KELLY BROWN Mum's the Word...Will Operation Sleep succeed in avoiding a 5am wake-up call?

WRONG! Well at least it is wrong if you have small children. Because bless them they have no real concept of time – and when it is time to wake up, it is time to wake up. So instead of my little man bursting into my bedroom at 6am with all of the enthusiasm of a little bunny, I can expect a 5am wake-up call instead. Not that I object to that lovely first morning cuddle and kiss, in fact I love the fact my little boy is so excited to see me first thing in the morning and have a chat with me. The problem is while he is full of the joys of spring and very much part of the wide-awake club, I am decidedly not! I need at least ten minutes to wake myself up before I can properly function in the morning. (A necessity I know I will have to give up when baby number two arrives). And if there is a way of stretching my wake-up time to 20 minutes, half an hour or dare I say it 40 minutes, then all the better. Books, cuddles and chats and – when really needed – the TV are crucial allies in keeping my little man happily occupied sat next to me in bed. But eventually I know I must say yes to the inevitable ‘can I have my breakfast now mummy?’ question. Needless to say, I can cope with the 6am alarm call, but I fear my grumpy head may take over if my beaming boy thunders into my room an hour too early on Sunday. So, this week we have put into place Operation Sleep which involves putting the munchkin to bed 15 to 20 minutes after his usual bedtime in an effort to get him to start sleeping a little later. Hopefully by Sunday morning our later bedtime routine will mean he will stay asleep until at least 5.30am. And then we can repeat Operation Sleep next week and hopefully get ourselves back to the 6am routine by the end of next week. Well, I have no idea if our cunning plan will work – it all sounds so brilliant in theory – but hopefully it will make at least a little bit of a difference. But why do I have that nagging feeling 5am will have my name all over it? * Wrong time of year for maternity wear Baby bump update. I’m really starting to look properly pregnant now, rather than having that ‘put on a little weight’ look. But it means I will soon have to start abandoning my usual wardrobe and turn to the box of maternity clothes stuffed under my bed. The problem is all of it is summer maternity wear, so I’m going to need to stock up on tights and cardigans. kelly.brown@chiobserver.co.uk