Waking at 5am every day since moving to a bed, help!

Question

Ever since she went into a big bed a few weeks back she's up at 5am on the dot, wide awake, ready to party. In the cot she'd happily go till quarter to 7. We've already got a blackout blind up. What are we doing wrong?

Nat · Answer

Being able to just get up is a big pull at first, the novelty wore off for us after a few weeks. Worth checking the room is actually pitch black, even a little standby light on the monitor can do it, that it's not too warm, and that bedtime isn't too late. Overtired kids wake earlier, weirdly. A wake up clock helped too once she was old enough to understand it.

Aisha · Answer

Ours was identical. What actually fixed it was bringing bedtime forward 20 minutes for a week. Sounds backwards but the early waking was overtiredness. That and a clock, plus making the room dark and dull so there was nothing worth getting up for at 5.

Robyn · Answer

5am club solidarity, it's brutal. We taped over every little LED in the room, pushed dinner a bit later so she wasn't waking hungry, and honestly did a bit of accepting that some kids are just larks. The clock got us to 6 eventually which felt like a proper lie in by then.