24 month old waking even earlier than usual, time to drop nap?

[Mumlifeandstuff]

So my little one has ALWAYS woke early and gone through phases of it so it’s hard to tell.

but the last two weeks it’s gone from 5.45/6am to wide awake at 5am, I try keep him in his cot as much as possible, but sometimes he kicks off.

I’m thinking of cutting the nap, but the days he’s at childminders he has an hour nap and still wakes early so not sure if it will help (or if I need to do this consistently everyday)

current routine is
5am wake
12-1.30nap
6.30/6.45 bedtime

childminders day is:
5am wake
1-2pm nap
6.30pm bedtime

any advice, when did you start reducing naps? Did it help after cutting them down and how long for?

thanks :)

Maybe don’t drop the nap but reduce it. Try a 45 min max nap at home and at cm - see what happens. If no change drop to half an hour. See how you get on - he may be too grouchy without a 20-30 min nap. Try each change for a few days before the next change.

Also you may find that even if you drop the map totally, there are still odd days he will need a nap.

@Orchidflower1 Yeah I deffo wouldn’t drop it yet! But possibly reduce it.

Bump. Anyone else had similar? 😊

I think you've got them into a bit of a cycle of early bedtimes = early wake up. Mine has been similarly doing periods of 5am wakeups usually more often in the summer and the only thing I've found makes a difference is a solid chunk of later bedtimes. Also 2 or 3 times I've noticed when he's had a really late night, the following few weeks his wake up gets later. I know it's a pain but I'd try a 7.30 bedtime for at least 2 weeks and keep the nap. Mine is nearly 3 and I've tried dropping and reducing the nap and it makes no difference. You'll need to do for at least 1-2 weeks consistently to see a difference though. Which is a pain. But it's only a few weeks.
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6.30pm seems really early to bed for a 2 year old?

my 2 year old would go to bed at 7.30-8pm

I would say that at that age if he's waking from nap at 2 pm and still asleep by 6.30pm he's most likely not needing to reduce sleep. Mine would have to be up by 1.30 to be able to go to sleep at 7-7.30 at 24m

For reference, my almost 3 y o wakes around 6.30, naps about 11.45-1 (sometimes til 1.30) and then in bed between 7.15 and 7.45 most nights and this has been the routine for a while

@firstpregnancy1 So he’s always been an early riser - I tried pushing bedtime late and it doesn’t work unfortunately. He is naturally always rising 5-6am, even when we did late bedtimes for a while.

I agree he still need a nap, but maybe not as long.

He’s not asleep by 6.30, he’s probably asleep by 6.45/7, sometimes 7.15. X

Id actually try to make bedtime 7.30pm to see if that helps
My 2 year old ( she was 2 in June ) sleeps roughly 8pm-7am/7.30am
And naps 2-2.45pm ish

@Mumlifeandstuff

If you tried late bed times consistently for a good few weeks then personally if it were me I'd just do exactly as you are and keep the early bed time and nap and accept your fate until he grows out of it! 😣😣

@firstpregnancy1 yes part of me accepts it but may try slightly reducing his nap to see if that helps!!