Do You Wake Your Toddler Or Do They Wake You?

I'm not a morning person and the idea of getting out of bed before absolutely necessary has always seemed like sheer lunacy to me.

So DD normally wakes me and while I'm lucky that she sleeps till quite late, I'm sure that you'll all know that being 'on call' from the moment you wake up, is not very relaxing.

This morning I accidentally woke up at 5.30am (long story) but it was GREAT to have a couple of hours to myself before DD woke up. Actually, I woke her up. Made me feel much more relaxed that it wasn't red alert and rush, rush, rush getting milk and breakfast from the word go.

So d'you wait for your toddler to wake up before you get up or d'you wake them up after having a bit of time to at least have a cuppa?

I'm not usually a fan of getting up at 5am when DS wakes up, so we put him in bed with us till around 6 or 6.30 (but he doesn't go back to sleep, just bashes the crap out of us mostly) and then DH gets up with him, and lets me sleep in till 7.30 until DD wakes up.

This is only happening cos I'm pregnant, and not sleeping well because of back pain.

we get woken....
but most days i think i would like to get up before them....

due to my husbands job and that i wait for him to get home means we are up fairly late most nights

he wakes me at about 5:50 - 6 am ... yelling out "im hungry"

he wakes me...

I get woken up... Usually by my oldest going to the toilet.
I am not a morning person so i manage to get the kids all a drink of milk and me a coffee and we go curl up on the couch until the coffee has started to work lol!

I get woken - DD1 saying "mummy! wees!" :lol:

i have just started waking dd at 8am, as she used to sleep in till anytime up to 10am (yes.. that was nice, but i needed some routine, so now we get up earlier) some days she will wake herself, or if we are sick.. which we are at the moment, i dont set my alarm after dp gets up at 5am ;) and we have a sleep in!

I wake Harrison... either that or he will wait in his cot until I realise he is awake and get him out. He is really good... My older 2 kids would be trying to find ways to get out or they would be shaking the rails on the sides to get my attention when they were Harrison's age!

LOL and here's me feeling like the world's worst mother because I flat-out refuse to get out of bed until DD gets desperate... unless I have something important on that morning and need to shower before leaving the house, I will get up early and then chill until DD gets up.

But, 99% of the time, my first inkling that it's morning involves DD's squealing penetrating that hazy between-dream bit of sleep, and me wondering, 'Okay, are we having a good day (where I get her out of bed, feed her and stick Channel V on to amuse her until I'm properly awake) or a bad day (in which she has gotten tired of waiting for me to get up and has taken off her pants and nappy, piddled all through her cot, and the first two hours of my day are spent juggling her needs and getting her cot cleaned out so it's dry before her midday nap)?'

Most mornings I only get out of bed because I'm sure DD's probably been screaming for ages and the neighbours and thinking horrible things about my parenting 'skills' lol :D

It's getting a PITA atm though because DD used to sleep through DH getting up and leaving for work (meaning I got to sleep till 9am some mornings), but the past couple of weeks she's been awake before he leaves the house at 7:15 (which is absolute HELL for me lol, I feel sorry for all those mums who are up at 5 on a regular basis!!!), so I'm very, very tired and cranky lately, even though I've been trying to go to bed earlier.

DS wakes me up. Usually around 6.30, but most of the time quite happily plays in his cot till I get up at 7am. Lol, I refuse to get him up before 7 unless he is sick/really upset (doesn't happen often).

DD wakes me up at 2:30ish and tugs on my doona and if I dont respond she starts crying until I pick her up and put her in my bed.

Then she sleeps until 8.

Sometimes she sleeps till 9ish. These days Ive already woken up, had my brekky only to find I miss her and thats when I want to wake her up (usually i dont because she gets grumpy when she doesnt wake up on her own)

Mine wakes me up - at around 5.30am without fail. :wall:

I can't complain because until six months ago he was waking up for the day at that hour, AND waking up for a breastfeed during the night as well. My DD is a great sleeper at night but also a very early riser.

But on the rare, rare RARE occasion that I'm awake before both of the kids there is no way I'm going near either of them! I tiptoe down the hallway and shut both of their doors in the hope of having a coffee and watching the news in silence :lol:

I actually prefer it if I happen to get up before DS, but it's pretty rare. I usually wake up to him trotting in with his arm full of toys. Or sometimes I wake to the thud of him dropping his toys over the edge of the bunk bed :rolleyes:

Him coming in usually wakes DD too, unless I'm quick enough to greet him and remind him to be quiet. Sometimes I manage to climb out of bed and go with DS to the kitchen and leave DD asleep in our bed. But yeah, trying to extend my sleep by making DS hover around too long usually gives us a bad start to the day. He's usually happy to climb in for a cuddle and if I'm lucky some more sleep LOL! so it's not all bad :)