2yr old waking at 4am, can't sell him so any other solutions?

[RunByFruiting]

Our 2yr old (3 in dec) has always been a lousy sleeper, he dropped both naps by the time was 16m.

He has a groclock, we've tried blackout curtains/no lights but that just terrifies him.

He's in a toddler bed, has a 1yr old brother in his room (who is woken by him so we're al up and atom at stupid o'clock).

We try to run him into the ground like a working dog but even with 2 activies a day he's never tired.

Bedtime used to be 5 & he'd sleep until 5, we've pushed it back as far as 7.30 & it makes no difference, he's broken & up at 4.

I'm heavily pregnant )he's aware but hasn't acted differently around me since finding out), so when I'm in sole charge there's more tv/indoor play time but not massively so.

If you can help I'll consider naming new baby after you

[ireallydontlikemonday]

Is he tired when he gets up at 4? I would try and force him to have a nap even only every other day - I chuck DTs in the car for a drive around after lunch as they still need a little sleep, but won't nap at home anymore. Maybe then he would push his bedtime later and correspondingly get up later?

[RunByFruiting]

Nope. He's ready to go to the park & pissed off at his groclock for still showing night time!
We compromise by getting to the park for 8-ish...

We've tried forced car naps and it only works when he's in the car for over a couple of hours (long days out), he'll only nap indoors if he's ill.

[Stripylikeatiger]

Maybe try a later bedtime, 8.30 or 9, possibly he just doesn't need much sleep?

[Nocturne123]

Any chance he could be teething at all ? Dd has been getting her molars and that completely messed up her sleep ! She was sleeping through and started waking every night at around 4am . It coincided with the birth of dc2 so I really empathise with your situation

We started giving her some CALPOL before bed and it has helped!

She sounds exactly the same in terms of energy .. Is there a toddler treadmill we could invest in ?

[RunByFruiting]

Nocturne, I'm trying to think of a way to get him cleaning....think doing the washing up will put him back to sleep!
He's got all his teeth (he had no problem when teething, ds2 is teething atm & is just a bag of snot and grumpy)!

Tiger, we've found if we push it back past about 0730 he gets a second wind & wants to be up all night (plus, I'm so knackered I'm in bed by 9 most nights so I couldn't guarantee he/ds2 would be supervised/safe), will try again on Thursday when dh is next off work.

Once he's asleep he's a dream (ds2 can cry, he can fall off the bed, helicopter can circle al night and he sleeps through the noise)!

Just thought of something else; sometimes he wakes up with a poo (2/3 times a week?), but he goes to the potty before bed & we don't give him fruit in the afternoon, so maybe he's waking to poo (even when he doesn't need one)?