Its been about 2 weeks since we moved Cooper to his big boy bed and it kills me every time I go check on him at night. He’s just so…BIG. But somehow looks so little in the big bed. And I love how much he loves it.
He has gone to sleep perfectly, never escaped, never asked for his crib.
That = Success.
So what is the problem? Instead of waking up at 7:30-8, he’s waking up at 6. 6AM. I haven’t seen that time in a couple years. And its killing me. More importantly, he is MISERABLE. He’s yawning by 7:30 and in full on melt down mode by 10am.
We tried putting him to bed earlier = Failure.
Tried putting him to bed later = Failure.
I need some tips from you been there done that Mommas. The hardwood in his time out spot is worn to the beams. I know he’s freaking out because of the exhaustion, so I feel like I really shouldn’t be disciplining him.
What the frick to do?
Is he napping? I know when we moved Claire to the big girl bed, we had the same problem. She would sleep until 7:15-7:30 every day. Now? Her and Addison are playing by 6:30 in their rooms. It's killer. But, I figured she was just going to have to get used to it since she was sharing a room with a rooster that wakes up by 6:00. I don't have any advice. 🙁 I think Claire just adjusted. Her naps became a little longer, although now, she is waking up when Addison does at nap time. FAIL. I always put them to bed around 7-7:30. Naps right after lunch. I just try to keep them on their schedule.
Have you tried putting him down for a morning nap? When Moo gets cranky from exhaustion, I put her in her rock to sleep. She wakes up refreshed and ready for lunch.
Agreed with pp. I assume he's still taking an afternoon nap right? Try moving the time for that to 12:30.
Basically Ty is in the same boat. Of course I'm up anyway with Trav so it's a bit different. 🙂 Try getting the Time to Wake light for his room. It's a green light that you program like an alarm to turn on at a certain time. And then tell him he has to stay in bed until the light goes on. It doesn't always work (like right now) but sometimes it will help him stay in bed.
In general I suspect their wake times will stretch later again as they get older and are used to the beds. But for now we're in the same boat! 🙁
I would definitely try adding in a nap.
What happens if you try to put him back down when he gets up? If Addaline gets up before 7 (on the weekends), I make her lay back down. I turn on her radio, and tell her she doesn't have to go to sleep, but has to lay there. She always falls back to sleep. Hopefully you get some good suggestions. Crossing my fingers something works for you girl!
Thanks for the advice y'all! He is napping from 12:30 – 3:30, but the mornings are brutal.
@Molly I tried to put him back in and he freaked!
OMG count your blessings that he takes a 3 HOUR nap!!!!! Ahhhh I would KILL for that haha. My daughter is not in a bed yet but she wakes at 6:30 every morning and takes maybe a 1 hour nap, NOTHING I do will change it, that's how she is waaah!
Belle did that for the first couple of days, but she'd wake up at 7 and we'd just ignore her until 8. After a few days she started catching on, she'd still wake up at 7, but she'd fall back asleep after 20 minutes or so and then would get up again at 8.
Oh my goodness I would love for Austin to take even an hour nap!! He dropped those right when he turned 3!! Austin has always been an early riser. We were having 5 am wake up calls for a long period and I was ready to pull my hair out. It was worse when he gave up his nap. I tried putting him in bed with me, then turning a movie on in my room, making him sit in his room with books, none of it worked. I still enforced quiet time right after lunch time ( or earlier if he was a mess before then). Later bed time wasn't even working and just made it worse. Not sure when it changed but one day magically he just started sleeping in until about 8am and has been the past 2 months. He has had later bed times…no later then 9pm though (and that is pushing it). And he seems to be requiring about 12 hours sleep. Maybe with the weather starting to turn nicer try to get him out for longer periods and make him burn that energy off? Austin always sleep even better when he has worn himself ragged, now of course that kid can run straight for 8 hours a day and still have tons of energy. With it getting lighter earlier, does he have more light in coming through his window that could be waking him up? I used a dark sheet to cover Austin's window for awhile and it seemed to help some in the spring/summer days.
Light blocking curtains!!!!! The darker their room stays, the longer they sleep! I had this same issue with my youngest. Once the room got bright, he would pop outta bed telling me it was daytime. Once I got the dark curtains, he was back to his regular sleeping schedule.
I agree with April.
Also, if you do feel he needs more sleep and an earlier bedtime now, try pushing back bedtime by 5 or 10 minutes a night until he is at the bedtime you think works best for your family. We did that with my two youngest. They now go to bed between 7 and 730pm and wake at around 7pm.
Good luck mama!!
oops, I meant 7am. wow, 7pm-7pm would be awful! heehee
If he's taking a nap from 12:30 to 3:30 what time is he going to bed? How long did you try a later bedtime? The only thing I can think of is keep pushing a later bedtime.
I think you should just keep doing what you are doing, eventually he will sleep in again. Good Luck!
OMG, we are dealing with the SAME thing! Last Friday I seriously thought I would kill Brayden he was so whiny, and clingy and irratible. Finally he went to sleep for a morning nap and was much better– for a little while atleast. I have heard that the tot clock (I think you can purchase it on Amazon) works really well, but for kids closer to 3. It is kind of nice to know I'm not the only one that's dealing with this..
I have no advice just empathy because we'll be fighting this same battle in just a few weeks ourselves. I am already dreading it.
We got our son a clock that changes color and introduced it to him when he was 2 and 3/4 years. He was too young to tell time but he did know his colors. It was a lifesaver. He was waking up at 5:30am when Daddy got up for work and even though I would tell him to go back to sleep he would only do that for about 15 minutes and then feel like he had slept late enough. If you want more info you can email me or you can just type "clocks that change color" into google to get a selection.
No clue but props to you for going to the big boy bed! We need to move Lu to one…but I'm in NO hurry! Dreading it actually. Good luck with the early riser!
i'm not a momma so i have no ideas for you but he looks so cute in his big boy bed!!
Is that when is starts getting light out? My daughter is 3.5 and as soon as she sees a little light coming through the curtains she thinks it's time to wake up. Even if she is tired, she will shoot right out of bed. I need to put darkening shades in her room…maybe that will help him too??
When my son was that age, we were doing 2 naps.. One in the morning & one in the afternoon. Hope you find something successful soon!
I'm down with the dark shades. The curtains in Lainey's room are super thick…so her rooms stays really dark all the time. Bree's room has a big tree out front and doesn't get direct sunlight so hers stays dark too.
We do lullaby music for both…sort of drowns out house noises (esp if hubs leaves early for work? Maybe that's waking him…?)
An idea that won't help with the waking but can give him more rest without the sleep…Lainey has a tv in her room. In the morning if she wakes up before us, she comes in and asks us if she can watch a movie and if it's after 7:30 I let her. When I put her to bed the night before, I put a juice box in her room and a bowl of cereal. So she has entertainment and food and I'm still in bed. And, if he has loud toys, you can make him a basket of "wake-up" toys (books, etc). My only rule is she has to be on the bed. She can read, color, do puzzles, whatever but it has to be taken to her bed. (This keeps her from banging and dropping stuff on the floor that would wake up Bree.)
Just an idea 🙂 🙂 <3 <3
Well I have no advice. 🙁 But wow does he look so big in his bed!! Breaks my heart because holy crap that will be Brayden one day!! 🙁
I scanned a few of the comments, and agree with the advice. I think this is something that will improve as he adjusts to being in a different bed, though. He does look like a big boy in his bed!
Oh I don't even want to think about these big kid issues!!! Your little one is so cute! Hang in there, I'm sure he'll get back on track soon!