4 yr old + 5am = Depressed mum!

[GG]

Oh my gosh, Mel! How absolutely frustrating!!

[*Natasha*]

Is his room dark when he wakes up in the morning? Has he always been an early riser?

[Melsy]

Thanks Georgia.  Natasha - his room is pretty dark - he has block out curtains (they are tab top though so a little light comes thru the top) I have just spent $600 on block out blinds to go UNDER the curtains to try to eliminate even that little bit of light at the top of the curtain rail.     He has always been a fairly early riser, but at the more acceptable hour of 6 - 6.30am.  Which I can totally handle.  The 5am stuff - not so fun. 

It is mid afternoon here (3.20pm) and he fell asleep on the floor ( ) at 2.30pm.  I don't know how long to let him sleep for and then what to do about bedtime!! 

Mel

[Vicku]

Awh big hugs Mel! That sucks...
Our DD has also always been an early riser (6ish most of her life but have had both bad periods of 4/5am wake ups and good ones of 7/7:30) so I can totally sympathise with you on not liking the 5am ones. Must be so hard with another baby too! We've figured that DD just won't sleep more than 10/10.5 hrs at night no matter when she sleeps, so we can't do bedtime earlier than 8pm if we wabt a decent wake up time. Don't know if you've tried later bedtimes with him? Then if he's not having a nap anymore things are different of course and I don't have any experience of that. Just thought I'd share though. I hope he starts sleeping longer soon! If he falls asleep on the floor that might be a sign of him being OT. Will he refuse a nap if you try to give him one? Maybe he'd benefit from having a structured nap again?

[Melsy]

Thanks Vicki, it DOES suck!  I am just so tired all the time - I get really weepy for no reason and I am attributing that to the tiredness.  Plus there is the fact that I treat ds like s*it (not intentionally of course) but I am just so darn tired all the time.   

He fell asleep on the floor after having a tantrum because I asked him to please lay down for a rest (told him he didn't have to sleep but at least rest) and he lost the plot and started trashing his room      as he does.  But he slept till 4.15pm - so a 1.75hr nap!     But I have NO IDEA what time to put him to bed tonight??  And do I still do W2S (Tracy says 3 days) even though we had no success with it last night?? 

I guess I am just confused as to what to try next!!!  Thanks for all the help and support from everyone tho, I truly appreciate it!

Mel

[Vicku]

You could always try for bed at 8:15 ish as that's 4 hrs A time. Or even later if you think he could handle it, but you know him best, just watch him and see if he seems ready. It might be worth seeing if he'll sleep longer in the am with that later bedtime as he shouldn't be too OT after the nap. Might backfire though, you never know??? I'm not really that experienced of W2S but think if it was me and didn't work 1st time I'd prob not do it again. But that's just me...
I'm thinking try later bedtime and a pm nap to get later wake ups, but who knows what will work??? Some would say try earlier bedtime, but that's just never worked for us, just makes our EW worse.
Here for you though hun! I hope you'll get some sleep soon it's so hard when you're sleep deprived to stay happy and positive.
xxxxx V

[Melsy]

Hi Vicki - well I put him to bed just before 8.30pm last night and he woke at................5.01am.        I was so gutted.  I thought that with the nap yesterday we may see some tiny teeny improvement.  Sigh.  I could just cry.

Mel

[Vicku]

Oh hun, I'm so sorry!
How about trying a really early bedtime, like an hr or and hr 30 mins before his usual? He must be OT on that little sleep, so if he then wakes at the same time he would have at least caught up a little. Such a tough situation... People think it's only in the first months parents get sleep deprived, but that's obviously not the case. Sending more big squishy hugs to you though and hoping that that can make you feel at least a little tiny bit better {{{{{{{{{{}}}}}}}}}}

[debandbrian]

I feel for your Mel.  I wish I had advice but I have scratched my head about sleep for the past 3.5 years and it seems every time we get something that works, it stops working!!!

We did ask at his preschool on Fri if he naps consistently, she said no, he lies for an hour awake then for the second hour they let him look at books. But on Friday he napped, she said they usually try to get them all to sleep on Friday (lol..so the teachers can have a break? So as to muck up their entire schedules for the weekend? But really, we love the preschool...) So on Friday night we pushed things back just a bit and he lolligagged getting to sleep so he probably wasn't asleep until 8:00ish. Up at 6.

Saturday - no nap (we don't even try at home bc we can't get him to sleep until at least 1 but if we let him go any past 2 then he's up until 9 or later :O) - asleep by 7:10, up at 6.
Sunday - no nap, asleep by 7:30 - would have been earlier if dh started earlier, he's a little less cognizant of the time on his nights. Up just after 6.

But night wakings most nights - last night his pull-up had leaked and he was screaming bloody murder I thought he'd fallen out of the bed and injured himself. Nope, just wet clothes. So I'm wondering if he's waking at night when he pees, or the wet pullup is bothering him in the morning?? I bought the night time ones but they only had the 3t/4t size, not the 2t/3t so they are roomy on him.  I'm wondering if I should switch back to the regulars in the right size. Or maybe he is just preparing himself to go to the toilet at night when he wakes?

Anyway, he's not even getting 11 hours total most nights. He was ok on the weekend because we can lull about in our pj's and watch tv until he's fully awake, but this morning when it was go go go, he was all whines.  And the brutal part about 11 hour nights, aside from the cranky kid?? 13 hour days!!!!! Where he finds the energy, we have no idea.

*Crossing fingers for a nice, calm, big sleeper in #2*

Yawn,
Deb

[GG]

Mel,

How are things? Any changes? The time change is coming up for us this weekend and I'm so not looking forward to the REALLY early mornings 4-5 am wake ups!

I don't think I told you how I deal with dd's early wakings. I plop one of the large stuffed animals on the floor (this serves as my pillow), give her some cheerios in a bowl, put some toys next to me and let her play close by until I've gotten a little snooze in. This doesn't always work because there's always bound to be 2/3/4 different things that I need to wake up for (like, change a dirty diaper, spilled cheerios, etc) but somehow time flies and then it's really time for me to wake up. I'm a big grump, though, and I feel so bad for them when I'm in that mood.  I apologize and try to explain what's going on and I figure, at least, they're realizing that it's good to explain your feelings and, also, that I'm human.

Anyway, I hope things have gotten better in your part of the world.

[Melsy]

Georgia - no change.  Am still cranky and sad but trying to just deal as best as we can.  Thanks for thinking of us!  Good luck with your time change....so glad we don't have that here!

Mel

[GG]

Really? I personally think it's ridiculous but only realized this when I had kids. While everyone else gets 1 extra hour of sleep, we moms just get to wake up "earlier" every day. *LOL*

[Melsy]

Parts of Australia have it but not in Brisbane where I am!  He was up at 4am today - uuuggghhh.  I am so tired.

Mel

[james030405]

Oh,, Mel,  I am sooooooooooooo looking forward to meeting you next week.  James is usually between 5:30am-6am which sadly I consider a sleep in .  It is his sister Kate (21mths) who is driving me crazy at the moment.  She was up at 4:50am today and I layed down with her until 5:20am when she said she need to do wees (she is toilet trained).  Once I took her out of the room she said she didn't need to go and wanted to go to the lounge room. .  I have been dealing with this for 3yrs now and i think i am passed being angry.  I just do it!  What makes me really sad is that last night, both kids were asleep by 6:45pm after having 2 very busy days (lots of beach time, outdoors etc) and I fell asleep at 8pm!!!!  Perfect time to spend with my darling DH, but I fell asleep.  This is what I get upset about.  I feel if I am not asleep by 9:30pm, then I won't have enough sleep to deal with the following day. 

Anyway, looking forward to meeting you so we can have a good cry together.  Maybe we need to meet in the arvo so we can have a wine.    Anyway, see you next Tuesday.  I am so looking forward to meeting someone whose children wake before 6am.  Most of my friends kids dont wake until after 7am, which I find most annoying because they complain if they have to get up at 6:30am!!!!

Chat soon

Lisa

[Melsy]

Lisa - I can't wait to meet you guys too!  I also sadly consider 6am to be a sleep in.     Aidan was pretty good today - 5.45am but played really really quietly till 6.30am (which I have his alarm clock set to!)  and Callum slept till 7.20am!  So I got to stay in bed (but not sleep  ) till nearly 7.30am!  I am so jealous that your kids are night potty trained!  Aidan is STILL in a nappy at night and it is soaked everyday! 

I know what you mean about the time in the evening with DH - I fell asleep on the lounge while we tried to catch up with our Hero's episodes we have recorded!  And I work night shift at Coles a few times a week so that's even less time together!  I don't know about you, but I kinda keep looking forward to the day when they are old enough to get up and be quiet and get there own breakfast without disturbing me - but then I also feel bad, like I am wishing away there child hood.   

Anyway, enough tired ramblings from me!!!     Can't wait to meet you next week!

Mel