vicious circle with 3 yr old early waking

[driedapricots]

she keeps waking at 4.40 - 5.15 - is very strong minded and simply will not go back to sleep so we have to get up..she's raring to go..then because i'm so exhausted (have 4 mnth old who wakes 2 x in night too) i encourage her to sleep in afternoon - and she does need it by then as is very irritable - but she has about 2-3 hours and again i just can't wake her up!! and so it goes on...has anyone experience of this and do we just need to cut that daytime sleep back out - the thought of not getting at least half an hour sleep (myself) in the day and her STILL waking up at 5am almost finishes me off :(

[SilveryMoon]

It's hard isn't it?
I remember really needing a nap but knowing that ds1 should really stay up through the day in order to get a good nights sleep.

Can you keep her up later into the evening maybe?

[BettyButterknife]

We had this with ds1. It improved over Xmas last year when we deviated from our normal routine and mealtimes ended up being a little later than usual. People said to us to keep him up later but in fact we found it more successful to cut thedaytime sleep and put him to bed earlier.

It's a fucking nightmare, I really feel for you. All the books say it's the hardest sleep problem to crack and I fear we are going down the same road with 5mo ds2 who wakes around then every day. Argh...