To leave ds awake

[Bouncingbelle]

My 3 yr old wakes at bang on 3am EVERY morning. He is non verbal, likely ASD, and still sleeps in a cot bed which he has never tried to climb out of. He is perfectly happy when he wakes, he puts his bedside light on, you hear him humming away to himself etc and he’s awake for about 2 hours before he eventually goes back to sleep. I don’t go into him cos then he thinks he is up for the day. AIBU to leave him whist he’s happy? I would go in if he cries.

If he is happy leave him. He can’t come to any harm in his cot.

I just feel mean going back to sleep when he’s awake! But then bringing him in beside me just means no sleep for either of us....

As long as he's safe and happy then leave him be.

DS2 wakes at 5.15am. The only time that changes is when the clocks change (it's hellish). He was very often awake until midnight. He could function absolutely fine, but I just couldn't. He would potter around for about 45 minutes before getting restless. In the end after getting to breaking point I put a tv/dvd in his room on a timer plug (no aerial so he could only watch the DVD I'd loaded) that he could watch from 6am-6.30am. Then he could come and wake me.

Sleep is important. As long as your kid is safe and happy then do what you need to do to get a safe amount of sleep.

Feel less guilty now it’s 100% I’m NBU! Any hints on how to stop this waking at 3am carry on??!

Definitely not BU! Sounds like he's perfectly happy!

My DD (3 also) does this at times. Not every night but fairly frequently. I leave her to it. If he's happy there no need to interfere.

As for stopping it the only thing I can think of is really tiring him out during the day with long walks etc. and sending him to bed an hour later?

Does he still nap? If so I’d try to cut out the nap.
Also do you have a child gate on his door?