2 issues w/ 3 yr old

[sarahr]

I need some suggestions for how to deal with two recurring issues with my 3.5 yr. old dd:

1) She wakes up in a foul, foul mood. Whining, tantrumming at the drop of a hat, just awful. She says she's hungry, but even when I jump out of bed (at 6am!) to give her breakfast, she rarely eats anything. I try to make a rule (all day, not just morning) that she can only whine in her own room. Sometimes this works. Any other ideas? It's an awful way to start the day.

2) As part of her whining, she's very loud in the morning. This invariably wakes up her baby brother (3 months). One solution to this would be to move DS into his own room so he's not sleeping right there when dd comes in, but I'm not quite ready to do that. DS wakes up too early, which means he gets tired when we're getting breakfast on, when I don't have time to tend to him the way he needs.

I'm sure all this will pass -- and in general dd has been wonderful in becoming a big sister -- but I'd like some hints on making our mornings easier.

[AAK]

I also have a morning crab. Right now, I am working on adjusting her bedtime so she goes to bed earlier. It helps when it works. Also, I allow her to watch 1 or 2 PBS shows in the morning as she finishes waking up. Mine won't eat right away, but I can get her to drink. So, I will make a thin smoothy or even choc. milk for her to have with her show. After that she may or may not eat anything else, but I have her get dressed and moving. As the weather gets better, we might do morning walks. I hope the exercise and fresh air will perk her up.

Amy

[AllisonR]

My DS used to wake up in a foul mood and be in a fog. After so many hours of sleep, his blood sugar level was too low. He wouldn't do anything but whine, often not even eat, which only makes the blood sugar worse. I always had a glass of fresh OJ for him, and that worked wonders, because it goes quickly to his blood and gives him the energy to then eat a proper meal. Not sure if that's your DDs issue, but you could easily try for a week and see if she is better within 5-10 minutes of having the juice.

Whining - I had a great tip from someone here at MDC. I don't understand whine. If my DS or DD whine, I just tell them clearly that I can't understand what they are saying because the tone is so off. That if they speak normally I will be happy to hear what they have to say. Sometimes they repeat the statement 3-4 times in whine mode, and I just repeat I can't hear them. But after a few times of this, it has cut down whining a lot, and the repeat whining has dropped in half. Good luck!

[LynnS6]

I agree with the pp - a quick glass of juice sometimes helps the low blood sugar enough that they can then eat. I'd even think about putting it on the bedside table in a sippy cup.

The other thing to look at is what sort of bedtime snack he's getting. My kids need a bedtime snack with fat and protein to keep them going through the night. That was especially true when they were younger.

[Boot]

My boy is similar and I also have a 3 month old. It drives me crazy. What a way to start the day. I'm going to try the OJ and the bedtime snack. Something like cheese? I'll come and check back for any more suggestions.

[sarahr]

We'll give the juice a try. She goes to bed just after dinner, so no time for a bedtime snack.