My 20 month old recently started sleeping in a "big boy" bed. He has done great - doesn't get up in the middle of the night or anything! In the last week though, he has started getting up at 6 am. He used to sleep until 7 or 7:30 which was perfectly fine. His usual bed time is 8 pm although we have been keeping him up a little later to encourage him to sleep later in the morning. It isn't working!
Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do to keep him in bed longer? Should I put a gate at his door so he can't wander into our room at 6 am?
On a side note, I am due to deliver our next son on Wednesday so I will soon have an infant sleeping in our room as well. I really don't want my toddler coming in and waking him (the infant) up!
Thanks in advance!
D.
So I put the gate up during his nap yesterday. When he woke up, he had a complete meltdown about the gate - oops! Oh well :) We put him to bed at his usual bed time of 8 pm with no problems. He saw the gate close and everything and was ok. I snuck in and put his favorite blocks in his room so he would have them in the morning. These are blocks I only let him play with occasionally and he loves them. At 6:09 am, he was howling. I thought maybe he would give up but he didn't so I went in and laid down with him. He was not going back to sleep. I guess I will just start getting up earlier! With the baby on he way, I will probably be up anyway - LOL!
Thanks for all of the replies!
I know this may not be much help, but time change is next week. So this won't be much of a problem for very long! However, his body clock is just telling him to wake up. I'm the same way, and have been since I was a kid and I'm 38!
My son did that and it was not the best for me. He eventually got to where he slept until 630 or 700. I just decided that I did not get up until 630. We put one of those door know things (so they can't open it) on the inside of his bedroom door, made sure it was as safe as possible, and he could cry until 630. He eventually got over it and usually sleeps until 7 or 730 now. I will be thinking of you, because I understand it is hard.
PS
The other thing I did was to let him in my bed until 630 or 700 when he got up early. He even went back to sleep every once and a while.
Hmm...the new baby is due in a few days - little ones can detect even the slightest of changes in emotions. Perhaps his schedule has changed because of the impending birth: excitement, anxiety, etc.
On the other hand, all of my kids have been early birds and it never mattered how late they stayed up the previous evening, they simply don't work like that. LOL...we just get paid back with cranky kiddo's the next afternoon.
So, the question is does he like to play independently in his room? Is he a climber? Will he feel neglected or left out because the baby gets to be with mommy in the wee hours of the morning but he won't? Have you been discussing becoming a big brother, his role in the family, how special it is to be the first born, how wonderful it will be to have another member of the family? Have you gotten him his own baby to play with?
Who is to tell if this is a new phase for your oldest son or a reaction to the new baby coming? Best thing is to cover all bases. Go overboard now and after you bring home the new son reassuring and giving special attention to him. There will be times when the toddler wakes the baby up and there will be times when the baby wakes the toddler up - prepare yourself now for that inevitability. I would be cautionary about changing your toddler's habits such as being allowed to come into your room in the mornings when he wakes up, especially if that has been a time of sharing the family bed.
Heads up, and this isn't to sound snotty, but parenting two kids is COMPLETELY different than parenting one. If you thought you were a juggler with one, get prepared because it increases ten fold (and that doesn't seem possible because you are only adding one more to the mix) - but somehow it just does. On a more uplifting note, you get to experience your heart expanding ten fold as well.
Good luck with your birth experience, I hope that it is all that you dream of! Please get back on when you find a moment and let us know how your toddler is doing and what worked for you and your family!!
I don't know about you, but I'm not a morning person. I need a little quiet time in tne morning as I get the day going. When our kids started getting up super early, we put clocks in their room. I understand that they each had internal clocks of their own, and I couldn't make them sleep. However, I could control when their day really began. I told them that they were allowed to get up and play in their rooms quietly until there was an 8 on the clock. Here's my newer advice...use black electricial tape to put over the minutes because 5:58 was not what I had in mind! : ) I could get up and unload the dishwasher, do some household chores and have their breakfast waiting for them when there was an 8 on the clock!
It sounds like his internal alarm clock is set for 6am. You might have to change your schedule a bit to accomodate everyone and possibly put him down to nap earlier. The gate at the door is fine. He will know that it is okay to get out of bed but to stay in the room and play until you come for him. This might be best with the baby coming so soon and you should install the gate now before the baby arrives so that he gets used to it being there. With two it will be more important for you to get a routine down so that everyone is happy and not frayed. Good luck on your upcoming delivery.
I know it sounds funny..but have you tried putting him to bed earlier? If my son goes to bed later than his normal bed time he always gets up earlier the next day.
Hi there,
I really don't have any advice on the earlier waking up. Our little boy has always been an early riser. I was wanting to comment on making the transition to two easier. Our boy is 23 months and our little one is 7 weeks. What has worked for me is keeping my 23 month old on his same schedule. I have worked the new babies schedule around our oldest. We have had no problems at all. He is absolutely in love with is baby brother. We have no more tantrums today then we did prior to the new baby. Don't be nervous about your new little addition, things are going to be great! Congratulations and enjoy them both.
T.
My son has been an early riser as long as I can remember and we have never been able to change that....Oh, well I guess when he starts school next year, it will make things that much easier.
When he was younger he had a "Magic Box." It was a small box filled with quiet light up toys, paper and pencil to draw, small toys, and small books. Every night while he was sleeping we would sneak into the room and put the magic box next to his bed. He loved it, he would stay in bed and play quietly at least for 30 minutes. Later, when he wasn't paying attention, the box would disappear again until the next morning.
Good luck with everying!
I have a 15 month old that does the same thing, and I just had a baby 1 1/2 months ago, and I actually did put a baby gate at her door, and it works great! I'd just make sure his room is baby proof, and plus, if the gate isn't there, he might wander around the house instead of going straight to your room.
Hello D.~
When we moved our son to his big boy bed, we went through the samething. I have to say that putting him down later will not make him sleep later. Actully I have read it makes them sleep less when tired. I know did not make sense to me either but it is true with our son. It took a couple of months but he did get back on schedule. Another thing that woke our son up early was him getting his last set of molars. I hope this helps and congrats on your second boy.
What is he wanting when he gets up? Does he want to come in bed with you and snuggle? Does he want you to get up and feed him? I had one who would get up but it was because she was thirsty (or so she said ;-)) Before I went to bed, I would sneak into her room with a sippy cup of water and a small bowl of cheerios or graham crackers or something just to tide her over and keep her busy for awhile. This usually was enough to either get her to go back to sleep, or she would then play with her toys. Or, I would just say, "It's not time to get up, go back to bed."
Hi D.,
My daughter is 2 and 1/2 and has been waking up by 6am for a long time now. It's just her body clock waking her up, sometimes during the 5am hour as well! We have tried leaving her up a little later hoping she'd sleep later in the morning but that never worked and just made for a grumpy little girl the next day.
We have always had a gate at her door since we moved her because she sleeps upstairs and we are downstairs. But I have been trying to encourage her to play with her toys if mommy and daddy don't wake up right away. I don't know why she will never play with her toys. SHer room is above ours and we hear her when she hops out of bed and patters to the door. She'll stand at her gate and yell for us. Now our 5 month old is in his own room upstairs as well and sometimes it wakes him up when she whines and cries. We try to make her wait as long as possible before going up to get her.
Sorry, I didn't offer any advice for you. Good luck, hopefully some of the moms here will come up with some good ideas for us to help!
-Char
Hi
My son used to sleep until 7:00 - 7:30 also, however it seemed that closer to the age 2 he got, the earlier would wake up (not earlier then 6:00 though!).
I don't know that there is anything you can do. Sometimes it is just a fase and he will go back to sleeping later. Try to darken the room more especially now that we are going towards the summer and it gets light much earlier.
I always tried to put my son to bed at the usual time. Like you found out, putting him to bed later doesn't necesserary help and your son will be more tired in the morning.
Your son might also feel the change to come with the new baby. My son was driving me crazy during my pregnancy and the pediatrician told me that children can feel that something is different even before they can actually see it.
Good luck!
C.
