to ask how I can get my 2 year old to sleep past 5.30am?!

[tiredbutstillsmiling]

Know it's not really an AIBU - but desperate for sleep!

So I awake to another morning of DD banging on her door at 5.30 shouting "mummy, mummy!". Impossible to get her to go back to bed as she screams bloody murder & we can't even bring her in with us as she's wide awake and just wants to play.

DD goes to bed at 7 and up until a month ago slept til 7; she also had a mid day nap for 1 1/2.

Do you think it's time to start putting her to bed later? Dropping the mid day nap doesn't work - when she's at nursery (3 times a week) she's doesn't have one (they can't get her down) & she's still up at 5.30 - even 4.30 sometimes!!

Please help wise MNers - I'm falling asleep by 8 each night!!

7 pm sounds really early to me. I would try a later bedtime. My children went to bed at 8 p.m. when they were 2.

If you can, take her for a walk in the push chair around 5pm to get her to have a catnap. Then she'll be able to last until 9pm.

My DS gets up around 7.30pm, goes to nursery at 9am, has a nap for 1.5 hours with all the other kids at 10am, has another nap for 1 hour around 4.30/5pm, bath, dinner at 7pm then a little play time, plays with some food whilst me and DH eat at 8pm and bed.

It took us about two nights to transition from 5.30am/6am wakings to 7am wakings and I am now sleeping 7-8 hours a night in a row :)

Mine never really slept much during the day, and the mid afternoon nap ceased by 2.

My daughter always had a much later bedtime than other kids otherwise my hubby would barely have seen her! This meant she slept through to 8 am.

I worked out the hours if sleep she needed and tailored bedtimes accordingly. That is still the case now and she's 11. We try raising her bedtime each birthday (a great birthday pressie) and tell her if she's still able to get up easily with her alarm and isn't tired then the later bedtime stays, if not and she can't decide for herself that occasionally she needs an earlier night then I will make her regular bedtime earlier.

I find routine is vital in setting up sleep patterns although DD moans like hell that her bedtime remains constant in school hols. It needs to otherwise she'd sleep in most of the morning and creep towards going to bed past midnight.

Thanks everyone - if I count her nap (she sleeps at home in day) then she is having 12 hours every day. Think she's getting what she needs. How I long for the days when she had 12 hours sleep a night plus a 2 hour mid day nap!!

roses I'm jealous!!

My dgs was exactly like that and they bought him a clock with a picture of a sheep which 'woke up' at a preset time. He was told he could go in to Mummy and Daddy when sheep woke up. They set it at 5.30 the first night then gradually moved it in 15 minute intervals. Within a few weeks "Sheep's awake!" was coming at 6.30 with no pain at all. He was 3 ish though. Now he is 4.10 he sleeps 7 till7 every night and will play in his room or with his brother at weekends. Sheep is now used as a digital clock:)

Another one saying let her go to bed later. Even 9pm is fine. I read news about a study about this a few days ago, the only place I can find it now is Babycenter so excuse the mom and other Americanisms etc. interesting read though:
blogs.babycenter.com/mom_stories/12212013-study-many-parents-set-bedtime-too-early/

Ah, if its any consulation, it's only been a week for us on the later bed time routine! But its worked well for us :)

Three weeks ago I'd had a month of 2 hourly night wakings, waking tired for the morning at 6am (both me and DS). I tried everything, wake to sleep, rocking to sleep, early bedtime, less naps, more naps, co sleeping, feeding etc.

in the end the only thing that worked was a later bedtime and 2 nights of .controlled crying (not for everyone I know but I tried everything else and this worked for us and his crying never lasted more than 2-3 minutes each time)

I would try gradually cutting down lunchtime nap and seeing what happens- ten or fifteen mins at a time, give it a week to take effect. My DS went no nap by about 2 and a half, was is in bed for 8pm, usually asleep for 8.30 and now regularly wakes at 6.15. It's less than I would like, but he just needs less sleep and it is way better than the 7pm-5.07 which we were stuck.on.for ages. Big sympathy-constant 5am starts mean you are pernanently just a bit underslept. Makes everything harder and more grump-making!

I am going to go against the grain as i had exactly the same problem and a mn member recommended putting him to sleep earlier! She linked to a website which i now can't remember, but if you can search the threads i have started you should be able to see it.

I was putting my ds to bed at 7 and thinking should i go later as he was waking at 4-5.30 every morning. I started putting him to bed earlier (yes!) at 6pm and he has mostly stopped the early waking.

Who'd have thought it! His sleep clock was just way out of sync.

later bedtime will work - of course it will if you stick with it - think about clocks changing and changing time zones. People (even small children) dont just stay in the old time zone - your body will adjust.

She is sleeping from 7 and has had a long night of sleep by 530 - I would move her bedtime forward by 15 minutes every few nights and get it to 8 - but you have to absolutely stick with it.

Later bedtimes don't always work I am afraid I tried everything later bedtimes - famously she stayed up till 1am on one occasion and still woke at 5.30am. Some children just have a natural wake up time and beyond chaining them to their beds (something I briefly considered) there is nothing you can do.
Try all the things suggested, but if it doesn't work you just have one of those children - I have.

Chains? Now there's an interesting thought! She's already got a stairgate on her bedroom door to stop her coming into mummy and daddy's room roaming around at night. Adding chains will definitely complete the prison look! Ha ha!

I'm going to try the later bedtime & hopefully that'll work. If not I'll accept defeat - the two year old had conquered her parents!

Thanks everyone!

we use a gro clock and stair gate to keep ds in his room. but we are another kne who later bed time just does not work for - he just ends up an over tired mess . putting the heating on earlier (to keep him warm and drowsy) has helped push waking up back to 6:30am and then he plays in his room til 7 (ds is 2.8 years and we've had the clock for nearly a year. we dont need it in the summer? its just the cold dark winter months he likes to get an early start on )

My dd was the same at about 2 1/2, we got one of the gro clocks and despite really not wanting to dropped the nap. Bedtime/lights out was 7 though now is slightly later - lights out at about 715/20.

It took a good few weeks for the no nap to take effect as she was crazy tired by 6 but i stuck with it. Tried to have quiet time instead after lunch (ie a bit of tv) I also would let her have a nap at the weekend or if she fell asleep in the car.

For the last week she has been sleeping to 7:45, the latest ever! I think its jut a transition time and I am glad I stuck with it as we are reaping the rewards now!

Good luck

My DS has always woken early. DH's alarm goes off just after 530am, which is when I always got up, and I do wonder if DS got this habit in the womb?! DS usually is asleep by 715-30 and wakes between 530-545pm. Going to bed later does not work. We had a wedding and he went to bed at midnight. Still woke @ 530am.

Will try the Gro clock when he is 2 but think he is just an early riser like his mum.

A later bedtime might help 7 is quite early but I don't think there is much one can do about this.

My dd went through phases at this age: there was a period when she rarely woke before 8.45 and then she suddenly shifted to 5.30 starts. Like everything else, it probably wont last.

Ours have a 9pm bedtime and wake around 8am. Plus nap most days. 7pm is very early and Iv jot idea why most insist on such early bed yet hate early wakes. We eat dinner around 7pm

I feel your pain - when my four year old DS was 2, he woke at 5.30am every single morning. As others have said, a gro-clock is great for keeping them in bed and edging them towards a more civilised wake-up time...

Having dropped his nap a year ago, my son now sleeps till after 7am, though he still goes to bed at 7pm. Hang in there, things will improve...

art, I have to get DD up for nursery at 6.45 so think 9pm is too late. Plus when do you have time alone with your DH/OH? DH and I are usually on countdown from 6pm - those few hours an evening to ourselves keep us sane!!

If I can just get DD to sleep for another hour I'd feel much better. DH half jokingly suggested putting a TV in her room. I am thinking that is a slippery slope!!

Our lot are early risers too. The Gro Clock did it for us too. They (5 & 3 now) know not to come out of their room until 6:30am when the clock changes. They now go to bed at 6:30pm too, which is nice!

Both of them did go through a fussy few months when they were 2 and thinking about dropping their nap. It did pass and the nap was replaced with early bedtime

Tired - we work all day so the evenings are our time with them. They are fairly chilled children tbh though so even with them everyday all day for weeks they aren't too stressful :)

Dd (2) used to wake at 5am no matter what time sge went to bed length of naps etc. We changed her sleeping bag to a duvet and I kid you not, she sleeps 7pm-8am everyday with a 2 hr nap! Basically she was cold in the sleeping bag.

Truthfully this is why my kids had a TV in their room for a while...a gate on the door, heaps of toys and cartoons on....they were happy. Now they are a bit older and understand anything before 7 is night time.... Even if they are not asleep I expect them to stay in bed to rest. When your lo wakes up, my advice is not to entertain or play with them as this just encourages it.

My kids wake earlier if I put them to bed later.

Agree with those who say later bedtime means earlier wake - certainly the case when they don't have a nap. I find with ds that 7pm bedtime can mean 6am wakeup whereas 6.30pm bedtime & he does 12hrs.

However, this was/is not the case for us on the days ds naps. We found as he got to age 2+ his nap needed to start slightly later, at around 1/1.30pm & bedtime needed to be around 8pm & he would sleep til 7am. If nap started any earlier we'd have early waking, & if bedtime was earlier he'd just mess around for ages.

OP does she nap around midday? If she does I'd say this is likely the problem. Early nap = early wake. IME its no use cutting the nap shorter or cutting it out altogether or she will get overtired. Push the nap later by 15mins/week & bedtime too (if she starts to mess about). In a few weeks you should see a difference in her wakeup time.