just 3 yr old waking at 5am - can anyone help me come up with a strategy?

[Toowittoowoo]

DD was 3 on Sunday so she has been super hyped up for a few weeks and I am also 37 weeks pregnant and she knows she is having a baby sister soon so she is understandably unsettled.

However, she has now taken to waking up at 5am coming into our room wanting to 'sleep' with us. I really wouldn't mind if she did want to sleep but she doesn't, she wants to play and talk and jump on me. If I try to ignore her and say I am sleeping then she constantly kicks me gently with her foot until I have no choice but to respond or starts climbing on me. I have therefore worked out that letting her sleep in our bed is not and option as she absolutely will not sleep.

The other option then presumably is to put her back to bed. She has a digital clock in her room and she knows when it is is 7am and when it is wake up time so she understands that 5am is the middle of the night and NOT wake up time. However I don't know how to get her back into bed without having a fight. She won't willingly go by herself and I would prefer not to have to manhandle her at that time in morning as I will just have to keep doing to every 2 minutes until 7am with her getting more and more worked up.

Is there some magic approach that I have not thought of? She is certainly a child who responds well to a routine so I need a constant approach that I stick to every morning until this phase passes.

Oh yeah I have tried asking her why she doesn't want to go back to bed but she replies "beacuse I don't".

Any advice gratefully received as I am not very good at thinking at 5am especially as I'm not sleeping very well generally.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

If you've got a DH I'd get him to deal with her. Check the usual sort of stuff, is she too cold/hot? Is she getting enough to eat during the day?

There are a few tips here.

My Dsil has put some fairy lights on a timer switch in our dn room, could you try that?

[ReluctantCamper]

No suggestions I'm afraid, just sympathy. My DS is nearly 3 ad has just started waking up on the dot of 6 after never having woken before 7 since he stopped being a little baby (I may have been some what smug in the past). He just seems wide awake.....think I'm going to try putting him to bed half an hour later. Good luck!

[elspethmcgillicuddy]

I've luckily never had to do 5am but my two are allowed up and reading books/ playing quietly in their bedrooms from 6am-7am. DS (5) is a star and does so quietly without even letting us know he is up (gro clock).
DD (2) is a different story but she is normally pretty good.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Does she still have a nap in the day and what time does she go to bed?

[SteamWisher]

She might be cold or need the loo but cannot quite articulate it yet (3 is still young despite evidence to the contrary).
So try popping a blanket on her when you go to bed. Also are there any noises which could be waking her?
Asking her why she does it is pointless (sorry!) - its bit a deliberate act to get you up and to play. Does she seem tired after an early start?

[HALLOsolohowyouWEEN]

Try THIS. It really works, but you have to follow it through for a full week. Please read the thread through and then have a go.
Good luck!