houseofcarpenter asked:
he goes to bed with no probs at all but if i let him stay up half an hour later we pay for it the next day as he still wakes at 5.30am. we have the summer holidays coming up and i would love to change this pattern, but how? My other children, 4 and almost 2, also go to bed at 7pm but they get up bewteen 6.30 and 7.30am which is acceptable. any sugestions?
Well you could tell him he can wake up at 5:30 but he has to stay in his room til 6:30 or 7:30 he will eventually fall back asleep!
some kids just get up early but try puttinghim to bed later and getting him up later, eg bed at 8 up at 6 try it, but it will take some getting use to so slowly shift the time by something 5 mins per 5 days
explain to him that he must not get up until his clock says 7.30. He can play quietly if he wants in his bedroom. Put a light snack there for him like a cereal bowl and a small carton of milk for him to be ‘a big boy’ and get his own breakfast. Get a clock and mark the two hands with two colours and then match each colour onto the face of the clock at the correct time. When they line up you can come wake me and everyone else up! Make it HIS important job to be the one to make sure everyone gets up by the time you say…..for the holidays make it 7.00 the first week then 7.30 the next and 8.00 the following. Hope it works for you!
Also try and figure out if their is and ‘outside’ source waking him…is the neighbours milkman delivering at that time of the morning and slamming the gate, rattling the bottles or revving his engine….have a chat with them if it is!!! Also get him a radio to listen too as well or use the internet and log in to BBC radio 7 for kids programmes that he can listen to.
my son is like this too. from an early age he has always awoke around 5.30-6.00.
we once tried keeping him up till 12.00 , he was still up at 5.30. he is now 9. is it possible one of your other children wake him?
could his room be noisy?
i gave up myself years ago and if i feel tired in the afternoon i have to have a nap.
its a good job i am bald cos i would have pulled my hair out years ago.
You’re on the right track, just scale back the time element.
Let him stay up 15 minutes, not half an hour, for a week, then keep adding 15 minutes each week. Be patient with it. It takes a long time to adjust sleep behavior.
I think you could be stuck with this – he may just be a mornings person. My son who’s six also wakes very early naturally, but he now has a digital clock beside his bed, and I tell him if it says a six at the start of the time then he’s allowed to get up, but if its a five or a four then he must go back to sleep. I didn’t think this would work, but it has more or less! Look on the positive side though, at least you get your evenings to yourself.
Do you get up with him? I would tell him to get straight back to bed without a noise, explain that it is far too early and he will have to go back to sleep or lie silently for at least another hour. If you carry this on for a week he will soon learn that it’s better to sleep longer than lie in bed and do nothing as no one is paying him any attention. Also you could keep the other 2 children up a little longer in the evening and explain that when he learns to sleep longer then he can stay up too. When he thinks he is going to miss out on things he will soon change his body clock.
I dont think that waking up at 530 is THAT bad (for you it must be!) I think that 630-730 is a good time they should be waking up- especially for schools sake. I think that as he gets older he will just adjust his sleeping pattern on his own. Best wishes!
Maybe he is growing right now. Try letting him rest during the day a bit to see if that will help push back the bedtime. Just make sure to start to eliminate this rest time as you get closer to the school year.
Try to give your 7 year old child some milk before sleeping. It may help him to sleep better and open windows for ventilation but the room temperature must be around the range of 26-30 degrees.
what is causing him to wake?
time elapsed?
hearing the coffee maker go on?
a bird nesting outside his window? They can be loud.
Dad going to work early?
does he take any medicine? I cant sleep well with claritin for instance.
if he is taking a antihistamine,switch him to benedryle at night.
in fact benedryle could help you change the cycle. My kids want to sleep more if they need it at night.
There is a saying”early to bed early to rise..makes a person healthy, wealthy and wise”
This exact habit of his might bring him lot of benefits as he grows up. As long as he is not too tired during the day, does his regular activities with good concentration, I would be really glad if my kid was like that.
2 suggestions here: 1) If for some other reason you really want him to sleep late than encourage him to take an afternoon nap but this might get him into a habit during school days.
2) Ask him to brush his teeth, freshen up and read a nice book, this is a peaceful time of the day..soon as he grows up he can go on morning walks, do light exercise or just use this extra time to plan for his entire day.
And might give a good example for your other 2 kids too. Good luck.
get darker curtains with thicker linings
All 3 kids in bed at the same time sounds like heaven, you get your evenings to yourself, wow, i wish!
I think to deal with the early morning, like a lot of others have said, give him something to do and a do not disturb before time, even leave a morning snack ready if necessary.
wats wrong with getting up at 5 30 and going to bed at 7 it’d a good schedule
use an alarm clock and set it and tell him he cant disturb you until it goes off.at 7 like my daughter he is old enough to go downstairs and watch tv until you wake.i have done this and my daughter gets a banana,drink and watches tv until i get up around 1 hr after she does.
try a afternoon nap.
try and make him stay up longer by say five minutes a night and increase the time and fingers crossed he will wake up later…. my son was exactly like that hes now 17 and i have problems getting him up in the morning!!!
it could just be his internal clock. my grandmother wakes up at 6 am on the dot regardless of when she goes to bed. the suggestions that were made to occupy him might help you get some sleep. the clock idea was a really good one that will help him learn time. he’s also old enough to occupy himself for a few hours. just make sure he knows not to leave the house or answer the front door until one of you is up.
i wouldnt change his pattern he just likes early mornings , my daughter is the same bed at 7 and up at 5 she just plays in her room for an hour and than we get up. there is not point in changing his pattern because for a seven year old it is pretty good.
make him stay in bed