3 year old waking at 5am

[ThreeBecameFour]

My 3.4 yr old dd has been waking at 5am constantly over the past few months. Her room has black out blinds etc but she wakes once in the night (not consistent time) and starts the day at 5am. She goes to bed around 7pm/7.30pm & has a good bedtime routine with bath/story/bed. I have tried a later bedtime but she is so over tired by then it isn't worth the meltdowns and angst on all fronts. She is in the process of dropping a 1hr daytime nap so some days she absolutely needs it other days we skip it. There is no consistency with the night waking or early mornings around this that I have seen.

Just for background she has never slept through. Had her tonsils and adenoids out at age 2.5 as they were contributing to waking numerous times in the night. She is v well potty trained and we take her to the toilet around 10pm when she is half asleep so she isn't desperate for the toilet. She eats well so isn't hungry.

I hate to complain but I have a 1 year old (much better sleeper thank goodness) and her early wakings wake him and DH and we all end up starting the day v early. Not good when DH & I are trying to hold down jobs too. We have to get up at 6am on a work day anyway but it works out at about 5-7 hours of sleep lost a week which adds up for everyone and contributes to tiredness all round...

Any advice?

[bettybyebye]

I have just done "wake to sleep" with my 21 month old DS which (touch wood!) has put a stop to his 5.30am get ups.

There's a couple of threads on here about it which you could read for more info. Essentially you set your alarm for an hour before they usually wake up (so 4am in your case) and then gently rouse them enough so that they start a new sleep cycle - they then sleep later. Idea is that you do it for 3 nights and then they will naturally sleep later.

We did it last weekend for 4 nights and my DS is now sleeping till 6.40 which has made a world of difference. Obviously it's still early days for us but I really hope it continues.

Good luck and I hope you find something that works for you, 5am starts are an absolute killer!

[TerrifiedMothertobe]

I have a 3 year old who wakes between 5-6am everyday (this morning was 5.10) and has been since he was about 18momhts. He's much much worse in the summer.

It's a really tough call. Like you, there is no reason for it. So,entires he will go back to sleep others no way and he us grumpy as hell by 8am.


Everyone told us to dump his nap, makes no difference.

If you find a cure, please let me know.