My 3 yr-old and 7-yr-old daughters share a room, and my 3-yr-old has been waking up very early in the morning, and she keeps waking up her big sister too. Any suggestions on how to keep the little one from doing this? We have tried telling her to come straight to our room, or to quietly play until the clock says 7:00, or to read a book, but she wakes up at 5:00 am and cries loudly for us to come into the room. Now I have two tired girls instead of just one! Plus a tired mommy who can barely get up after nursing a 4-month-old all night!
Well, I have an answer for as to why the past few days have been particularly rough! I took my 3-yr-old to the doctor and she has a double ear infection and a sinus infection. Poor baby! Thanks for the tips and advice and we are going to try some of these suggestions!
http://www.amazon.com/Stoplight-Sleep-Enhancing-Clock-Paj...
I saw this clock in a parenting magazine and googled it. It has a stoplight that you can set to turn green at whatever time. That way if she wakes up and sees a red light she will know it's not time yet. Not sure if it will work, but I thought it sounded interesting.
Here's another one. Good luck. No sleep stinks!
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?client=safari&...
When my daughter started getting up at 6:45 instead of her usual 8:00 we put a clock in her room with the second half of the numbers covered with a post it. That way she would only see the first number and we told her she could call for us when the clock says 8. And keep in mind you can make it anytime you want on her clock. I tell my daughter she can get up when it says 8 but it is really 7:30 (when her brother gets up anyway). It has worked great so far. She needed a couple of reminders in the beginning but she got it. Good luck! I know I am a total crank when I don't get to sleep until at least 7:15. :-)
C.
What is your HUSBAND doing to help????
I would enlist HIM... to handle your 3 year old wakings... and so that you can sleep and nurse your baby.
You should not have to be doing... all of that.
Or, have your 7 year old... go to your room to sleep. You can put a place on the floor for her.
3 year olds do not have full impulse control...
Tell her if it is dark... it is sleep time. NO noise.
Or you go and take her by the hand, and take her to your room. You can't rely on a 3 year old to do this by themselves, nor to 'remember' to do it.
Can your 3 year old tell time already? Does she KNOW 'when' 7 o'clock is????
BUT as I said... your HUSBAND should be doing this... and helping. You cannot toggle 3 kids... at all hours... and still nurse your 4 month old. Not fair.
I usually put my toddlers back to bed and say it's not time to get up yet. I'd always treat 5am like the middle of the night. My kids all sleep in now. Good luck!!
If it's still dark out, it's still sleep time. I put my guy back to bed. He falls asleep for at least another 1.5 hours or more. Good luck!
