shifting 4 yo body clock

[LovelyLilyandJack]

I have certainly said I can't play today because I am just too tired after being woken up all night, and have refused things like the park after tea, or an extra story explaining that we are all too tired for extra fun.

Me too, several times.  It works way better than anything else I've tried.

[Aishi]

I had a little chat with him at bt today explaining that he had to wait in his bed till Mr sun or there would be consequences both natural (cranky dd, me too tired to play) and there would be no screen time all day. He understands so I guess he'll only comply if I follow through!

I pd at 7.50 and he was asleep by 8.15- he always seems to do a short night with an 8pm BT so I'm not expecting miracles!

[Aishi]

8.15-6.30 *sigh*

He came out of his room so I tucked him back in and explained he needs to wait for Mr sun but if he can't sleep he can play quietly. l heard him put his lamp on but at least he's waiting so far and there are no tears or tantrums! Not like I can go back to sleep now tho.

[michaeljacknnugg]

Progress! You will be able to sleep through him playing, eventually - or at least doze.

I'm guessing this is why there is the trend for TV in children's bedrooms, would keep them quiet with minimal parental input.

[Aishi]

So he did 7.15-5.35 he was exhausted which is why bt was a little earlier. How come he's still waking before 6 even tho he's going to bed even later than before?!

On the plus side he came out of his room on wu but went back in when I reminded him to wait for Mr sun. He put his lamp on at 6.30 but is still in there I have been bribing him with a chocolate coin :-/

[barbaraz78]

I think it is good. And 10.5 h is actually what I aim at this age. We have some 11 h nights these weeks (catch up as he did sleep 8-9 h for a week when we were on holiday and then school started so didn't have chance to catch up), but I consider them a plus now.
It is very good that he waited in his room, I think you should be happy for this. He will eventually go back to sleep alone, if tired enough.

[Buntybear]

He stayed in his room an hour- that is great! I know it is frustrating that he was awake at that time but that will improve. The fact that he stayed there is HUGE! Olly still won't do that now! That is a skill in itself 

[Aishi]

Aye I wasn't expecting him to stay for as long as he did! His clock comes on at 7 and he started coming out of his room at 6.45 so I did wiwo for that time. It meant he didn't get his choc coin cos he didn't wait in his room. Was that too harsh? I felt really mean not giving it since he waited for over an hr!!

[*Liz*]

Well I think you have no choice but to be consistent if you want him to wait for the clock. He clearly isn't getting the message without you enforcing the rule.

My DS never did either. Just couldn't see the point until we were firm about it iyswim?

[Aishi]

He was up at 5.30 today!! Seriously shouldn't we past this by now?

At least he's waiting for Mr sun after coming out once. I thought he fell asleep at 6 but then he started chatting...

[Aishi]

5.30 again!!     

This time he's been out twice already and put his lamp on! 

[creations]

I may the lone voice here Aishi but if this was my DS I'd move BT later.  Late. And wait for him to sleep late before considering moving it a bit earlier again.

I think you're in the UK aren't you (sorry if I'm wrong)? so clocks are moving back in 6 weeks ish meaning another time shift coming up.

hugs. Those 5.30am WUs used to be such a drain on me, I feel for you x

[*Liz*]

See I wouldn't  . I would work on the Mr Sun bit and drop back to a 7.30pm bedtime. My reasoning would be that there is no point losing your Evening time over something that isn't fixing.

I also wouldn't be prepared to do very late bedtimes on a kid that had just started full time school as being exhausted could make it harder for them to settle properly.

My DS would have been exactly the same at this age I'm afraid, I really do think some are genuinely wired to the early am, and what you have to teach is not interrupting everyone else in the process.

My DS came in at 5.50am yesterday and 6.15am today as well. He goes back and stays quietly after that but I've never managed to stop him coming in completely. Yesterday he wanted to tell me he needed the toilet. I guess he is checking I am there and he is safe  .

[Aishi]

Thanks for your thoughts ladies yes in UK creations and also worried about the time change! I'm inclined to agree with u creations as wu is getting worse not better! I think his body clock needs a serious shift and its only thing I haven't tried consistently.!

Liz- I hear u on school issue etc but I don't think ew are helping anyway so I may as well just shift BT later for a few days and see what happens. I'm still working on waiting for sun. He still came out several times today- can't say o blame him since wu was 5.30 and that's a long time to wait!

I'm hoping if I do 8.30 BT wu after 10h should be 6.30 and if he gets used to waiting for shorter time he may be inclined to wait iykwim?

[creations]

Liz- I hear u on school issue

Me too. It's not a great time to be changing routine or experimenting but equally I know for my DS if he was waking early so often he would be getting extremely tried from it and yet still not shifting his body clock to sleep later. The only thing that worked here was a 2hr later BT for an end goal of a 1hr later WU, at which point BT went 1hr earlier again and body clock remained at the right time for WU.
For mine he just gets more and more tired over a long period of time. The disruption caused by super late BT is not to be taken lightly but he can shift his body clock within days through this method instead of losing sleep for weeks - so overall he loses less sleep.