It is no secret that I love my sleep and I was always so relieved that Poppy was ‘good sleeper’ where she would sleep solidly from 7:00 pm to 7:00 am each night with a good two hours after lunch!  We put in the hard yards early on and I was quite over the top with her routine, but it did pay off.  Thankfully James also seems to like his sleep (so far)!?

However since Christmas, Poppy has been quite the challenge at bedtime, she battles with her lunch time sleep and is now waking up early!  What happened to my ‘good sleeper’?

In the evening every excuse under the sun is given for why she can’t settle into her bed:

Mummy, I need some water

Mummy, I want another story

Mummy, why don’t we play a game?

Mummy, where are my pink rings?

Grrrrrr …. just go to sleep!

I was getting frustrated so resorted to the Gro Clock:

How do you get your children to understand when it’s time to get up? SIMPLE “stay in bed until you see the sun!” This updated version of the Gro-clock uses fun images of the stars and sun to communicate when to go back to sleep and when it’s time to get up.

So far we have had limited success with it – Nick and I both became quite frustrated with trying to set the initial times and then the next morning Poppy pulled the plug out and brought the clock into my room to show me (and of course it needs a power supply).  But yesterday morning she did wake at 6:30 am but went back to bed until the ‘sun came up’.  I will keep persevering with it, but she still is a good sleeper and I should thank my lucky stars!