My son is 3 years old and has always been an early riser. Usually, around 6 or 6:30 am, he is up. Occasionnally, he goes through a phase where it is 5:30 or 5:45. He is going through one of those right now, and he won't go back to sleep. He will also come and wake us up. Won't always stay in his room, though I prepare a breakfast on the table for him and he loves reading, so he could, but he just doesn't do it. We've told him when it's dark, he needs to stay in bed, etc... Nothing does it.
With the time changing this weekend, it's not going to make it easier. I am pregnant and exhausted, working part-time in the afternoon and evening, so I need my sleep in the morning, at least until 6:30.
We've tried to put him to bed later, he usually then wakes up even earlier. He goes to bed between 8 and 8:30. He does take a long nap in the afternoon, which I am not really willing to give up because of the baby coming in March, and because I get so much done during that time. He sleeps between 1:30 and 3:30 or 4pm.
I heard of some special clocks to help them understand when it's time to get up, or not... Any suggestions would be appreciated. And maybe there is nothing else than getting rid of the nap, in which case I will grin and bear. But hopefully there is! Thanks
I was going to say the same thing as Lisa T. My son gave up his afternoon nap at age 3 as well. Then for some reason in September, he went back to taking naps 2-3 afternoons a week.
But I always put him in his room for Quiet Time from 1-3pm. If he takes a nap, great, if he doesn't, at least I still have some time to get things done. And on the days that he doesn't take a nap, we just put him to bed about 30 minutes earlier.
Good Luck!
I'm baffled... Your three year old, is sleeping 10 to 10 1/2 hours A night on a regular basis,and taking a 2 sometimes 2 1/2 hour nap and thats not long enough for you? How long do you expect him to go without nourishment?I can't think of any method,to sustain him longer,short of a prescription of sleeping pills and intravenous feedings.I love the alarm clock idea,some mothers have come up with. I bet you could use that system around the clock.Have the alarm go off for when he could get up, set it for when he was permitted to eat,and yet another,when he could have play time.Thats how they do it in prisons and in the military!To expect a toddler to stay confined to their room,after rising,is ridiculous.They want to feel WANTED and NEEDED when they welcome the new day.You should consider yourself quite fortunate A.,as many mothers with toddlers your age,continue having a problem even sleeping through the night.My sugestion would be for you to go to bed an hour earlier,so you are better able to attend to your son when he wakes.I'd cut out the nap,and send him to a preschool for a few hours,so he learns how to interact with children his age, and can have some fun.This is where you will get your needed break, and it will provide physical activity for your son.I wish you and your darlin son the best.
it sounds like he is just done with sleep by that hour. 3 year olds typically get around 12 hours sleep total. So if he's taking a 2 hour or more nap, he doesn't need as much sleep at night. Also, it is true when you put them to bed later, they often get up earlier. Does he fight bed-time? if so, he may need to go to bed EARLIER and this might actually make him sleep longer...but realistically you are likely going to have to choose between having an afternoon nap and waking early or giving up that nap and him sleeping longer at night. Given that he's waking earlier and earlier...he may be making the transition on his own. You might try shortening his nap to 1 hour or 1.5 instead of letting him go 2-2.5 hours and see if that makes a difference; though some kids don't handle being woken from naps well at all so you would have to decide if that would work for you.
good luck!
In addition to the other responses... I just want to add:
When I was pregnant with my 2nd child, my girl was about 3-4 years old.... and at this point and per her own maturity and understanding, I simply explained to her that "Mommy is pregnant... and I need to take care of baby too... I NEED to rest when I can... can you HELP me?" And, my daughter actually understood this emotionally, and she would let me be, and rest.
I just told her to stay by me... put her toys there next to the sofa, and she could watch tv or play, but must stay in the same room as me. She did. She was "proud" that she was "helping" me and her baby brother... and she'd even rub my tummy... which was really relaxing and a great bonding thing for us, and for her with her baby brother.
This way, I could put my feet up and "rest." It worked for us.
I was always including her in everything when I was pregnant... so she'd feel "close" to her baby brother in my tummy... and it helped a great deal.
But, it's a quirk in his sleep patterns now... it'll pass...but just keep consistency and the same sleep/nap routines. It provides stability for them... and they need that when Mommy is pregnant and when they will soon have a "sibling." But just teach him... about how it'll be with a new baby... and as Mommy's tummy gets bigger etc. Then, hopefully, once the baby comes... he will adjust fine. Prep him now, for the baby... because this can throw them off. He will need time to adjust too, (sometimes kids can take a LONG time to adjust to this) to being a "sibling" and having a crying baby around...
A good book is "Your 3 Year Old"... you can get it on amazon.com
3 years old is pretty much a hard age... so just keep that in mind. It's hard on the child, it's just an ages and phases kind of thing.
All the best,
Susan
My son is not yet, 3 years old, but I do have the same problem!! For us, it usually happens when he's going through some kind of developmental change, physical change, emotional experience or something in his day has changed and/or effected him.
It usually passes in a week or two, when I remain consistent with the schedule. Being pregnant, you do need your rest, and I totally understand how sleep is precious. I'm thinking the best thing to do it to try to create a wake up routine for him, that keeps him in his room. Something he can have ownership over while Mommy gets a few extra winks. Like a video, reading a book, coloring special pictures.
My friend created the wake up box for her little girl, and it was the box she went to her closeet and got when Mommy and Daddy were still asleep. They decorated it together, and picked it out and the whole bit. She put all kinds of stuff in it, and rotated the things in it so it was always a surprise. Mommy would set their alarm clock for whatever time, they were going to wake up for the day and then she told her when you here the alarm it's okay to wake up Mommy and Daddy.
It worked really well, and it's something I plan to implement with my son. Eventually, she got so tired of waiting around for them to wake up, she just slept to her usual time...
Hope that helps and good luck with your future addition and current little one!
i have a 19 month old that wakes anywhere between 6 and 7a. we share a room (not that i want to but i had to get us out of where we were living) so she comes to my bed and i get her her morning cup of milk and she will drink it and lay with me while i go back to sleep and then about 730a she will hand me the remote and ask for her "show" (noggin) and i turn it on for her. then about 8 i get up. she will also play with her toys after her cup. i hope this helps you!
Blackout curtains work wonders! If light seeps through his curtains, he will wake with the sun. My daughter started sleeping in as soon as I got the light situation under control. Best of luck!
My youngest son did this....exactly! Nothing worked, so I just had to adapt. What worked for me was to get up with him, make him breakfast and then just curl up on the couch and sleep while he watched a "morning movie" or played quietly. That usually got me an extra hour of sleep and then I was ready to face the world.
Good luck!
Seems like the afternoon nap is far more for you than for him. You cannot expect him to continue with the long afternoon naps simply because you have a new baby coming and you need to get things done. Make your choice... early mornings or an afternoon nap. And you are about to be the mother of two. Time to learn to get things done while the kids are around.
WOW..I think we all'd like to have the ability to make our children sleep in-but I dont think that's possible. And I think 3 is a little young to be awake and completely unsupervised, eating and basically having carte blance while Mom and Dad snooze. I think perhaps you and your husband should alternate days who gets up with him.
I would also have to agree with the other moms that said CUT out the nap. When my son turned 3 we stared reducing his nap to the maximum 30 minutes then just finally eliminated it alltogether. He did also have "quite time" in the afternoon, but that was it.
Good luck to you and the new baby!
Hi there,
I know exactly how you feel. I'm 7 months along and my 2 yr old son is in another 5am/530am wake up phase. I've tried a lot of stuff but am now just accepting it. I would recommend you moving his nap earlier. I would never take away a nap! I am totally with you there! My son does nap from noon/12:15 to about 2 or 230. I was managing nap time at 1130/1145 for a period of time and it helped a lot! He would wake up a bit earlier but still sleep the same amount. He would then go down around 730 and sleep until 6 something. Sadly, he's in daycare part time because I work part time and I haven't been able to get him home early enough. I tried letting him nap there but after 2 times he decided he REALLY DID NOT like it. I'm talking crying and clingy. He's back to napping at home and I just go to bed early. Somethings there's something we can do, sometimes not.
Anyway, I don't believe in pushing bedtimes later. Mine just wakes up earlier and crankier. Try to get him to nap around noon or 1230 then put him down at 8pm or so. I've read a couple places that toddlers should have about a 5 hr wake time between nap and bed time.
Good luck!
Your situation sounds almost exactly like what I went through with my son a year ago. I fought the reality for about two months, trying everything I could think of to "force" him to sleep later in the morning - and in the end, the truth of it was that he just didn't need an afternoon nap anymore. I think that may be your reality as well, unfortunately! It was a bit of a transition going to no nap, for all of us. There were a couple of weeks with pretty cranky behavior in the evenings because he WAS tired and used to the nap, and it was really hard on me to let go of my afternoon "me" time. But the great part is he almost immediately went back to sleeping until 7AM instead of being ready to start the day at 5AM!!! One suggestion I have is that you try making the time he normally would be napping into quiet time - books, quiet toys, or a favorite movie - that's what I do with my son each afternoon. So we both get a little space and time to do our own thing - which I find really works well! Good luck!
Sounds like a phase...or maybe he will just be an early riser. I would definately enlist your husbands help here. Daddy duty for the morning...at least Dad could get up and put on a video or kids show and feed him some breakfast. My friend taught her son to read a digital alarm clock. He wasn't aloud out of his bed until it read 6:00. Worked for them.
Hi A.,
I have a 3 yr old son who is also an early riser. He wakes up between 6 and 6:30. I have a big digital clock on my bedstand and the rule of the house is mommy doesn't get up before 7:00 o'clock. When he wakes up, he would come into my room, look at the clock display and if the first number isn't a 7, then he needs to crawl into bed with me and not to disturb me until he sees the 7. We started this rule during the summer time and it worked really well. Too well... Now that school is back in session, its a blessing for him to come in this early because it forces me to get up early to get my children ready for school, but come Saturday morning, we re-enforce this rule.
As for the 2+ hours of nap during the day, you might have to give that up. Our 3 yr old gave up his nap during the summer months, so I don't think you can have it both, but the good news is, you can put them to bed early. We have our children in bed by 7 and lights out by 7:15. I love it.
Good luck.
Hi. My son is almost 3 years old and the only way we could get him to sleep later was to skip nap. My son was taking a 3 hour nap. If he skips his nap, he'll sleep an extra 3 hours. Also, maybe the neighbor gets up early and he is hearing their car or noises. You may want to get a sound machine so he doesn't hear anything to wake him up. We have one in my sons room and he loves it. Hope this helps. Good luck.
Move up the nap to late morning, shorten the nap to 1 hour, and put him to bed EARLIER. 8/8:30 is too late. If you do all that, he can go to bed by 7:30. Sleep begets sleep. People think you put the kid to bed earlier, the earlier they get up. NOT TRUE. Kids who go to bed too late wake up earlier and don't sleep as well. Once my kid dropped his nap at 3 years, he started going to bed at 7. Now he's in preschool three afternoons, he's ready to go to bed by 6:30. He sleeps in until at least 7:30. Good luck.
Hi A., This generation of parents, for the most part are not teaching their children to stay out of momand dads room, I am 51 and we were not allowed in our parents roim for NO reason. My kids were raised to knock before coming into our room. At 3 he is old enough to get up, know how to put morning carttons on, our kids at 3 could do that, with out any problems, but what you can do is out an alarm clock in his room, let himhear what it sounds like, and you tell him, you stay in bed except to go potty, and whenyou hear this bell thenh you can get out of bed, I know people who have done this and it worked for all of them. J.
A.,
I have three grandsons, and the oldest is ten years old. He has always been an earlier riser. He goes to bed at 8:30 and gets up between 5:00 and 6:00 AM. My daughter tried putting him to bed later, having him stay in bed, etc. None of it worked. She was pregnant twice more with her other two. My oldest grandson was 5 years old when the second grandson was born and then the next came 2 years later.
If your son is an early riser, you will have to go to bed earlier yourself and leave undone work until the next day. Trying to change his pattern of sleep will upset his natural clock. Just make sure that he gets plenty of rest by going to bed no later than 8:30PM.
Cutting the nap shorter would help maybe, but are you willing to give that time up? Having a nap during the time you have a little newborn will be nice for you to get some sleep. Do you nap yourself? If not, start napping. Also, sorry to tell you, but being tired is part of motherhood and it doesn't go away. I suggest that you get as much rest as you can during the day, even if that means sacrificing some housework, or something else. When your new baby comes, be sure to rest whenever you can.
Enjoy your son now and have fun with the new baby.
E.:)
P.S. Have your husband get up with your son sometimes. He might be able to sleep on the couch while your son watches an acceptable video. Dad and son cuddling up on the couch can be a nice bonding time.
