why has my 3 year old starting waking at 5-6am

[pinkyp]

My little boy has always been good at sleeping for the past year or so and goes to bed about 8pm and use to get up about 8am sometimes a little before but usually a little after. Over the past month or 2 he's started waking at 5am - 6am and will not go back to sleep, if he wakes earlier (i.e 2am) he'll go back to sleep til around 6. I'm 34 weeks pregnant and i'm so knackered now! I've tried a few things

1. sending him to bed earlier (7am) still wakes at same time, sending him to bed later (8.30pm) and he still wakes at same time.

2. ignoring him - he gets louder and louder and comes in our room (safty gate it at the top of the stairs)

3. explaining its still bedtime - showing him that its still dark outside through the window (now he just thinks its a game and comes in asking for me to show him outside)

4. letting him get in our bed but he just starts talking / kicking.

He goes to nursery and always seems tired after, alot of the time he will ask to go to bed if i let him stay up later (sometimes dh doesnt get home til 8.15pm so i dont mind him stopping up that but longer so dh can tuck him in but usually he's asked to go to bed before that.

Has anyone got any ideas? I really could do with sorting this before baby is here so at least i can get some sleep,i'm so tired now so am dreading baby being here too i need sleep!!!

oh and this morning he looked knackered but was adamant he was getting up!

oh also, this wouldnt be too bad if i wasnt waking 3 times a night for a wee / drink. Most i sleep is 3 hours max in a row.

He does sound over-tired to me (OTOH he could just be being a threenager, I've got a similar one).

For how many nights in a row did you shift his bedtime forward? It can sometimes take a few nights to catch up on sleep, sort out the tiredness, and settle into a new routine.

Have you tried the Silent Return technique that Supernanny uses for evening bedtime-refusers? It's been moderately effective with our early-riser.

I havent tried the silent return to bed things for a while - i use to do that when he was a baby, think i might give it a go. Never thought to shift the bedtimes earlier for a while though - think i might try this, do u think a hour earlier (7pm) would be early enough? I dont want to send him to bed at 6pm for him to wake at 4am! lol

If he's only just started at nursery it might be a little bit of insecurity and he just wants to see you to make sure you are there. I never really got to the bottom of sleep issues but could you go with the flow and perhaps have a sleepy cuddly rest together when he get home from nursery and says he's tired to give you both some catch-up time.

Mine have all done this at that age. Seems to just be what they do. The eldest has now passed through the phase and out the other side. If all else fails, time will work .

a phase i can cope with, might just be me overreacting a little as i'm tired lol

Does he still have an afternoon nap?

nope not anymore, tried to bribe him with one a few times but he just closes his eyes for a min then says "good morning time"

You could try a gro-clock...we have one for ds 2.5yrs and its really helped his early waking. It has stars and is blue at night, then turns yellow with a sun for wake up time...we set ours for 7am. I explained what it was for a took about a week for it to all sink in but may be quicker with an older child. If he wakes before then I show him the clock and take him back to bed to wait until he sees the sun. I do tell him if he doesnt want to sleep thats fine, but he must stay in bed and look at a book or magazine until he sees the sun.

HI Pinky

Just letting you know that you're not alone with this. DS is nearly 6 and has been getting up at 5ish every morning since he was 3 months old. I've come to the conclusion that it's just the time he naturally gets up at, and no matter what time he goes to bed at (have let him stay until 11pm for a few nights in a row before now) he'll still get up at that time every day without fail.
I decided to start going to bed between 9 and 10.30pm so that I could get either quality or quantity regarding sleep.

I hope you work something out as there's little more frustrating than tiredness/exhaustion.

Good luck and take care.

IS he dry at night? It maybe that he wakes up because he needs to wee but doesn't know it.

i think he is dry at night, he is during the day but i put bedtime pants on him at night and 9/10 its still dry in the morning but sometimes it wont be but i think thats down to lazyness.

IME it's a phase they go through

I'm with chilledchick2 - dd1 (5) has always been an early waker and it doesn't matter when time we put her to bed she still usually gets up around 5am. Yes we go to bed earlier too. Annoyingly her sister (coming up to 3) will happily stay asleep until 7am if she isn't disturbed - and even if she is woken will often just roll over and go back to sleep.

I used to think it was just a phase. Now I think it's the way she is. Let's hope yours is a phase!

Has your heating starting coming on at this time? Sometimes this wakes them up.

Is there something disturbing him early on?

Maybe use a clock with an alarm. Tell him he can come out of his room when the alarm sounds. Set it at 7 or 7.30. Mine usually look at their books till the alarm sounds if they wake early but maybe you could have some interesting toys for him to play with. Maybe you could put up a travel cot in his room and just stick him in it if he leaves his room. That may sound harsh but we all need sleep to function well.

You could put a stair gate on his bedroom.

I was going to say about him needing the toilet too. My ds1 was dry at night from when he went into pants at 2 and he used to wake at that time and refuse to go back to sleep. I can't remember how long it lasted but he did eventually start sleeping a little bit later.

My ds2 is going through the same thing now, he's 3 next month and either wakes at 2am ish, has a wee and go back to sleep until morning, or he does as your ds and wakes at 5am and then won't go back to sleep. I'm not sure what's worse, getting disturbed in the night, or being woken up early!?!

x

He use to have a safety gate on his bedroom door and use to shout at the top of his voice to be let out which is why we moved it to the top of the stairs. He also use to play with his toys in his room, sometimes i'd wake and hear him playing and wonder what time he woke up! Now he wakes and wants mummy to come down stairs with him, cbeebies and cereal asap even if its pitched black. Last night dh fell asleep on sofa watching tv and i ended up waking up with ds in bed (asleep) i cant even remember him coming in!