My 2 sons, age 2 1/2 and 15 months, currently sleep in the same room. They are great about bedtime, and all night, but then they are both wide awake at 4:30, 5 on good days, every morning. We used to have our younger son in our room at night, but with me being such a light sleeper (I would wake up whenever he moved or squeaked), and my husband's snoring, we had to move him. We live in a 2 bedroom apartment, and there is no where else to put either one of them safely that I can think of. They used to both sleep until 6 or 7 when they were in separate rooms, but that's no longer an option. We don't have enough money to move, and it's not really that big of a deal, I'm just getting exhausted. I have a bunch of health issues at the moment and I really need to sleep when I can.
They have pretty normal bedtimes, around 7 for the little guy and 8 for the older one, and my younger son just transitioned to one nap a day. My older one sometimes takes a nap, sometimes refuses--I just feel bad for him, because he keeps getting woken up so early and he's really sweet and asks his little brother soooo nicely to go back to sleep...
Does anyone have any ideas, do you think this is just a phase, or something that will only get fixed by getting more space?
Thank you!
Getting my son a digital clock for his room and showing/telling him when he could get up helped us a bit...good luck!
Hi Gmejia,
Yes, this is a stage, but that doesn't mean you just have to live with it. This is what I do because I have nearly the same situation. (My two dds share a room, 4 years and 15 months. Even the bedtimes are the same.) First of all, the baby takes a bottle, which is wonderful in the morning when she wakes up at 5 am because I just get a warm bottle of milk and a diaper. Change her in the bed while she drinks, tuck her back in and she goes back to sleep for another hour or two. This lets my older one sleep longer too. If for some reason the baby is having a rough morning (won't go back to sleep despite the bottle and clean diaper), then I'll take the 4 year old to bed w/me (dad is usually up and off to work by then) so we can get some more sleep. Worth a shot. Good luck!
What about black-out shades on the blinds to make the room darker?
I'm surprised that I am the only one to suggest this, but I'm pretty sure that you need to move your little ones bedtime EARLIER. Not later, but earlier. At certain points in the sleep cycle children naturally are sleeping very lightly and wake easily. Right now he is hitting that part of the cycle at a time when it is hard for him to return to sleep. If he goes to sleep earlier he will hit that part of the cycle at a time when his body knows it is definitely nighttime and he will return to deeper sleep waking at a more appropriate time.
We went through this with our twins around the same age. At that time their bedtime was 6:30 and we had to temporarily move their bedtime back to 6:00 until we got them sleeping better. Then we were able to move it back. It took about one week to see results.
Some other things - the clock probably wont work until he is over 2, but we taught our kids to decide whether they were allowed to be awake by looking outside. If the sun wasn't up, they couldn't be up either. We told them and kept telling them that we couldn't play until the sun was up. Also if I did have to remove one of them from the room so the other could sleep, I went downstairs and let that child play alone and only with the more boring items. I laid on the couch, I didn't read books, no fun time with mommy, I didn't offer food or drinks unless it was asked for. Basically I was not a nice fun mommy until the sun was up. I wanted to make sure there was no positive reinforcement for getting up early. When it got light outside I would say, "The sun is up, lets start our day" and then the day would start.
I must concur with putting the baby to bed earlier. Check out the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. It is very informative and teaches principles that yield a well-rested FAMILY. My 3 year old has gone through several of these cycles. It is surely counter-intuitive, but my first signal that he needs more sleep is when he wakes too early. When he was your baby's age, he slept 6p - 6a. His naps were 9-11 and 1-3. Good luck.
one thing that helped my dd was an alarm clock with the time she was allowed to get out of her bed above it, the same size as the clock numbers, so when they matched, she was allowed to come out of her room.
I think the magazine Parenting had an article on how to get more sleep in the morning....setting out a bowl of dry cereal and juice box on the table, a basket of toys only reserved for early morning play, etc.
I have a nightlight that is a moon for bedtime and turns into a sun at the time they are allowed to wake us up. I think it's called goodnite light or something like that.
Part of it is also a stage. My daughter has gone through so many going to sleep and waking up. She went through the early morning routine a year or so ago....soon I'm guessing my son will put me through it.
Good luck!
put them to bed later or go to bed when they do. they are getting plenty of sleep as it is.
my son used to get up at 7, now he is up between 5 and 6. He doesn't share a room with his sister, but they share a wall, and his noise will often wake her up. If he is really bothering her, I'll let her come into our room. Since the 15 month old is the problem, I'm not sure what will fix it other than time. For our kids, sometimes a reward will go well. My kids aren't quite ready to get up on their own. I have also found that kids seem to have a biological time clock. I usually put them to bed at 7P, and my son has been waking at 5 or 6A. Last night we were out late and put them to bed at 10P. Don't you know that he woke up at 6A on the dot? You may want to give your 2 1/2 yo a nap in the afternoons if he is not getting enough sleep at night. Good luck.
