Early starts are killing me!!

[Bizziee]

Hi all

Hoping for some advice on how I can help my 2 year old sleep past 6am. I know most kids are naturally early risers but I have never been a morning person and anything before 7am I just can't even function. Doesn't matter how early I go to bed myself either, it just kills me and it's then such a long day!! I have tried absolutely everything I can think of too, earlier bed times, later bed times, black out blinds, white noise, and nothing works. He is up 5.30/6am nearly every single day.
We have recently moved in with my new partner and he is far more settled at my boyfriends house than he ever was at home. It was impossible to get him to stay in his own bed but sleeps like a dream at my boyfriends now. I just can't seem to get him to sleep later!! Is he too young for me to try and cut out his day time nap? He only has 1 at 12pm for 1 hour after lunch. Most times he doesn't even seem tired but will go down fairly easily and doesn't like much being woken up. I put him to bed at 8pm too and he goes to bed very easily and generally rarely wakes up unless he is unwell. Sorry for the long post, I just feel like I'm going a bit crazy with these early mornings now and would love some advice

Our DS was the same. We bought a digital clock abs taught him to read 7am and he then just waited for that didn't work for DD though...

Gro clock is quite good if you can afford one, but if his wake up time is consistent and he's not tired upon waking then the issue is he's getting enough sleep by then. The only solution to that is to reduce his sleep from the other end, our son is slightly younger and is in bed about 9.30-10pm and he wakes just after 8am.
He used to randomly be up for the day any time from 6-8am until we got the gro clock but he was clearly tired during the day from the earlier starts.
Another option is somehow teach him to play quietly until a later time ifs that's possible.
Good luck, hope it helps.

We have an early riser too, I get half an hour longer since we dropped the nap. It's not a lot but it helps!

Ds was like this until 3! Anything after 6 was a bonus. Go to bed earlier yourself?

@johnd2 thanks for your comment, I do have a gro clock but finding it tricky to help him understand. I'm sure it'll be easier when we're in our own room. Main bedroom is full of moving stuff at the moment! I'm just worried his sleep will get worse when he's on his own again as he was before we moved. I did for a few months let him stay up very late as I was just so worn out and couldn't be bothered with his bedtime routine, which resulted in him waking later (although he was co sleeping which i've stopped) but we would all wake up tired still because we wasn't getting proper sleep!

@RoseGoldGlasses how did your little one cope once you dropped the naps? I'm a bit scared to try this lol but desperate for some wake ups that don't result in 50 cups of coffee

I was also scared 😂 but he surprised me. 3 tough days and afew tears. He adjusted really well.
And now copes brilliantly without it, bedtime in now a dream as he goes down instantly.
If your going to do it I'd make sure you don't go in the car mid afternoon incase he drops off, if you think he's starting to flag get him out in the garden, occupy the hell out of him.

@RoseGoldGlasses Thank you!! Definitely think I'll try this now and will certainly avoid the car as that sends him off in 5 minutes lol! Even if it only adds 30 minutes to his wake up as it did yours too, I'll take it haha. I'll keep dreaming of those 7am starts!

It should get easier as he gets older, if he knows he can only come and wake you up when the clock says 'x' time. Then make sure he has things he can do his room, books and toys to play with, until you get up.

Definitely try the gro clock. Explain he can get a book or a you but he has to stay in bed to play with it until it's time to get up. He might be a bit little but keep at it.

Thank you everyone, appreciate the time taken to reply. I will start getting him to use his gro clock as well as cutting his nap out to see how we go :)