How to Get My Daughter to Stay in Bed / Asleep Until a Decent Hour in the AM

Is there too much light coming in that wakes her? I had to get light-blocking roll-down shades from Penneys which worked for us. Another idea is to set a clock and tell her to play in her room until the clock rings. Good luck!

When my oldest was about this age I bought a clock for her room. I put a big sticker on the 7. I told her that when the little hand got on the 7 she could get out of bed. The first few mornings she didn't get it but after a few times of walking back to her room and examining the clock together, she got it.

Here is what works for me...
My son will be three in Jan and we have this same issue, and have for the past few months. I have a sheet on the side of my bed ready for him. If it is after a certain time I will just let him crash there. He has to of course go potty first. It is great on the weekends. He wakes around 5:45-6 I kiss him he goes potty, lays down.. then around 7:30 he pop us "mommy time to get up". I explain to him that our bodies need sleep and he seemed to get that more than just go back to bed...I find giving him an explination (teaching moments) then it works better.

Put an alarm clock in her room, cover all but the hour numbers with electical tape and tell her not to get out of bed until it says 7! Worked like a charm with my son. He is 3 1/2 now and it still works. He knows if he wakes up before 7 to play quietly in bed until 7 comes. Hope this helps!

This was mentioned below but not often so just wanted to bring to your attention again. You many want to get dark curtains or tint her windows. My son wakes up as soon as the sun starts coming up so I put curtains in his room. He already had blinds but they don't keep enough light out by themselves. He sleeps better/longer if it's dark. I also use some of the other recommendations...wear her out during the day, skip nap, etc. Goodluck!

I had a similar issue with my son around this age. It will depend on her level of understanding, but this worked great with my son. I bought a digital clock and a little chalk board from the dollar store. I told him he was to stay in his room until 7:30 and I wrote that on the chalk board so he could see what it looked like. I explained the reason...that everyone else is still sleeping (he has a little brother). This works great. He can come out to go to the bathroom or get a toy or book, but then go back to his room and play quietly. If he doesnt, he doesnt get to watch his tv show that morning (something he LOVES).

She needs about 10-11 hours of sleep at this age. Is she napping too long? Just a thought.

When my son started doing this(he was also 2.5), we stopped doing a nap during the day. He is also sensitive to the light and literally wakes up at the crack of dawn, so we had to put curtains in his room over the blinds to keep out the light. At 4 years, he is still an early riser, but he is able to entertain himself for a while in the playroom (the area between our room and the kids' rooms) until we wake up. Some times he gets impatient and comes in and says "Mommy, get up. Its morning time". The up side is he is easy to get ready in the morning, where his big sister sleeps like a rock and is very hard to get ready for school;)

I also have a 2 1/2 year old daughter and we tell her to stay in bed until the sun is awake...works like a charm!

Hello,

My suggestion would be to get a little lamp and an indoor timer. Set the lamp to turn on at 7:00 a.m. Then explain to your daughter that if the lamp isn't on that she needs to stay in her bed. Once the lamp comes on then she is allowed to come and get you. Hope that helps. Happy sleeping and hopefully wake-ups
C.

I think this was already mentioned but I wanted to reiterate that if she is napping during the day, it might be time to phase it out. My oldest is a night owl and started staying up until 11pm at this age. We stopped the naps and she starting going to sleep at 8pm again. My 2nd child is an early bird and did what yours is doing...waking up at 5 or 5:30am. When we stopped the naps she started sleeping until 7 again. Good luck!

We use room darkening shades and put a $5 timer on our 5 y/o daughter's lamp set to the time it is OK for her to leave her bed and this has worked great! She would wake up a little during the night and would immediately get up. Putting her back to bed was always a battle, but now she has this visual clue and she stays in her room until the light turns on.

I have a 3 1/2 year old who went through the same thing last year when he was 2 1/2. We did the same "you can't wake up until the sun wakes up" and it still works like a charm a year later.

Try putting soft toys in the bed with her and tell her it is against the rules for her to get out of bed until you come for her. She'll have her toys to occupy her time. I did this with my oldest one. I don't know when he woke up or how long he was awake, but when I got up the toys were all thrown on the floor and he was back asleep.

My sister-in-law had this problem with her son. (Only they were trying to get him to sleep in until 6. They bought a big bright alarm clock and taught him that unless he had to go to the bathroom he had to lay in bed until the designated time. They even put a sign on the wall behind the clock that showed the numbers he had to wait for. Once it hit that time he was allowed to go jump in bed with them.
In the beginning he didn't sleep until the designated time, he did stay in bed and give mom the extra time to sleep. Eventually he started sleeping later because he was forced to lay in bed which kept his body at rest.
You might also want to look into shortening nap time if she still takes them.
Good luck!

Lol--congratulations to you and your family!

First of all, 8:30 or 9 is pretty early, especially if she's in bed before then and only going to sleep around that time. In that case, 6 or 6:30am is reasonable.

Secondly, how active is she during the day? One old trick that I use is to keep them up and active--running, playing hard, lots of walking (like all over the mall with no stroller)--until bedtime. Put her in bed at the time that she now goes to sleep. That gives her a little while to wind down (if she needs that after a BUSY day) and drift off to sleep and get some good, intense rest.

It might make you more irritable, but you might also consider shortening or doing away with her naps, so she can be ready for bed earlier.

Thirdly, does she have a bed that she can't get out of? Can you just leave her there for 30 minutes or so, when you're ready for her? The problem isn't that she's awake but that you're just not ready for her yet, right? Teach her to use those times to play independently in her bed--before she goes to sleep and after she wakes up. She's really gonna have to have that down once you have to divide your attention.

try to put her to bed earlier - i know it doesn't make sense but sleep begets sleep. it has worked for us when my son gets off track. also, a friend of mine puts a child lock on the door of her 2 year olds bedroom (there is nothing he can destroy or hurt himself with in there) and then you could leave her in there until seven - that's what you do with younger babies who get up too early, leave them in their crib until the hour you think they should be getting up. good luck! i have been getting up before 5 am with my son since we changed the clocks, ugh!

Hi M.,

I know how frustrating it is. My children are usually up between 5 - 5:30. I would also like to get them to stay in bed longer. First you should realize that as they get older they will need less sleep. 6-6:30 is a natural wake time for children. I have also found these night lights that I am considering for my almost 3yo and 5yo. They show a bunny sleeping and a bunny awake. If they wake and find the bunny sleeping, it is their cue to go back to sleep. If the bunny is awake, they know it is ok to get up! Here is the link:

http://www.babygadget.net/2007/01/arf_light.php

You have many fabulous suggestions here. We told our oldest (and the 2 that came after) that he had to see a "7" on the clock in the first position - and we would look at the clock to see which "7" counted- had to be the first number - NOT the last one- before he could come get us. But my son also used to take his army men or whatever toy du jour into bed at night and would play quietly until he fell asleep. In the morning there were his toys- ready to play and keep him occupied. Sometimes I would wonder how he could sleep with all of his action figures in the bed- but he was a great sleeper then and still is- EVEN BETTER- now. (of course- he's 16- they sleep forever.............)So - if none of these tricks work- wait another 11 or 12 years and this will no longer be a problem.
This number placement thing also came in handy when he was allowed to buy a toy. He would have to pick out something that had a "1" before the period on the price tag. Or something that could have 2 numbers- but the first one had to be "1". I wish I could say that eventually helped him with his numbers- but that is sadly not the case. But it got us out of the toy store relatively painlessly.

count your blessings, my daughter wakes up at 5am!

I have to disagree with anyone who says you're putting her to bed too early. A 2 year old needs about 13 hours of sleep per day. That accounts for a two hour nap and 11 hours at night. (This is something I've really studied.) Few American children get enough sleep. (Two of my sources are THE LULLABABY SLEEP PLAN and TODDLER 411.) Sleep is important for the whole family, so I admire you addressing this issue.

I might even try a half hour earlier. That has worked for us. One of my twin 2 year olds sleeps well. The other has asthma. Unfortunately, coughing sometimes wakes him up and sometimes his brother. Because of his asthma, I've struggled with leaving him in bed and often get up with him when I'm still sleepy. I'm going to try some of these recommendations myself.

Hope it goes well.

It's the time change, she'll adjust soon! My daughter is doing the same thing. Actually, I am too. I usually sleep later, and I'm waking up earlier. Just keep putting her to bed at the same time, and don't put her to bed any later, and her body will adjust soon. It's 6:30 right now, and my baby is still sleeping, but for the past week she's been up early. Maybe she's adjusting already. Good luck!

Our daughter did not realize she was allowed out of her bed when she woke up until about this age. If she did not hear us, she would sit in her bed and look at books till we walked into her room.

If you put a safety gate in her doorway once she is asleep at night, tell her when she wakes up, she may get out of bed and play quietly with her toys until you or your husband wake up.

Hardware stores also sell light switch extenders. This will allow your daughter to turn on her own lights.

I have a friend who says her son used to wake up early on the weekends and would go to her side of the bed to ask her to wake up. She said she would tell him to go around to the other side and wake up dad! I love that....

If you do not like this idea, you could put her to bed 30 minutes later each night.