March 21, 2018

Is Your Child Waking Up Too Early? Try This!

If your child is getting up too early in the morning, this may be the perfect solution that you were looking for to help them stay in bed and not get up too early.
Adalyn has always been our difficult child when it comes to sleep. She was up during the night almost every night until I stopped nursing her at 18 months old. She would cry for hours going to bed until age 2. We had a sweet spot around age 2 1/2-3 where she stayed in her bed, didn't cry and went right to sleep. That was amazing but it didn't last.


Then, she realized that she could get out of her bed. OMG! She gets out of bed, changes into 5 different princess dresses, walks around, etc. Then, she realized that she could leave her room. On Valentine's Day this year, she left her room 9 times. Didn't make for much of a romantic evening lol. We bought those things that go around a doorknob to help her stay in her room. This worked amazing.


Since it's always something, our current problem is that she is waking up for the day around 6 AM. Even on the weekends. While this is the least of the problems that we've had, I think that Adalyn needs more sleep and let's just say that Mama doesn't want to start parenting right at 6 AM. 6:50 AM is fine but 6 is a little too early. Sometimes, I like to sleep in until 6:45 AM or I get up at 6 when Troy does for work and exercise. That is my one bit of "me time" during the day and I love it.


So, I knew that we had to do something to help Adalyn realize that it is too early to get up. She was not understanding it at all because she looked outside and there was a bit of daylight outside so she didn't believe me that it was too early. When I heard of SleepBuddy, I was totally hopeful thinking I may have found a solution that my daughter could understand and actually love.

See Brother, this is how my new light works!
SleepBuddy is a light that helps teach healthy sleep habits by using a timed light that turns on when it is time to go to sleep and turns off when your child can get up. We started using this right at age 3 1/2 though I think that we could have used it earlier on since it is so simple. It goes right on your child's dresser or nightstand and can be programmed to whatever settings you want. The light can be amber or blue. It has a rechargeable battery but doesn't need to be plugged in at all times.


How we started using SleepBuddy was by reading my daughter the book about how it works right when it arrived. She was so excited for a "new light" in her room. We set it to go to bed at 7:30 PM and to get up at 7 AM. I am fine with her waking up before then but she needs to stay in her room. Especially as we get towards the summer months when it can be daylight before 6 AM, yeah, we needed some help!

So, how did it work? It worked awesome! Since she was so excited about the new light, she paid close attention to how it worked. The first night after using it, I first heard from her at 7:03 AM when she called "Mamaaaaaa". It worked! She said that her light went off and it was time to get up. Here's to hoping it keeps being an effective tool. We gave her her sticker and she is on her way to working on getting a treat or a little toy or something she wants. Nights 2 and 3 worked perfect as well. I'm amazed and thrilled!


SleepBuddy comes with an incentive chart and smiley stickers. This works really well with our daughter and she loves getting a sticker in the morning. You can buy the SleepBuddy system on Amazon or at SleepBuddy.com and follow them on Facebook.

This post is sponsored by SleepBuddy.

Share this post:

Comments