed and make purring noises. He thinks "mama pretending to be a cat" is pretty funny, and starts petting my head just like the real thing.

I have a few different ideas. One is getting everything ready the night before so that it is easy to get her dressed and ready in the morning. Another is to have "mobile" breakfasts so she can eat in her car seat. Peanut butter sandwich folded in half, raisins, smoothie through a straw, etc. That could make it less stressful for you and your family.

As far as helping her wake up and get out of bed, you could put a sippy cup in her bed in the morning. I know that as soon as I eat or drink in the morning, I am more ready to get up! You could also put her favorite toys and books just outside her bedroom door. Wake her with tickles or "raspberries" on her face or hand.

It sounds like you really love her and you are really looking to make life easier for all of you. Good luck and God bless getting this figured out!

Just wanted to add one other idea. My slow-waker enjoys a back rub or a foot rub to help wake up.

I was always told that if a child is sleeping, don't wake them up. I know I would be so blessed to have any of my children WANT to sleep in and stay in bed. I don't know what your morning schedule is like, but if you're a stay-at-home mom, then I'd just let her sleep until she's ready to get up. Eventually she'll grow out of it. Then you'll be wishing again for the days when she would not get up. :)

We had a lot of trouble with this too. Our daughter has Sensory Processing Disorder, and she has one speed: SLOW. She's now almost ten, and she's still SLOW. I mean, I've never met anyone who's as slow as she is. We have a ritual in the morning for when she has to get up. The dog sleeps on my bed, so me, the dog, and my daugher all have to cuddle and kiss, etc., for about 5-10 min (used to be longer, but I'm getting it to be less time) before she gets out of bed. If the cat jumps up on the bed, then we have to cuddle with him too. She gets on the bus at about 7 am; I wake her up at 6:10 am; she doesn't get out of bed until 6:20/6:30 am. Then it's a rush and a push to get dressed, fed, get lunch made (she has a lot of food intolerances so usually takes her own lunch), and get her ready and out the door on time. It doesn't pay to force anything, because if I force her to go fast or do something that's not in her routine, then she throws a tantrum and gets stubborn. Every once in a while, she'll whine and refuse to cooperate. That usually happens if she went to bed too late or if there's an issue going on on the bus. Because I work at home, I can take her to school. BUT, I prefer that she not use me to get around her problems, so driving her to school in the morning is NOT used much. Your daughter could be like mine--needs lots of sleep and is extremely slow in processing her movements/getting revved up. Or, she could be manipulating you. Only you'll know for sure, as you live with her and know what she's been like since day one.

My daughter starts Intermediate school next year (5th grade); the bus picks up in our neighborhood at 6:30/6:40 am. Oh joy. Can't wait to begin that daily get-out-of-bed struggle. And, she'll be riding bus with high schoolers. Yeah. Can't wait. Not! I might be posting here myself this fall, looking for help! =)

Good luck.

I agree with the first poster, Patty, about pushing bedtime later. It should be by one whole hour. She is probably back to a deep sleep by the time you wake her up. (every 2 hours or so we fall back into deep sleep.) Oh, I don't know what time you are waking her up in the mornings but I am assuming this is the issue. Sounds like my daughter if she has not slept enough OR has slept too much! Good luck to you all, I am more than sure that this will help!

I just go in, say good morning, turn the lamp on, and start taking her clothes out of the drawer. This makes my girl start waking up immediately, because she wants to pick her own clothes out and she knows if she stays in bed this will not happen.

You don't say what time she has to be up. She sounds like her natural clock is just off from yours. My son always sleeps until 8:30 whether he has gone to bed at 7:30 or 9:30.And at your daughter's age he typically needed 14 hours of sleep a night, some kids just need more. If I need him to get up earlier I have to give him an incentive that gets him really excited or I need to start the wake up process much earlier than normal. We also chose a preschool and now elementary school that has a later start so that we don't have this problem everyday.

Have you had her checked for anemia? i would check with the doc.