Early morning waking

[LucyR1]

My son is 2.5 hes always been an early riser but recently hes waking at around 5am and shouting until we come into him, he refuses to settle himself again and we end up having to get up with him. His bed time is 7pm and Im really loathe to make it later as I cherish that time in the evening for myself and my husband. How can I encourage him to play queitly in his cot for an hour or so until its a more social hour to get up?

We have 2 5am wakers here (2 and 5) and the 2 year old is up and down all night too. SO much sympathy. Let me know the answer if you find it.

Just to check - do you have black out blinds? We have black out blinds, black out curtains and thick dark normal curtains and nothing works for us but they do help some.

Hi lucy, another victim here! My DS2 has been a 5am riser since last october. He is 21 months old.

I have no real advice for the morning, as we've tried everything, but I would say that a later bedtime did nothing for us - he still woke at 5 but was grouchy because he was tired.

So enjoy your evenings and try to get to bed earlier yourselves to cope with the early mornings.

All mine did this - I think it is normal. Like everything else it is a phase. When they get to about 14 they won't go to sleep till midnight and have to be dragged out of bed 5 minutes before the school bus leaves.

Agree that later bedroom is a waste of time - they still wake up at 5 am, just more grumpy.

Also - I have 3 dcs and phrases like "play quietly" and "in his cot" certainly do not spring to mind. I do sympathise, but you are experiencing normal 2.5 yr old behaviour - it will pass.

Bed Time, not bedroom. I am still sleep deprived, eighteen years on. Must go to work.

I also have one of these - he is just 2. Have you all stopped day time sleeping? We are contemplating this.........

me too - ds (now 4) was a 5 o'clocker until about 6 months ago when he just suddenly without any warning / changes to his routine started sleepiing till 7. dd (8 months) also wakes at 5. think it's just their body clocks. even when the clocks go back / forward within a few days they adjust back to their normal wake up time! Think you just have to deal with it best you can till they grow out of it! me and dh take it in turns to get up that way at least you feel human half the week!

Mine is two too, he isn't as bad as 5am but he has started waking at about 6am when it used to be after 7am, or its because he is now in a single bed and he has always woke up early but we didn't know because he used to play quietly in his cot, now he can get out of bed he does... not really sure. We put a gate on his door and a few toys in his room and after three weeks I think he is starting to get the idea that we won't go to him if he shouts, so he has started to occupy himself. I refuse to go and get him before 7am.

Oh and some days he doesn't sleep during the day and it makes no difference for the following morning it just means he wants to go to bed earlier at night and so wakes up just as early

Thanks for all the advice, it's great to realise I'm not the only one up at 5am!
Good too to know that the later bedtime wont help. I'm cutting back on his sleep during the day, some days he wont nap and some days he does, maybe if I cut out completely he'll hit a rhythm... Also his room is so blacked out that you can't see the cot when you go into it and it seems to make no difference whatsover!!

Blacking out the room doesn't make a difference for us either - but we keep doing it in the hope that one day he might just think it's still night time. Oh, how I wish...

The little blighter is fast asleep in his pushchair now, fell asleep as I was dropping DS1 to pre-school and has been napping for an hour !

We tried cutting down/changing times of naps but didn't find it helped at all. But it's worth a shot. Anything is really!