Monday 8 October 2018

PARENTHOOD: How we Achieved 'Lie-Ins' with the groclock

TODDLER: Achieving 'Lie-Ins' with the groclock
Newborns are known for waking up a lot during the night; it's what we expect as parents. Fast forward the first few of months with very little sleep and you're starting to expect some level of routine to be established. Your baby may have moved into their bedroom and you're embracing their longer stretches of sleep. Then something like teething or a sleep regression hits and you're back to the newborn ways of little sleep and lots of coffee. However, by the time your tiny newborn baby has grown into a fully fledged toddler you might be expecting (and seriously hoping) that they will be sleeping through the night and gently waking you at a sociable hour in the morning. 

If only.

A quick summary of Isabella's sleeping habits - she didn't sleep through the night until she was 14 months, but ever since has been a pretty good sleeper. That was until Poppy was born. We had complete roll reversal - our newborn baby slept like a dream and our toddler started waking up at 4.30am ready for the day. Every. Single. Night. It was exhausting and although we understood a lot had changed for Isabella the early wake up calls just had to stop. She was getting overtired during the day, as was I and ironically Poppy was the only one getting a good amount of sleep!

After asking on Instagram for advice on what to do the same product kept being recommended - the groclock by The Gro Company. So, like the desperate parents that we were, my husband went out and bought it the next day. After a quick read of the instructions (it's really easy to set up) it was plugged into Isabella's bedroom and I was reading her the little bedtime story that comes with it. It relates to the star and sun on the clock and the importance of waiting for the sun to come up before getting out of bed. If I'm honest I was a bit dubious, despite so many recommendations I just wasn't convinced it was going to work for Isabella.
I explained to her that she needed to stay in bed until the sun came up (which I initially set for 6am) and that the stars would count down until there were no stars left. She was seriously excited about her new special clock, but it didn't cause her distraction when falling asleep. The first night she used it we had a wake up call at 5am, still very early but half an hour progress and I was happy with that. After about 2 weeks of using the clock, reinforcing the message and reading the bedtime story book Isabella started waking up later and later. 
Now, we're not talking 'pre-baby' lie-ins but she will pretty consistently wake up at around 5.45-6am now. A huge improvement on the 4.30am wake ups we had been having! I've also been using it at nap time too, as it has a sun feature where you can change the time for naps. Every time Isabella goes down for a nap she will request the clock being turned to stars (the sun winks and then the stars come out) and I set the sun to come up in two hours time. She won't always sleep for that long, but the majority of the time she will. 

The groclock has been a huge hit; now every night the last thing I'll say to Isabella is 'see you when the sun comes up' and she'll point out stars/sun wherever we go relating them back to her clock. I also like that the clock will grow with Isabella because it also has the time, not just images/colours. So, if you currently have a toddler who wants to play at an unsociably early hour then I'd highly recommend looking into a groclock. May we all enjoy 'lie-ins' and a peaceful nights sleep!

Does/did your toddler sleep well throughout the night?

Feel free to leave a comment - I love reading every single one :)

Helen x
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14 comments

  1. I still remember those exhausting nights and wish I had known about this. What a brilliant idea, I love the idea of the stars and the sun. Sabina

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  2. I've heard a little about these clocks before and they do seem like such a great idea for kids. A nice way to start learning about timings.

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  3. Oooh this sounds amazing, I bet my sister could do with this with my niece! x

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  4. I loved the Grow clock with my 1st. It really helped him stay in bed for longer, but it didn't really work with my girls :)

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  5. We have a similar clock and it was the only way we could stop the early wake ups....our daughter is now nicely trained not to wake anyway up until it's 7am and that's as good as a lie in as we'll ever get!

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  6. We always loved our bro clock but thankfully don't need it anymore. My youngest is 8 now and he just gets up and plays and his sister gives him breakfast at the weekend so we can get a lie in. Total bliss :)

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  7. Aww this is a really cute post and I can see how it can help a child with getting into a bedtime routine :) x

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  8. I don't yet have kids but any decive that can be fun and still help kids stay/sleep in bed longer am sure is always welcome

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  9. Yes!!! We love our fro clock, it saved us from 5am wake up calls when our eldest was a toddler. I’m glad it’s worked for you too xx

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  10. I’m so going to get one of these for when Freddie’s a bit older. We’ve just bought Ewan the sheep to see if we can get our 4 month old into some kind of routine!

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  11. Gro Clocks are amazing we used it with our twins when they were small :) in fact it pretty much changed our lives x

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  12. My kids had one of the GroLights when they were tiny - nice to still the brand is still around! This clock really would have come in handy back then!

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  13. I have heard brilliant things about this. I actually almost bought one a few years ago when I was struggling with Luke. Somehow we managed to break his habit of getting up at 4:30am. So glad that it is working for you, I didn’t know there was a story that cane with it. Brilliant idea!

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  14. I am 100% getting this for our next baby who is due soon. We really struggled with my first daughter who loved getting up at 4am!!! I heard from so many friends that this was amazing and I really regret not getting it last time around. x

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