My kids are early risers and I mean legit early risers. I sometimes hear parents complain that their kids wake up early and I think, "oh good, I'm not alone!" and then I find out that their "early" is 7 am! Do you know what I would do for my kids to sleep in until 7?!
I have followed Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child by by Dr. Marc Weissbluth, with both my girls and it really has worked wonders. I will have to save my love for that book for another post. I will just say that both my girls have slept through the night early on and have had really good nap schedules. However, the one thing that no book, advice, mother's intuition, praying has been able to do for me is get my kids to sleep in. I have been blessed/cursed with early risers. 5:30 am risers! Some days, like today it was 5 am. Occasionally we go through spurts where they sleep until 6:15-6:30 for several weeks and all is right in the world and I think we have made a break through, only for the next week for them to begin waking at 5 am once again!
Disclaimer: I'm happy to hear any advice, but let me just tell you I have tried putting them to bed earlier, putting them to bed later, black out blinds, white noise, a timer on the light, snacks by the bed because they wake up hungry, laying with them and rubbing their backs to get them back to sleep, letting the scream and cry hoping they will go back to bed...
I told my oldest when she was barely two and just starting to talk that she was an early bird, which got her all offended and she snapped back at me, "I'm a girl. Not a bird!" As my oldest who is almost 3 1/2 transitioned into a "big girl bed" and we took her bottle away, our perfect bedtime routine would be followed by an hour and half- 2 hour battle of getting her stay in bed and because it doesn't matter what time she goes to bed, she is still up at the crack of dawn this made for a very cranky little
girl monster.
Tired Teddies unfortunately has not helped her sleep in, but they have helped her to relax and go right to sleep giving her a couple extra hours of sleep and my husband and me a couple extra hours to relax and spend time together instead of fighting her. I also feel like she gets a better night sleep. She is less restless and wakes up happy, even at 5 in the morning. Wish I could say the same!
So, what are Tired Teddies? Check them out
here. You can thank me later!
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