How do you wake up before your kids 😩

I used to love waking up early. I need that quiet time before everyone wakes up to ease into the the day. Just like half an hour before the kids wake up and start the never-ending string of demands is all I need. But no matter what I do, how early I wake up, my kids (2 & 4) are wide awake about 10 minutes later. Am I putting off some kind of pheromones that scream “yes I’m awake- please come and scream at me about the specific type of apple you want” This has been my struggle for 4 years since my oldest was born 😩 I’m just desperately trying to get the tiniest sliver of morning time to myself. Is this too much to ask? I’ve tried waking up at 6:30, 6, 5:30, 5, shit even 4am they are AWAKE as soon as I open my eyes. I even started making my coffee the night before in an insulated mug so that I don’t make a single sound in the morning and they still just know. I’m at my wits end! Heeeeelllpppp meeeee!

Show your support

Is their room pitch black for sleep and do you use any type of sound machine?

@Genevieve yes! Black out curtains and sound machine, they both still wake up a couple times a night so I am in and out of their room through the night and most of the time end of sleeping with one of them. But even if I’m in my own room they wake up within minutes of opening my eyes. I have my wake up alarm on vibrate so no sound from that

lol if it’s the weekend they’re waking up before me And that’s why they have a gate on their door and the water turned off on their bathroom sink lol But during the week I wake up at 5/530 to prep for school and I think they’ve just adjusted to 630 am (bedtime is 7) and honestly since my son started going to school he sleeps longer

@Kathryn I second the light alarm; unless it's in daylight mode, they do not leave their room!

I feel this, my son wakes up when we do or he wakes up before us! I get some peace some of the time when he's content to stay in his crib in the morning playing for a while. I can leave him for up to 20 minutes so I can at least drink some coffee and get myself ready

I naturally wake up early. Im up at 4:30 for work during the week so on the weekends I’m usually up around 6:30/7

It isn't possible. I could set an alarm for 4:30 and at least one of them would be up by 4:15. I do have blackout curtains to hang but I watch the sun come up most mornings so I'm not expecting it to help much. We are working on 'let mom sleep' for the toddler but it will be a while before the 6 month old is going to reliably do that.

I'm in the same boat as you. Even at Christmas I got up at 3 to try and do all the food prep before she got up and she was downstairs 10 minutes later 😭 I wish I had an answer for you but you're certainly not alone

I’m in the same boat! My two year old gets woken up by his dad getting ready so then wakes me up every day before 6 demanding bananas and milk 😴😴

Maybe make them go to bed later so they are tired in the morning . I’m not sure but good luck

I could use that advice too.

They're probably old enough for one of those colour-changing glow-clocks? I think they are Tommee Tippee. Maybe not the youngest, but the eldest is old enough to understand that there is an appropriate time to get up - you can set the clock in their room, pick an appropriate time that gives you your alone time beforehand, and tell him that when the clock turns green, it's time to get up. Just because they are awake doesn't mean they need to come rushing out of bed! Bonus, it's a good introduction to telling time. I may be way off because I don't have kids this age yet, maybe they don't work at all, but I figure, worth a shot!

I go to bed when she does

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌