How to get your child to sleep past 6am and listen to the toddler clock
Well, we can't force your child to sleep later. Using the tools from this course you should have your child naturally sleeping until at least 6:00am.
I am a firm believer that parents should determine what time the day starts. So, what we can do is use a color-changing toddler clock to help your child stay in their room later than 6:00am.
Decide a time that you want your child to start their day. Let's use 6:45 as an example.
#1 rule is that if they come out of their room earlier than 6:45, it can't be "rewarded" with co-sleeping, screen time, etc. If it is, they will most likely continue getting up early and ignoring their clock.
To use the toddler clock, set the clock to change color (turn green) BEFORE you think she will naturally wake up. Initially, we want her to have the experience of waking up and seeing that it’s okay to get up. We want her to feel successful. We don’t want her to wake up and have to wait for 15 minutes, because on Morning #1 she's not likely to wait that long. We want her to build trust and confidence that she can make you proud by waiting until the light turns green. So, we have to make it easy on her to start. So, if she naturally wakes around 6:15, set the clock to change to green at 6:10 which would then temporarily become the time to start her day.
Once she "listens" to the clock - meaning, getting up when it's green, she earns a small reward (donut hole, sticker, Hershey kiss, etc.) After 2 days of listening to the clock set at 6:10, you move the time later by 10 minutes. You slowly inch your way up to 6:45 using the positive reward system. You make it very easy, almost inevitable that she will succeed to start, and then ask her to be a little more patient as the days go on. Remember to be over-the-top proud of her each morning.
And YOU have the important job of reinforcing the clock. Meaning, you really can't start the day until the clock turns green. Once you do go in the room to start the day, point at the clock and say "look, the light is green, time to start the day!" Pairing the green clock and the start of the day is an important step.
A couple things to point out:
- make sure the clock passively changes colors and doesn't make a noise or turn off white noise
- some clocks have a setting where there is a color change, like yellow, BEFORE it turns green. This is meant to signal to the child that it's almost time to get up. I find this to be too confusing for kids under 4 or 5 years old. So, either turn that setting off and have it go straight to green. Or just use yellow and they ok time to get up.
- it's fine to have some books or quiet things for your child to do if they wake up in the morning. Put these on their bedside table so they can reach them easily.
There are many clocks to choose from and as long as you can set the time that they change colors, that's the most important part. Here are some good options....
1. Hatch Baby Rest runs about $60 and includes white noise + color change and it's nice because you can control it from your phone. That can be nice if ....you really want your kid to wake up at 6:40 but they wake up at 6:20 and you see them start to get fussy, you may want to switch it really quick to turn it green a little early.... or once they're really good at using it, and it's the weekend and you want to change it to 7:15 instead of your weekday 6:30 wake up. Link to Hatch: https://amzn.to/3uGoGjI
2. Little Hippo Mella is about $50 and is similar to Hatch but you can't control it on your phone - you have to make changes on the physical clock. Downfall is some kids mess with the controls. This one also makes "faces" which is kind of nice because it gives kids another visual reminder besides just the color. Link to Little Hippo: https://amzn.to/3myKZ8m
3. Ok to Wake $33. Similar to the Hippo but this has the controls hidden behind a panel - maybe harder for little hands to get to. Link to Ok to Wake: https://amzn.to/2PRat4R