I've exhausted all ideas (pun intended)

[girlynut]

DS2 (23 mths) has always been an early riser. For the past few months he's been waking between 5am and 6am. Today he decided 4.45 was a good idea!

I'm desperate to find a way of getting him to sleep in a bit longer, at least until 6am. Not only is he waking me and DP but also DS1 (6yo) who shares a room.

He always wakes crying (even from his nap - 12 - 1pm) so won't just happily play with any toys left in his cot. This makes me think that he must still be tired... but as soon as I go in the room he stops. His bed time is 7pm with a routine of bath, milk, story, bed.

I've tried -
putting him to bed later
putting him to bed earlier
giving him some milk and changing him
taking him to bed with me
climbing into his cot
leaving him to yell his head off (this sometimes works but is distressing for us all)
...but nothing settles him back down and we end up getting up.

Please does anybody have any more suggestions or ideas? I feel like I must be doing something wrong.... maybe by letting him get up and have breakfast and TV at such an ungodly hour, I've set his body clock for that time?!

Early waking is no fun. We have always had a black out blind in our kids rooms so the early morning light in spring/summer does not disturb them. I also remember reading about these kiddie clocks you can buy with a sun and a moon and you can set the sun to rise whenever you like. So you could set it to rise at 5.30am for a few days and slowly adjust it by 15 minutes every few days until you get to the desired get up time. I think at 23 months you should be able to explain that until he sees the sun (or I think there is a bunny version where the bunnies eyes are either closed - still sleep time - or opern - time to get up) then he is to stay in bed and go back to sleep. And if you suspect hunger then give him dinner a bit later or a piece of fruit before bathtime. Good luck.

he may be a little young but this might help. read the reviews on amazon, some give how to get the best out of it. (I put this link as when I googled it it was a bit cheaper on this site)