Okay So Im wondering if you wonderful mothers can help me with this one. I have a 7 year old and a 23 month old and my 7 year wakes up too early in the morning. It doesnt matter what time he goes to bed. He could go to bed at 8pm or 1am and he still wakes up at 630/700 am. The baby normally sleeps 830pm-830am, but my 7 yr old often wakes him because he isn't the quietest little guy no matter how hard he tries. Any ideas on what I can do to help him sleep longer? Ordinarily he sleeps from 8pm -7am, but since it's summer and we don't have any place to go I would love for him to sleep a little longer. Any ideas?
Thanks!
ha . ha.. babies and kids usually get up with the sun.. my son (age 3) woke up today at 608 am.. his first words.. I want to do a craft.. now I am not doing crafts that early..
try room darkener shades to make his room dark..
Well... let's see my son at age 7 was up at 6:00a regardless of what season it was or what time he went to bed. I just let him play quietly or watch TV while I slept in. I know...horrible mom! I just needed that extra hour or hour and a half.
S.
Check where the sun is when he gets up. My 4 year old was up at 7 over the weekend and when I looked the sun was shining directly on his bed. I closed the shades and he was able to sleep a bit longer.
He may simply be the type that cannot help but get up early.
Perhaps you could tell him that when he wakes up he can go into the living/family room and either read or colour until 8:00am. Tell him that once he leaves the bedroom, not to go back in (this is asuming the children sleep in the same room).
Try black out curtains on the windows.
Every kid I know and know of past the age of 2 gets up between 6:30 and 7:30 -it's just their internal clock. Little kids get up early! Does he have a Leapster or anything like that? If our 4 year old gets up too early we tell him to go downstairs and turn on cartoons or play with his Leapster. If it's really early in the morning, I just don't care too much as long he isn't doing anything dangerous!
do they share a room? my friends daughter is a very early riser as well. they put a tv in her room (programmed only for a few certain channels) and if she wakes up before a certain time she is to stay in her room and quietly watch some tv. she has a clock in her room and she knows when the clock says 8am (for example) then she can get up. i guess if your kids shared a room that won't work! or tell him to play quietly in his room until a certain time before he can come out .......... my daughter sleeps late (thank goodness) but when she has sleepovers the girls tend to wake up early. she knows, they are to play quietly in her room with the door shut until 8am at least. i know lots of parents who say it doesn't matter what time their kid goes to bed, they will still wake up at the same time. my daughter tends to wake up naturally after about 11 hrs sleep. so she is grumpy in the mornings before school because typically on school nights she will only get between 9-10 hours.
take him for a late long bike ride. that's what i do with my 4 year old.
These are bio-rhythms controlled by brain chemicals. They are affected by the sun so if you bought the kind of shades that totally block out light and installed them in his room then he might, in time, start sleeping a little longer. Otherwise you're not going to change him so you'll have to change your expectations.
My 3 year old is like this, too. No matter what time he goes to sleep, he'll be up between 6:30 and 7. I do wish he'd sleep late. Sometimes my compassionate 7 year old will take him out of bed and give him breakfast and play with him so that I can sleep a little longer. She saves me. :)
Very common! My 7 yo is like that too. Can your son get himself something to eat and chill with cartoons for an hour when he gets up?
He is just an early riser. My two oldest were like that. I don't know of anything you can do to change his internal clock. If you do, what happens when school starts? I think you might just need to learn to accept it.
Your son is sleeping 11 hours at night. That is just right for his age, if going to bed later doesn't affect his wake up time then I think you are going to have to figure out some quiet morning activities for him.
Try getting him a digital clock in his room and tell him if he wakes up early, he can get a book or some toys and play in his room until it shows 8__ then he can get up. Ask him to first try and close his eyes and just rest. My nephew did this routine and would nearly fall back to sleep ever morning for at least an hour, nearly two hours. He was getting up at 6:30 every morning and then would make it until after 8:00.
My step daughter did this for years- she would even set her alarm to get up at six on weekends! My husband and I finally wised up (because she wasnt getting enough sleep and would be cranky/tired by 2 p.m.) and told her that she had to stay in her room (except for bathroom trips) until her clock said 7:30 a.m., and there was no computer or tv until 8 a.m.. The biggest impact was not being able to watch tv or play on a computer until 8. A lot of mornings if I woke up early, I would catch her asleep on her bed with a book, having fallen back asleep after waking up at 6 and reading quietly in her room. She needed the rest!
When my son can't sleep (either fall asleep at night or wakes up early in the morning), he puts on his light (it's on a band so you can wear it like a miners lamp and shine the light just where you need to see) and he reads. It's never too soon to get in the habit of reading when there's nothing else to do or when you need to be quiet.
