How To Make A "Don't Wake Me Up" Pack!

Do you have an early riser to deal with every morning, when all you want to do is snooze your alarm and get that little bit extra sleep? Or maybe you’ve got other kids, and you want to quietly entertain one of them so they don’t wake up the others? No matter how much you try to explain it, they just don’t understand why on earth you’d want to sleep a little bit longer! So, try putting together a super simple don’t-wake-me-up pack!

PARENTINGBABIES & KIDS

by Alana Grace

2/27/20254 min read

About the author

I am a young mum to 3 beautiful daughters, originally from Sydney, Australia - now living in country NSW with my partner of over 10 years and our girls.

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If you’re the parent of a toddler, chances are you’re up early in the morning every day. You’d know all too well that toddlers wake up with more than just a spring in their step - they are red hot ready to go as soon as they open their eyes! And the first thing they want to do? Come into your room and wake you up! I never had the "sleepy baby", even as a mum of 3 - all of them were difficult sleepers from the beginning. I never knew what it was like to have my baby fall asleep in the pram, or even in the bouncer or baby pod at home.

And now? My eldest is still an early riser even at the age of 4, nearly 5. She comes into my room, and she’s bored. This is all usually fine as I don’t mind getting up early either, I mean maybe the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree (lol). But it started to become an issue when I had my 3rd baby, and I was having rough nights of sleep. When I returned to work when she was just 6 months old, I had to get every wink of sleep that I could in order to get myself to work and be able to function that day. So since my 4 year old just couldn’t understand why I didn’t want her to wake me up (or have the self-control not to), I came up with the idea of leaving a small activity pack right outside my door, so she could take the activity into her room and play quietly before waking up both me and the baby (#disaster).

2. Add a small notebook or notepad

I also found that the smaller, the better. But of course, not too small like those mini notebooks. If she could sit in bed comfortably with the notebook in her lap to drawer, it was going to work best.

1. Grab a bag or box

I found it useful to just keep it simple. A clear ziplock bag meant that my 4 year old could see what was in her activity bag straight away, so she quickly grabbed it and got right into it!

3. Add either something to draw with, or another simple activity such as the ideas below

Depending on the age of your little one/s, I know that textas and crayons might not work well. An unsupervised child with a texta or crayon could be a very bad idea and only make more work for you (if they think their wall is a blank canvas!) So if that’s too rogue, try a little sheet of stickers. Yes they might go beyond just their notebook, but hey, stickers aren’t permanent.

And how did it go?? Honestly - really well! I even use it sometimes at night time too, if she's having trouble falling asleep. Plus, there are even some mornings I don't have to bother with the don't-wake-me-up-pack as baby's sleep gets better, but when I need it, it is a life-saver.

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