Toddler is waking up earlier and earlier 😩 Any advice?

[MorningFrost]

So I have a 2,5 year old DS. ( will be 3 in Feb ). About 2 or so months ago he started to fight his naps. For about a month I kept the same routine and kept offering him naps and sometimes he would fall asleep but mostly not anymore.
So when he stopped completely we adjusted his bedtime to 7pm. First 2 weeks were great. He slept from about 7:30 to 6:00 -6:30, sometimes 7.

Then he started to wake up earlier, 5-5:30. With this earlier wake up he was more tired at the evening obviously. Bedtime shifted to 6:30. Some days he would be so tired he was already asleep at 6:20. And then wake up at 5…. And the cycle continues….. When it comes to around 6:15 he already takes all his toys or whatever is coming to the bed and says “ Mummy me sleep, me bed”. I mean I can’t keep him up little bit longer I guess…

And now… Well now he wakes up at 4-4:30. Like fully awake. Like he had enough sleep. And I don’t know how to fix this!! It’s still middle of the night. So he wakes up at 4, is deadly tired at 6:30, goes to bed… had enough sleep, wakes up early..

Any ideas? Advice? Anything???

Reintroduce a nap for one day and then drag bedtime out to 7.30 ish? Even sleeping 30-45 mins in the daytime could be enough to get him to a later bedtime? Go for a long drive or something if necessary? Sympathy, that sounds hideous m.

The clock change will be skewing this today for sure

So what is happening at 4:30 ? Milk ? Breakfast ? screens ? I would try to avoid all of these until 6am. 2 other thoughts: he may be cold at that time and he may be waking up to pee. In all honesty I would almost certainly take him into my bed at that time and try to encourage him lying quietly if not actually sleeping. I would also go to bed myself at 8:30 at least twice a week.

Yes!
If I could just about to manage 5 wake up then the clock change fu*! up everything and now he’s up an hour earlier.

Set an alarm and wake him up at 3am - then resettle him
make sure you get loads of daylight
no lamps on in bedroom
early waking is hell - good luck

He’s in our bed. I try to pretend I’m sleeping and tell him he should sleep too. Never works. So I pretend I’m sleeping and he’s sitting next to me and playing with his toys or reciting alphabet or whatever. Sometimes he’s staying like this for and hour if I’m lucky and then we start the day at around 5:30.

The clock change will work its way out. Put him to bed ten minutes later every night for six nights and hopefully his morning will adjust.

Don't over react to the clock change. I myself take a week to adjust.

my 2.5 Yr old responded well to a grow clock? Start it just after when they are getting up and move later. if they wake before, treat as if a noght waking -maybe a snack but only for a minute then do bedtime routine again. nothing fun at early wake up!

It's hard but I would keep him in his room, lights off, minimal interaction except to tell him it's sleeping time. No toys and don't give breakfast any earlier. I think it needs to be boring for him so he doesn't have any incentive to get up. Resist starting the day until whatever time you feel is acceptable to you.

Could you take him out for a walk in the pram/drive around 3-4pm so that he falls asleep, and let him sleep just long enough so that you know it’ll affect bedtime. Then put him to bed at the time you’d like him to go to sleep, and then he’ll wake up after 10 hours of sleep, or however much he seems to need, and then that can be your new bedtime.

I had this with one of my children when they were younger and I would 100% recommend the gro clock. It changes colour for sleep and wake time, once he got used to it, it did work.

When he was going through the early morning stages, I would not allow any toys or anything to play with and tried to do as little interaction with him as possible but he did have his own room.

I see some have recommended trying to reintroduce afternoon naps, for us that didn't work, he would go to bed later but still woke up at an unearthly hour.