Having to start your day at 5am because that’s when your child wakes is hard work epsecially if you have another child who happily sleeps through the night until 7am. Several of my clients have this issue and a mother of twins nearly two often worries that if she doesn’t rush in to pick up her son, her daughter will also wake when she naturally will sleep much longer. This seems to be a common problem for parents with twins, looking after two toddlers or babies is very exhausting however much you love your children.
Many parents resign themselves to the fact that they have an early riser, however if your toddler is exhibiting tantrums and seems grumpy in the day or struggles to make it through till bedtime or has a late afternoon cat nap this is a clear sign that your child is lacking in sleep.
How do you change things or is this the way my child is, parents ask? Sleep is so important is it difinitely something worth doing something about as lack of sleep can affect your child’s emotional development and concentration skills. To know whether your child is getting enough sleep you need to work towards a toddler having 11-12 hours at night with an hour or two in the day. As your toddler progresses towards the age of two or three the day time nap is usually dropped, depending on how tired your child gets.
To adapt the time your son or daughter wakes you need to make some gradual adjustments in the day. If your child continues to wake at 5-6am encourage them to stay in their room 15 minutes longer each day by buying a lamp that comes on or an alarm clock set to the time you feel is acceptable. Tell your child that when the lamp is on or the alarm has gone off, they are free to get up. It will take some work but within a few weeks your child will be sleeping longer in the morning and the whole family can get more sleep.
If this is still not working there will be other factors that need looking at, if you need someone to one advice why not phone for a consultation and discover what it feels like to sleep until 7am or beyond!