Good Morning,

As I start to write this, I have already been up for three hours with my 1 year old son. It's only 8:30 in the morning!

My wife and I are at our wits end? Our children, 4 and 1, both get up between 5 and 5:30 am on a daily basis.

I find myself resenting the fact that I have to deal with children at the first moment of opening my eyes. I am a stay at home dad who is responsible for the children while my wife works as a second grade school teacher.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like I want to sleep in and just forget about the kids. In fact, my wife and I try to get some adult morning (coffee) time by both waking up at 5:15 in the morning. However, on a daily basis, before we can even get downstairs and pour a cup of coffee, one if not both, of our children are already awake and needing our attention.

Does anybody have any ideas that could help us? Are there any techniques we could use to get our children to sleep in a little longer? Even 6:30 would be a blessing at this point!

How early are your kids going to bed? Do they take naps during the day?

My 4yo goes to be between 8 and 8:15 every night and is not napping at all.

My 1yo takes just one nap in the afternoon. Usually between 1 and 3. He goes to bed at night between 7:30 and 7:45.

All of my research says these are quite normal bed times??

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by even_par55

My 4yo goes to be between 8 and 8:15 every night and is not napping at all.

My 1yo takes just one nap in the afternoon. Usually between 1 and 3. He goes to bed at night between 7:30 and 7:45.

All of my research says these are quite normal bed times???

---

I'm sure yous have tried numerous things to try to resolve this problem. Have yous tried to lay them down to bed an hour later? (Maybe you have already tried this.) I would try to lay the 4 year old down at 9 and the 1 year old down at 8:30. Also, I always gave my daughter a bath before I put her to bed. That also seemed to help.

I know as a parent myself that I always put my daughter to bed and then I would stay up at least an hour longer just to unwind for the day.

What have you all tried to do to resolve this?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by even_par55

Good Morning,

As I start to write this, I have already been up for three hours with my 1 year old son. It's only 8:30 in the morning!

My wife and I are at our wits end? Our children, 4 and 1, both get up between 5 and 5:30 am on a daily basis.

I find myself resenting the fact that I have to deal with children at the first moment of opening my eyes. I am a stay at home dad who is responsible for the children while my wife works as a second grade school teacher.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like I want to sleep in and just forget about the kids. In fact, my wife and I try to get some adult morning (coffee) time by both waking up at 5:15 in the morning. However, on a daily basis, before we can even get downstairs and pour a cup of coffee, one if not both, of our children are already awake and needing our attention.

Does anybody have any ideas that could help us? Are there any techniques we could use to get our children to sleep in a little longer? Even 6:30 would be a blessing at this point!

---

Every child is different and "normal bedtimes" is almost an oxy-moron. (No offense intended) They all have different sleep requirements and sleep cycles. You know your children and someone else's research may not apply. Perhaps check up on their sleep cycles and cyrcadian rythms to adapt their sleep times. There are lots of great reading resources available online.

Personally what I would do is keep them up a little later and maybe participate in late day activities to wear them out some like tumble time with daddy(like you have the energy after being home with them all day, lol).

I would keep them up a little later and make sure their bellies are full before they go to bed.

I do this with my children and it seems to work.

Thanks for the quick responses, I will give these some more consideration. Although, I feel like we have tried all of these things before, it might help to re-visit them again.

I can understand your frustration -been there! And as frustrating as this is now, just remember -'This too shall pass'. In our house, it was almost impossible to get up without waking them. They simply didn't want to miss out on anything.
I agree with moving back their bedtime, try 30 min. for a couple of days, then perhaps another 30 min. Some children don't require as much sleep.
Also make sure they are getting LOTS of physical activity, outside if possible, during the day.
Yes, I know this puts a burden for you to have to be outside with them, but I know it worked for us.
Good Luck!

I use the BabyZoo Sleeptrainer with my children 2 & 3 year old. They kept waking up before 6am, asking for milk. Now I tell them that they have to be quiet until 'Momo' wakes up and it works. This is such an easy way to let young children know when they have to stay quiet and they really like it as well. Available on My BabyZoo Ltd — Welcome. Might be worth a try!