Toddler waking up real early

[mariinaa]

I’ve always been really proud of how I sleep trained my daughter. She slept through the night since 2 months old, didn’t change when she got into a big girl bed at 2 years old.. until now.

She goes to bed at 8.30/9, it used to be 7/7.30 but I thought since she started waking up earlier, I’ll put her down later and see if that’ll help but no luck.

She does take one nap during the day, but it’s hard not to, since she’s up so early, by 2pm she’s sleepy again and literally takes herself into bed.
So normal wake up time now is between 4am and 5.30, not counting waking up at night for a drink once or twice.
We have a blackout blind, white noise machine, gro clock.. none seem to be working.

I’d appreciate any advice :)

[MsChatterbox]

Could you have a day where you try to skip the nap and bring bedtime forward? You might have to do this a few consecutive days to test if it works. My son is an early riser but seems to do best with no nap and 6pm bedtime. Having the evening is great!

[mariinaa]

I’ll try do that from now on, but say if we go for a walk etc, she’ll be absolutely shattered after and either fall asleep on the sofa or take herself to bed. We’ll see how no nap goes
So if your little one goes to bed at 6pm, what time do they normally wake up?

[Iggly]

Put her to bed earlier and keep the nap. She needs the sleep. Is she always waking early?

Forget the gro clock - that won’t make her lie in. I’d check the white noise actually masked the sound of birds as that was the problem for us. And check temperature because some nights it does drop after 1/2am.

[Twickerhun]

Sympathies. My two get me up between 4-5.30 regardless of what I do. I have a gro clock which they’ve ignore or they happily come in to tell me how many stars are left. Anyhow I’ve got no solutions but lots of empathy.

[IncrediblySadToo]

Keep the nap, but wake her by 3.
Go back to putting her to bed as you used to

Definitely check it's not the birds waking her, they do me.

I presume she has a sippy cup with water so she's not waking you for drinks?

[IncrediblySadToo]

they happily come in to tell me how many stars are left

Yep 👍🏻😣

Or 'I just wait in your bed' (with the entire
GB Gymnastics team)

[Limpshade]

Can you put her to bed at 1pm, straight after lunch, then wake her by 2.30pm? I would think she would be ready for bed by 7.30pm then. Both my kids seemed to need 5 hours awake before bed at that age.

[Ladsladslads]

If she's falling asleep on the sofa then she needs the nap, dropping it will make things worse. Mine has also turned into an early riser since lockdown, its a killer

[Letsallscreamatthesistene]

When she wakes are you taking her downstairs, or making it fun for her in any way?

[MsChatterbox]

He will wake at 5:30. This may not sound great, but with other combinations of naps/bedtimes he would wake at 4am sometimes 3am. So I will take 5:30! Other posters have good suggestions too. Every child is different so it's just about finding what works for yours... But like I said you need to give each combination a good go and not just one night to see what works!

[riolou]

2 year old should drop there nap , my daughters just turned 3 the nap dropped at 1 and half not by my choice by her own as she went through a phase of wanting to put her dummy in the bin like her friends , soon as she got rid of the dummy the naps didn't happen as she wasn't tired anymore. My daughter and son have started waking up at 5/6am normally there in bed by 7.30 but since lock down they haven't been able to make it there falling asleep around 6.30 I would 100% drop the nap as most nursery's don't do nap times , my old one did and it was a nightmare when she wasn't having a nap at home as she would nap there then wouldn't go to sleep till around 10/11 at home from sleeping at nursery. We changed her nursery's as her old one closed down and now I'm a lot happier if you keep her active all day when she starts getting tired take her for a walk or get all her toys out and play with her that seemed to help me.

[mariinaa]

When she wakes up, she comes into the bedroom and starts waking me up, if she needs something like a drink (she does go to bed with water but one bottle isn’t normally enough throughout the night) or she loses her dummy and she can’t find it or the nappy is full, I won’t talk to her or make eye contact, just put her back in her bed, do whatever she needs, bottle/nappy, and close her door but she will then cry or persistently get out because she thinks it’s a game.

[riolou]

@mariinaa

Ha she just turned 2 or is she turning 3? Maybe take the dummy away? Every child's different and have different ways of coping , my daughter got rid of her dummy at 1 and half she's very forward spoke her first word at 5 month etc. She was fully potty trained before her 2nd bday so all this added to her growing up and going to bed alone and stuff she absolutely loves going to bed she doesn't mess about with her toys in her room at all , maybe try taking the dummy away and trying to give her shot of freedom without a nappy leaving potty downstairs for her to freely go when she wants to test it out might help my health visitor told my sister that while her son was in nappies till he was 3 and had dummies and bottles still he thought in his head he was still a baby so acted like one. Once she removed the dummy and helped him potty train he's like a different child now

[riolou]

Maybe cut down on the bottles also because she will never wake up dry enough to learn how to potty train my daughter was the same till she started potty training she had her first wee in the potty and that was it I took the nappies away didn't do night time nappies at all she was trained in a week since that I let her have a few sips before bed and that's it she did kick off for a couple of days but she got over it quite quickly

[3LittleMonkeyz]

We dropped the nap at that age and my DS would sleep from 6/7pm until 6/7am. Sometimes would fall asleep after nursery about 5pm and would sleep through

[mariinaa]

@riolou She turned 2 in February, we recently cut the dummy down, she only has it when she’s sleeping, and she goes on potty in the day, only has a nappy on at night. I think it would be silly to cut the bottles at night though especially since it’s summer, if she wants it, she probably needs it. Overall she is a very independent child, puts her plate in the sink after dinner, even puts clothes in the waching machine when I ask her too, says please and thank you already and she doesn’t mess with toys in her room at night. I wouldn’t say I treat her like a baby :)

[mariinaa]

@riolou I’m glad you managed to do all this with your little one but every child is different, they learn at a different pace and pick things up at different times. What worked for your child may not on mine.

[Letsallscreamatthesistene]

Instead of trying to put her back to sleep at 4am, would she stay in her room if the rule was that she could play with her toys, just only in her room?

[riolou]

@mariinaa I understand that's why I mentioned every child is different , it's totally up to you what you do with your child

[3LittleMonkeyz]

I ignore my kids if they are up at 4am. Unless it's a nappy change or a cup of water, they can wait until nearer 6am. I say they just need to play, but now they fight with each other so once two of them are up I have to be. Luckily that doesn't happen very often