MARIA | HAPPY MUM HAPPY CHILD
MY KIDS ARE EARLY RISERS
I wrote this post, about my kids being early risers, about six months ago. But I never published it. Was going back through my drafts when I realised “bloody hell, my kids are still early risers” … DAMMIT!
They’re 2 and 4 now though, and each of them has a Gro-Clock. My 4 year old goes to Kindy, so doesn’t really have a nap anymore, but on the weekends she does. And my 2 year old still has a 3 hour nap during the day.
And yes they still wake early haha …
I get told a lot “man your kids have great naps!”. Or “wish my kids would sleep like that”. But let me tell you something – just because they sleep well during the day, doesn’t mean they do so at night HAHA
Both of my children go to bed between 7-8pm, and wake between 5-6am. Sometimes waking during the night. So they make up for it during the day.
My 2 year old still has a day nap – usually about 2.5 hours long. My 4.5 year old still needs a nap on the weekend, and to be honest, really does need one during the day.
Let me be the first to say, I am ALWAYS jealous when I hear of children who wake at 7am, 8am or heaven-forbid, 9 A-bloody-M. My kids have always been early risers.
Apparently I was an early riser as a baby myself – 5am every day. Bugger that!
However, that is one of the reasons I wake so early in the morning. To get some “me time” before my kids wake up. Because when you have an early riser, the days can be very long when you’re with them together.
When my both of my kids were 18 months old, I did some sleep-training by using a Gro-Clock (I got mine from The Sleep Store). I would tell my kids that they are not coming out into the lounge until the sun is up on the clock. For a very long time my kids wake up time would be 4.30am, which is ridiculous.\
I’d always go in when the kids woke up, but I wouldn’t take them out of their room. I’d talk to them the whole time and explain that they had to stay in their room until the sun came up. As you would expect, we had several rough mornings while they adjusted, but on day about day 3-4 they started sleeping until 5.45am. I am always super proud of my kids for responding so well to the Gro-Clock.
What are your kids’ sleeping habits like? Do they have a nap during the day? Do they sleep well at night?
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