kids that won't sleep past 4:30am

Ladies Ladies i need some real help. My 2 girls age 3 and almost 2 very seldom sleep past 4:30am. I'm doing everything i can to fix this problem, the room is dark very dark in fact and sun does not rise untill after 6am hear. I have soft sleeping music playing they eat well before they go to bed they don't stay up to late and do'nt go to bed to early either. Both are very active girls they really do need more sleep. My eldest has black bags under her eyes and i often get the comment that i dont feed her well. She's not very good at eating to be honest its really hard to get her to eat the good stuff but hubby and i keep trying. I have her on Nuture formula for toddlers and use it instead of milk as much as posible. I have tried not giving miss 3 a lunch time sleep but this just makes her grumpy and unbearable to be around & will often fall to sleep when doing school run in the car. So I am very tired no dar!!!!! but also very frustrated when i hear that other kids will sleep till 6am. I'm having signs that maybe i might be preggi with bubs 4# so i really need to fix this problem.

love & hugs
Kath

Oh Kath I really wish I had some good advice for you! I have the same problem, although Aidyn is waking up at 5.30 (which is still way too early for me!)
Is there anything outside that could be causing the problem, for example, next door to us, they have 2 big dogs that wake up and start barking at 5.30 every morning... so I wonder if that is what wakes Aidyn.
Are there any alarm clocks in the house (say for your DH) that go off around that time?
Are they warm enough? As 4.30am is often the coldest time of night/morning.
And lastly, have you tried putting them to bed a little bit later to see if that will work?
Sorry, you have probably thought of all of this anyway....
Goodluck though Kath, I can really sympathise that it must be horrible to have to get up so early in the morning!

Hi Kath. Totally sympathise with you. Our DD has always been an early riser no matter what time she goes to bed. At the moment she rises like clockwork between 5.45-6.15 which is far too early for me, as like you I hear all these stories of late risers!!

I don't know what else to suggest other then what you have done, ie dark rooms etc. The only other thing I try some mornings is taking them back to bed and giving them their bottle in bed and sometimes (just sometimes!) she will drop back off to sleep. Either that or (and I know this is not the best solution either) bringing them into bed with you and ingnoring them, sometimes DD just gets fed up with me pretending to be asleep and goes back to sleep herself. Also if they do insist on getting up early maybe not allowing them any stimulation ie no tv, no lights etc and they may just get the hint!!!! Good luck!!!

You poor thing, I really feel for you. Maybe try giving them a warm bottle of milk in bed might put them back to sleep or adding an extra blanket.
Do you always get up with them? Maybe if your DH gets up and puts them back in bed for a while the change might encourage them to stay asleep - because its coming from a differant source IYKWIM. Also you need a good nights sleep yourself occasionally.
Also maybe you could cut out the soft music - I read a study a while ago about music as a sleep aid (this was in adults but it may apply to children) which said that although it can help in getting to sleep people who listened to music while they slept had altered REM patterns so it may not facilitate a good nights sleep.

I got my hopes up when I read this thread. My baby who just turned one has the same problem. He wakes at 4:30am every morning. If I put him to bed later, he still gets up at the same time. If he's a real grouch and has to be put to bed earlier in the evening, he gets up at 4am. I think it is something that they just have to grow out of (I've heard once they start school you can't get them out of bed), but I'll be keeping an eye on this thead to see if anyone has any ideas.

Emily was up at 4.30 this morning....she goes through phases of this for a week or so every few months.
She is always in bed at 7pm every night.
If she wakes up at an ungodly hour, one of us takes her downstairs (in the dark) and we pull a blanket and foam mattress out from behind the couch and lie down. The house remains dark and the tv stays off. No bottle (she isn't hungry that's not the problem). She soon realises that there will be no fun and games so she'll lie down on the mattress with DH or me, crawl under the blanket and go back to sleep.
This works about 90% of the time and we can usually get until 6am out of her this way ;)
Good luck - it's the flipside I guess of having a child that goes to bed early (and I LOVE that...I'd rather early mornings than have her up half the night!)

Oh you poor thing! That must be really tough. I had some major sleeping problems with Charlie when he was about 6 months old and I got a fabulous MCHN to come and help me. If you like, PM me and I can give you her details - she was just wonderful. I remember thinking she was a little 'harsh' to start with, but what she recommended worked and Charlie is so happy now and has been a wonderful sleeper ever since. Anyway, I really hope you find a solution.

Thanks guys for your replies and a lot of your suggestions sounds great i will be giving them a shot tomorrow morn. I know now that i'm not the only one with toddlers walking around like a zombi LOL

Kath I'm hearing you on this one. My 3 yo son Zeke gets up at that time each day. I'm now saying to him that it's ok to get up (after 2 years of rationalising I'm conceding defeat on the going-back-to-sleep thing) as long as he plays quietly in his room until he can see his swing set out his back window (sunrise is approx 6am). So far he does this once in about 5 mornings, as he needs to get a drink/yoghurt/different car/brush/imaginary friend etc from another part of the house. If it was just hubby and me we wouldn't mind, but when he wakes up Miss 5, she gets very tired and cranky for the rest of the day. She needs to sleep til 7am.

So I haven't been able to "fix" the problem, but I have been able to come to a workable solution that hopefully everyone in our little family will be able to live with.

hello kath are your gals twins? just wondering hehehe....

my daughter was more worst she used to waking up at 3.00am. It was horrible.
I just changed the bed size from the single one to queen size in her room! I know its a bit weird but since then my daughter can sleep well,and always wake up at 9 am!
Now I'm worrying that when she's ready for school she cant get up early....