extra blackout blinds - five mornings of 4am wakings!

[emc]

Am at my wit's end - my (nearly 4) year old only started sleeping through two months ago (am not joking!) and I was beginning to feel human again but for the last week she has been getting up at 4am, fresh as a daisy. She won't cuddle up with me even and carry on sleeping she just wants to start her day because it's light.

In her room she has a black out blind but it sits outside the window frame so light still comes from sides/bottom and black out curtains but her room is still pretty light....does anyone think a blind sat inside the window frame would help with light? And if so, is there anywhere nearby to buy today? Or are there any other suggestions?

She does have a bunny clock (closes eyes until time to wake up) but she simply pulls up the button to open his eyes whenever she fancies getting up. She is a very determined little girl so reasoning with her sometimes is a nightmare.

Thanks

[prdarling]

I resorted to sticking cut-up black bin liners on the window when my second son was going through a tricky phase! Not a thing of beauty but I was deranged with tiredness so I didn't give a monkeys.

Worked a treat but is probbly not a long term solution!

[Lochie]

I nearly bought these but resorted to bin liners (which still let light in - maybe mine weren't thick enough!) - so might be worth a shot

http://www.jojomamanbebe.co.uk/detailfash.php?type=FASH&code=B9140&proddesc=Magic+Blackout+Blind&supercategory=BRN00042&branch=&wcategory=CAT00283&catdesc=&super=0030BRN00042~0010BRN00052~0130CAT00283&treecode=TRE00009

Effectively they shouldn't let any light in!

You can call Jojo and they can order in and u could pick up early next week...

[Lochie]

By the way I know it sounds a bit weird but I have a theory it is the birds that wake them!! In high summer the birds start tweeting at about 4am and they can be quite loud if the room backs on to a garden (if you have double glazing tho its probs not that)....I guess that is natures way and nothing you can do about it if it is that ;-(

[poppy]

We've got a brilliant blackout blind that you cut to size and then attach to the windowframe with velcro, so there are no gaps. It's pitch black even in the middle of the day, so much so that my little one was a bit freaked out at first so we now keep a night light on!! It's also been good at keeping the temperature a bit cooler than it otherwise would be with the sun streaming in. I got it online following a recommendation from someone else on this forum:

http://www.easyblindsonline.co.uk/10.html

[amydown]

We had the same problem with our now 8.5m old son who used to wake up for the day at between 4.30-5.30. After months of trying all sorts of weired and wonderful tactics, we got this stick-on blind stuff and now he sleeps until at least 6.30am every day.

We used the stick-on stuff and since we had a black-out blind anyway, the blind goes over the stick-on stuff making the room totally dark.

Stick on blind

[emc]

thank you everyone - am about to order one of the two suggested above...tonight I have used drawing pins, blue tack and towels to block out light...my daughter even said to me to tonight as I put her to bed, 'Mummy I wasn't being naughty getting up it was just too light to sleep but it's dark now so it's much better' - Feel awful as have been screaming at her like a banshee through sheer exhaustion. Am praying for a good night and feel things will improve with new blinds.

[Belle]

hiya,

meant to post in reply to you but our laptop died - just to say I had exactly the same thing with my little boy the last week or two (started a thread about it and people had some good ideas). Like you I went for the additional black out blind as light was still getting in around the sides of our pull down black out blind and curtains - and it has helped the last 3 nights, though this morning he woke up a bit earlier again (6ish though which is a vast improvement on 4.30). Good luck!

Also I definitely did banshee thing a few times after the 4.30 starts - we're only human!

[snowboarder]

Sigh - I just find it doesn't seem to make any difference!! Dark/light hot/cool noisy/quiet....We just got back from holiday where it was mostly silent and didn't get light till 7 but had awful early wakes. Bit better now home and light (by better I mean 5.30...). To be honest I am beginning to sympathise with these babies - I woke up at 2am last night, heard the birds start at 3.20....and, well, I was ready for company at 5.30. Maybe bring 'em all round to me for the early shift!

I do sometimes wonder whether he's thirsty - but I don't know whether he would have enough sense to find his water bottle if I left it in his cot. And need a non spill one. My husband thinks we should be able to rig up a hamster style upside down bottle to the side of the cot....

[alieh]

Lots of good products here. We have the Baa Baa blind with suction cups behind our blackout blind, and it works well (plus can be taken on holiday). For the bird noises (and other general household noises), we have this cheap air purifier thing that hums away so provides some level of white noise kind of like this one: http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/household-products/jml-fresh-air-globe/1054767/. Or you could try a fan.

Snowboarder, we put a sippy cup of water in our son's cot a few months ago and I am always surprised to find that he has drank loads of it some nights. I too didn't think he would manage to find it himself, but he does. Could be worth a try.

Also, emc, am sure you don't want to invest in another sleep clock, but the new Gro-Clock has a way of locking the buttons so that they can't play around with it. Or the cheaper option is to just put some fairy lights on a timer.

Hope it gets better! We had months of 4:45 am, so I sympathise.

[prm]

apparently kitchen foil blocks out light completely...not very pretty but as an emergency solution, it?s worth a try (obviously applied to glass the directly / tightly and secured with tape or something, not loose over the whole window)

[katie_on_tour@hotmai]

Well emc, you are certainly not the only one. 4pm seems to be the trend for many of us over the past 10 days / few weeks. Must be that 6th sense or something weird that we cannot see / feel. Heat most likely, but still weird that our little girl, who was sleeping through and so were her friends, are now waking at 4am.

Am giving in and getting up and she feeds well too at 4am. Hey ho - once the weather cools down again, it might all work out again. Musn't complain about the weather though....

Fans, extra blackout blinds, sippy cups - i'm up for anything and will try all tonight.

[bea_filkin]

If anyone wants a Grobag blind, I got one a couple of weeks back and only used once (it wasn't the light that was doing it for our little one).

Cost about ?30 new I think happy to part with it for ?20.