How to Keep Son in His Bed Longer in the Mornings

You can't force a very young child to stay in bed once they are fully awake. You just have to get up with them or find something to keep them occupied until you do. However, at 2, they still need constant supervision so it needs to be something they can do in the same room with you. When my oldest was 2, he wanted to get up around 5:30 or 6 every morning. I let him watch 2 episodes of Blue's Clues while I tried to get a little more sleep.

I read somewhere to buy a digital clock and cover up the last 2 numbers with tape or a piece of paper. Then make a sign with the number 6, 7, or 8 and put it beside the clock. He can't leave his room until the number on the clock matches the one on the sign.

Then make him a quiet toy area in his room where he can play in case he wakes up before the "right" number is on the clock.

And childproof the rest of his room like there's no tomorrow!

You don't say what time your little guy rises and shines, but what is way too early for your liking might be a perfectly realistic and reasonable time for him (say, 6 a.m.....yawn). I learned when my daughter was a little to adjust my sleeping hours to match hers, because it just wouldn't have been fair to leave her to her own devices while I got an extra hour or so in the morning.

But more recently, her son was waking around 5 as a young toddler. They put a small light on a timer and told him they needed him to stay in his room until the light came on. He was allowed to read books or play with a couple of favorite toys while waiting.

Fifteen minutes of isolation is an ETERNITY to an eager young child, so they began by setting the light for only about 15 minutes after his usual waking time. They extended that by 5 minutes a week, but I don't think they ever got up to an extra half-hour to sleep in. Then he took an interest in potty-training, which, of course, they were eager to support, so one parent started getting up with him every morning when he woke.

Early mornings are just one of the (sigh) sacrifices of parenting for most of us. I personally never was comfortable requiring a child to wait for me to wake naturally. Heaven knows, they have to do enough waiting and adapting to parents' schedules during the day.

Since he understands you when you tell him to go back to his room and play, you might just give him a wind up timer... when he comes in your room set it for however many more minutes you need and tell him when it rings he can come and wake you up with some kisses ;

Most likely you are just going to have to get up earlier yourself..... I think that will eventually be your end result.

I second Peg M.'s response. You may just have to get up. I have never even thought of asking my kids to stay in their room until I woke up - when they woke up, I woke up - I didn't like it but I did it - I survived. I don't what too early is for you but it may not be too early for your son. Other than adjusting his bedtime, and that doesn't always work, once a kid is up whether they are still in their room or not, it is dangerous they are awake and you are not. Whatever you do, please don't lock his door until you wake up. Remember this is just temporary, eventually you will get to sleep in.

You just need to wake up when your child wakes up.
A toddler like that, cannot stay in a room by themselves, for a long time.
They do not even have fully developed "impulse control" at that age yet....
for a child that age, 15 minutes is a long time... and he tried. So that's good. He does not know about "time" yet nor a clock... nor how long you want to stay in bed.
Even if you are in bed still... you'd need to keep your ears open and awake, to listen for him and any safety hazards. So, you won't really get any sleep anyway, even if still in bed longer. Once he is up, he is up... and a parents sleep... will be awake too.

You have to keep 'expectations' age appropriate.
A 2.5 year old... CANNOT tell time yet nor read a clock... nor even know what time it is and how time elapses....

all the best,
Susan

now that my kids are 6 i have more control, or i should say, somewhat of a colntrolover what time they get up. if they get up before 7, i give them each a book to read quietly. or they can rearrange their jewelry but honestly it works for about 10 min. at ages 2-3-4-5 i had zero control. their bedtime and wake-up time was my time too.

I have heard about this: www.goodnitelite.com but never tried it. We just keep the door to the kids' room shut and it is locked. Our landing is small and they are not allowed to roam the house freely without an adult. If they need us (bathroom or are just READY to be up) they knock on the door. (They have gotten downstairs and know how to open all of the locked doors, so this is a safety issue in our house.) Our doors are two feet apart and we share a wall, but they usually just play quietly and look at books in their beds in the morning. You could install a swing gate so your son can play with the door open in the mornings and let you get your rest, too. If he is getting plenty of sleep, though, he might just be ready to be up and it might be better to move his bedtime back a little bit. My kids are up late, sleep late, and get plenty of sleep, but my husband works evenings so it all works out for us. Children are usually more eager in the mornings than adults no matter what you do. I would just set my coffee pot up the night before so I can switch it on before my brain wakes up. :)

My brother and SIL put a timer on the lamp in my nephew's room, and told him he can't start talking/making noise until the light goes on.

When we transitioned from crib to toddler bed, I closed my boys' door (we've closed doors since they were babies, so this was not a really huge change for them) and have a child proof door handle lock on the inside of their door, so we avoid wanderers or too early of risers. I also avoid feeding them immediately upon waking, so as to not train their tummies to wake them up, if that makes sense?

They still wake between 7-7:30 AM, after about 11-12 hours of sleep, and they are 4 and 2 1/2.

If we have a super early morning (which thankfully doesn't happen very often!) wake up - maybe between 6-6:30 or so, I will set my cell phone alarm for 7 AM or later, and tell them they have to remain quiet until "the beep-beeps go off". Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

The trick for us is to be consistent, but allow for flexibility within reason. Good luck!

I got a tot clock. Go to mytotclock.com. It is a clock that changes colors to let them know when they can get up. It is blue at night and turns yellow during the day. She is not aloud to get up till it turns yellow. You manually set what time you want them to go to bed and get up. She was 2 1/2 when I started using it. It works wonders for us. The clock has a lot of other features as well.

Same thing happened with our young son. It was often 4am ior 5am and we couldn't take it any more. We put a light on a timer in his room. When the light turns on he can get up. During the week it's 6am and 6:30am on the weekend. Yes, it's early but we are early birds in our house. It has worked out really, really well since he still can't tell time.

Safety is an issue if he's up & you're not. I used to try bringing my little ones in my room with something quiet to play with. If you have a TV in your room, a kiddie video or show might help for awhile. Can he go to bed later at night?

My son is 25mo and still in a crib, so I haven't dealt with this myself yet. I do have a couple of friends whoe use one of the products from onestepahead.com. I am going to try one of these when my son transitions out of the crib. Sleep-Enhancing Stoplight Clock http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId... or Toddler training picture clock http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...

jenn

I use the sunshine as an indicator for awake time. If I get a visit before daylight, I just walk or sometimes carry my daughter back to bed and just say, "it's still night-night, the sunshine is not awake yet" and she goes back to sleep. If the sunshine is out, and I just need a little bit more rest, I put on a DVD for her very quietly. She will sit on the couch with a blanket for a while,(not usually long enough haha) then come into my room again. I don't get to really fall back asleep, but the extra resting is always savored.

I really like the idea of the digital clock. I never tried that, but fortunately, my kids stayed in their rooms. I told them they couldn't get up until the "house" woke up.
Some little kids want to hit the floor the minute their eyes open and I think it's good to start when they are little...teaching that there's a difference between being awake and being up. And, getting everybody else up too.
My friend is going through this with her granddaughter. She's been keeping her on weekends because her daughter has to go to work really early. Grandma has a hard core job at a hospital that starts at 7 am. After working all week, she's exhausted. Her 5 year old granddaughter wants everyone up before the sun and it's not working very well. I'm going to share the clock idea though. Even being able to sleep until 7 would be break for her, but she gets no cooperation. She's been saying she has to figure something out or she won't be able to keep her granddaughter anymore. It's too hard on her. She adores the little one, but she's not exactly in her 20's or 30's or even 40's anymore.
I'm really interested to see your other responses and suggestions.
I wish you luck!

If you figure something out that works, let me know...because I could use some help too, LOL! My DD is 3 and used to sleep in until 8 or 9 - then starting at the beginning of this summer, it became 6:30 or 7. Made sense with the earlier sunrise. But now the sun is up later and she is still awake at 7 (which I realize could be a luxury for some, but still a little rough for us). And when she is up, she wants me up too - right now! Gotta be downstairs with her, get her some juice, etc. etc. I've tried telling her, "It's still dark out and that means it's not time to get up yet." She is not buying it. Once she was up at 6 and sunrise was not for another hour - I was able to get her back to bed then, but only for another 30 minutes.

I figure at this age there is not much I can do about it - so I suck it up and deal with it. I know when my stepsons were 6 and 7, they would willingly go watch TV and munch on cereal and wait for us to be up. So I figure my daughter will get there eventually too.

This solution might not work for your son's age, but you never know...
We just bought our son a light-up clock for his room, and we told him that unless the first number is a 7 (not a SIX!), you cannot get out of bed. You need to lie down and sleep, or think, or sing, etc... After 7, he can get out and say good morning, play with his trains in his room, read books, play with his stuffed animals.
My problem with the early wakings wasn't so much that he was waking ME up (although it really did start my day off wrong), but that he would wind up a cranky, tired, rude mess all day long.
We just started this clock thing over the weekend. For the moment it is really 'cool and fun'... I'm hoping that it becomes productive and he learns to fall back asleep until a better time.

Great answers so far. I will have to disagree with the post that said that kids this age can't tell time. I've been teaching my 2.5 yr old son to read a digital clock and he's doing very well. He knows if it's 7:00 or 8:00. I have used the phrase lately "It's not 8:00. It's not time to get up yet." when he comes walking in my room at 7:15. If it's dark enough, I'll tell him "the sun's not bright yet. Not time to get up yet." and put him back in his bed. He does about the same as your son does (15 mins later is back waking you up). But sometimes, when it's still decently dark (6:30am) he will go back to sleep in his bed.

But most of the time, my son wakes up about 7:15, when I prefer to sleep till 8. So he plays on my bed while I snooze and slowly wake up. I started teaching him to read a digital clock (it's been a few weeks now of practicing) b/c I plan to put one in his room soon and tell him if the first number is 6 or 7, he must stay in bed. If it's 8 or 9 he can get up. I don't think it will work as perfectly as I have it planned in my brain, but it's worth a try.