Early Riser Toddlers

Hi,

I've been struggling with the twins since birth and had stay consistent but we tried to get them to sleep longer in the morning. But they have been up at 5:00 to 5:30 AM since 12 mos old. And now with 1 hour time forward, they are up at 6:00 to 6:30 AM, thankfully.

My problem is with our playgroup are usually mid-morning activities and their nap is between 10 to 12:30ish to almost 1;00 PM. I had to keep missing all of those morning activities just to work around their nap schedule. Lately, I have been keeping them 'busy' for most part of the morning and eat lunch and then go down for a nap. They never nap no more than 2 hours per day.

They usually go to bed at 8 PM the latest and about 10 mins playing in the crib before they fall asleep. But the ticker is Rianna is getting up at 5:00 AM all over again and waking her brother, Justin up.

I know if she doesn't nap she get into a temper tantram so I would be afraid to take her anywhere with me. Any word of advice?

Thanks,
D, w/Rianna and Justin (19 mos)

 

mine are up around that time and I leave them. They may have fussed WAY back at the beginning but they don't anymore.
I always left a few toys/books in their beds to keep them busy.
I won't go in before 7 am.

 

Mine wake 5am pretty consistently. I don't mind too much as I work and this gives me a little time with them in the mornings. I've just switched their nap routines - they were taking 2 naps a day - 8-9am for about hour - hour and a half. and then again at 2pm or so - they were "dropping" the afternoon nap - so my daycare provider puts them down around 10-11 am and they will nap for 2-2 1/2 hours. bedtime i just changed to 7-715 pm. it usually takes the babes a couple of days to adjust to a new routine / schedule - but I don't see anything wrong with it. adjust their nap times to accomodate play groups. no harm done.

 

Yeah, that what we do -- don't get them up until 6:30 AM. We were hoping they'll go back to sleep but I guess they just in their crib and play whatever toys in there. Unfortunately, Justin like to throw all of his out of the crib while Rianna keep her 'in' so she has something to do. My husband take care of the monitor for me as I am a deaf Mom. I feel bad for him because he has to constantly hear Rianna blabbing into the monitor. I told him to take off his hearing aid and give me the monitor but I don't ususally wake up until pass 6 AM every day.

I've been pushing their nap schedule this past week until after lunch. They don't really eat very well at lunch time but in the hope they'll get more hungry by dinner time to clean off their plate. Anyway, I am the only one has to deal with mid-morning naps at play group, ha! All of the Moms have theirs go down at 2 PM. Ugh

Thanks for word of advice,
D. w/Rianna and Justin

 

I feel for you! We have a similiar schedule and was exactly yours about 8 months ago!!!

Mine rise around 6:15/6:30 and go to bed at 7:30....naps are now from 12-2, but used to be 11- 2. We did not do a lot of the play groups becuase we could not get home in time for lunch/naps. It is better now- but still we are usually the 1st to leave, but I do like that they have an early bedtime! Most of the local play groups/activities have kids that nap around 1, but go to bed later than my 2.

KC

 

hi diana!

before the time change...my dd always woke up around 5. after the time change, it was 6ish...slowly went to 7am...now she is getting up at 5:30am again! ugh! sometimes she will fall back to sleep. they are both usually "up" by 6:30, talking and playing....but we get them around 7. they both have toys and books in their crib to keep them busy. dd throws everything out of her crib, i don't know why....so she is left w/ nothing to keep her busy.

we did go to one nap around 17 months. they still go down around 11:30-12 and may sleep around 1 1/2 hrs. it varies so much, i don't know how to get it consistent. i always do stuff in the morning, to get them tired too. they go down at 7pm. i think the early thing is just in their makeup.

don't know if any of that info. helped you or not.

good luck!

Lois

 

I'm feeling so much better after reading all of the post per above! At first I thought I am alone w/early riser but I do feel a bit jealous that the Moms from the playgroup have their kids nap right after lunch and still get involved with all of the mid-morning activities.

The other day I decided that it -- they'll have to learn to nap after lunch. So I took them to an park outing with the playgroup that has 20+ Moms and their kids. It was a great day but windy too! They got tired out quickly when we left and fell asleep in the van and carried them upstairs to their crib.

And then today, I went to another playgroup I arrived at 10 30 AM and we got home around 12:30 but they ate a little at the playgroup's luncheon. And they slept from 1230 to 3:00 PM. I usually give them either water or juice with fruit snack, fat-free no sugar pudding, or no sugar jello. By the time they eat dinner at 5:30 to 6 PM. I can tell they get really hungry and eat everything off their plate. So basically I need to change their portion of their lunch to make them hungry by dinner time. They do go down to bed between 7:30 to 8 PM the latest.

We are going to be splitting them up soon but we're so caught up with other house chores that need our attention at the moment. I am hoping we will move his crib soon and figure out what to do with 2 twins mattress and 1 queen mattress (we have a 3 bedroom house). Before they were born I used to have 2 of the twins mattress in one of the room and then queen bed in the other room.

The bedroom they are in is bigger than other. I think what I would do is take the queen bed and move it in with Rianna until she learn how to crawl out of her crib. I don't think she will any time soon. She good at sitting in her crib for most part and only stand up when she hear the door creak open knowing we're here to get them, ha! I think what I can do is to have one crib against the smaller wall and put the 2 of the twins bed against the opposite side and that all the furniture can fit in that room. We have a build in closet shelves and etc. which is nice.

Anyway, thank you so much for reading in,
D, w/Rianna and Justin

 

also, wanted to add....a few times my kids have taken a nap w/out a lunch...their snack was heavy..so i felt ok putting them down. there was one day we came back from the playground and they were in full meltdown mode...so they went right down for nap and slept for 2 hrs. you might just need to try different things...or stick to one until they get used to it.

 

My boys were the same and it was starting to drive us nuts. So when the time change happened we shifted their bedtime with it, so now they don't go down until 8:30pm. This is difficult since we reallly don't have much time at night, but they have consistently started sleeping in until 6:30-7am. Actually last night, Heath did not fall asleep until 9pm. I know this is too late, but it is worth it to not have to get up at 5am. Even after the extended bed time, it took a while for them to start sleeping in. My boys still nap 2 hours in the afternoon and they are 24 months.

good luck!
jen FB

 

My boys are early risers, too. I let them stay in their cribs until 7. One usually sleeps until then, but the other either plays, or goes back to sleep. If they both wake up, they just play and have fun together.

 

It is funny how my singleton playgroup was giving me advice on maybe pushing their bedtime routine until 9 PM. I was like.....Huh? I don't think so because I want 'our' time alone but we tried it for a week but I think the REAL problem is our fault.

We have been giving them dried cherrios every morning when they get up around 5 to 6:30 AM while they watch their program. When they do that I usually clean up the kitchen a little bit, throw in the laundry and take a quick shower. I think that what make them get up because their stomach act 'hungry'. I normally feed them breakfast at 8:30 AM. I'm wondering if I should like some of you say -- keep them in their crib until 7 AM and then feed them at 7:30 AM (straight to breakfast?) this way they'll have more energy until after lunch? Let's say 11:30 to Noon (they eat smaller portion) since they eat better at dinner time.

Maybe I should start doing next week of Monday and stay consistent with that new routine?

Thanks everyone!
D, w/Rianna and Justin