What would you do? 2.5 year old wakes up at 4am

[DarkGreen]

For about 18 months now our 30 month old has woken up between 4 and 4.30am for the day every morning without fail. Very rarely sleeps until 5am but maybe 5 times in total.

When he wakes at 4am he is wide awake ready for the day, not much chance of going back to sleep! But very tired by 9am and sometimes will have a 15 min nap if we are in the car during the morning.

Wakes 4am

Nap 1-3

Dinner 5.30
Bath 6.45
Bed for 7
Asleep by 8pm

What would you do if you were me to get him waking up at 6 or later?

I’d shorten his nap. That’s a long nap at his age.

Bin that nap off!

My almost 3 year old still naps probably 3 out of 7 days but if she was early waking like that it'd stop. And she's only allowed an hour, to be up no later than 2:30pm. Her naps don't affect her going to bed, she's always asleep by 7 but they do make her wake early if they're too long or late.

I'd do it gradually unless you want two weeks of hell. 1.5 hours for a few days, then 1, then down to 45 minutes then stop it completely.

Worth a try.

Gro Clock may help too. I didn't think DS2 would get it at that age but he did.

Black out blinds/curtains and white noise.

Worth trying a groclock too.

I'd also, if you can, put a camera in his room and see if there is something happening at that time that wakes him.

Then I would reduce his daytime sleep and put him to bed earlier. Do it gradually as pp said.

Another option, is to try a few days of slightly disturbing him at 3:45am, just before he would normally wake up. Not enough to wake him, but enough to shift him into a new sleep cycle and see if that makes any difference.

Is he tired/grumpy during the day? He's not really getting enough sleep overall.

Definitely shorten the nap. My similar aged toddler was having roughly the same nap and suddenly became impossible to put to bed; was still bouncing around at 9.30pm 😩

We’ve cut the nap from 12.30-1.30 and (fingers crossed) it’s worked. If it happens again, the next step is to get rid of the nap! They usually lose the nap around now anyway.

Shorter nap. Mine is the same age and if he naps for longer than 40 mins he gets up at 5am instead of 6.30am.

if he's anything like a friend's brother then nothing
he'd wake up at 4am every day until he started reception (so 4.5y).
the parents have tried every trick in the book: less nap, no nap, more excercise, more protein, go to bed later, more snacks, less snacks, more stimulation, less stimulation....nothing helped.

then he went to school and suddenly his routine changed.
maybe he matured or just the different setting tires him out more. nobody knows.
he's still an early riser though

I'd drop the nap.

Bed earlier for sure. My 3.5 year old has only just finished napping (they were mega too, often 3 hours). Even my 6 year old goes to bed at 7/7:30. Both sleep until 6, lately been getting up at 7!!! Heaven!

Mine is exactly the same! She’s 27 months and her nap is 1-1.5 hrs but she needs it because she’s up constantly before 5am. It’s a viscous circle and I am so tired. We have the issue that the immersion is in her room and the electricity company sends our electricity to heat it and/or heating in the early hours do the noise wakens her…part of the vidcious circle I cannot change.
For us, She’ll be only napping for 20 min in car once she starts nursery in August so I’m hoping that helps!! You really do have my every sympathy.

Definitely the nap. My just 2 year old has max an hour and a half and must be up to later than 2 15pm or she messes around at bedtime (7pm). She is also an early riser but the earliest is 5am.
I introduced a gro clock to my older 2 around that age.

Get rid of the nap - neither of mine napped after 18 months.

Return to bed in the morning. Tell them it's still sleep time, put back to bed and leave and repeat......

Yes my suggestions are similar as everyone else really:

• Black-out curtains + Gro Blind stuck to the windows too.
• Try to make sure he's not getting too hot or cold, have you got a room thermometer? He might need more or less layers etc.
• I'd shorten nap to one hour and if after a couple of weeks it makes no difference I would also move bedtime back 30 mins too.
• I'd move dinner later - he could be waking up hungry? It's a long time from 5.30 to 4am. I would move dinner to 6pm initially and add in milk + possibly dessert/snack at say 7pm.

@Terrazzo

Bed earlier for sure. My 3.5 year old has only just finished napping (they were mega too, often 3 hours). Even my 6 year old goes to bed at 7/7:30. Both sleep until 6, lately been getting up at 7!!! Heaven!

They’re all different though. My two older DC slept 7-7. Even at 7 and 6 they sleep 11 hours. My toddler won’t sleep before 8pm. Just won’t 🤷🏻‍♀️

Drop the nap. Bed earlier.

Another vote for dropping the nap. To begin with it might be a struggle keeping him up, but if you can stick with it a for couple of weeks he'll hopefully adjust to sleep longer at night.

Some of them are early risers. My just-left-school child has been up regularly at 5.30am this summer. He mostly manages to sleep until 6 or 6.30 in the winter, but it's rare it's after 7am. Now obviously not a problem as he can get up quietly and not disturb us, but some people do rise with the sun.

At the same age I did try rid of the nap but the child needed to be asleep by about 6pm. Yawn.

My DD is the same age and I only allow her to nap 30 minutes to 1 hour maximum otherwise she wouldn't go to sleep.

Yes earlier bedtime seems counterintuitive. My DD is recently 3 and has been in bed by 8 for the last 6 months or so. Before then it was 7.30 but she was starting to take 20+ mins to fall asleep whereas now at 8 she goes straight out usually. She only power naps for 45 mins or so and often not at all, I have to wake her if she tries to sleep longer or we get problems at bedtime. They all need different amounts of sleep, I have a friend whose child stopped napping shortly after they turned 2 and yet still was only sleeping like 9-6 or 7 overnight. He just didn't seem to need more sleep.

45 minute nap at 12.30
6.30 bedtime til he adjusts. Might take a week or two to get there