'Wake to Sleep' vs 'Early to Bed' for early riser 2yo. Which one?

[PavlovtheCat]

DS is waking at 5:15am every day, never used to, whatever it was that started it I don't know, but it is now very clearly habit. But I also think he is overtired now as he goes to bed at 7pm and naps badly in the day.

So, please help me figure which one would suit us best? I consider that both of them will be bloody hard work to manage for a week, and DH is leaning towards 4:15am wake to sleep, whereas I am leaning more to 6pm bedtime for now...

who has used both these methods and how did you find them for your LOs?

I have never tried wake to sleep but I would suggest an earlier bedtime when lo is overtired. Also aim for a nap anytime between 12 and 2, length depends on individual needs. What is your child's usual bedtime and nap time?

bedtime is normally 7pm-7:15pm in between those times is when he actually goes to sleep, has a good bedtime routine.

Naps, are all over the place. Today he had two naps 9:30am-10:45am in the car, followed by 2:30pm to 4:15pm (had a very busy day yesterday as was his birthday party!), but he does not nap consistently. Has somewhere between 1-1.5 hours in the day at some point, and some days, refuses to nap at all.

I would try for a consistent nap time between 12 and 2 probably not much longer than an hour but you have to play around with that. Also try and put him to bed earlier - maybe 6:30 or 6:45?
You will need to find the balance between top much and too little sleep.
Maybe someone else will come along who has more experience with wake to sleep..
HTH

my 3dc have all been early risers, i think 5.15am is a pretty normal time for a child to wake (unfortunately). ds1 grew out of it at about 8. ds2 is now 4 and tends to sleep til about 6. dd is 2 and never sleeps beyond 5am.

mrsravelstein Noooo! don't say that! DD sleeps til 6am-6:30am. I am happy with that. She used to sleep til 6:45am but it moved back, I accept this is where she is happy, and will be happy with DS there. But is 5:15am really usual? I don't know any other children who wake this early consistently.

yup, my friends with kids either have very early risers like mine, or ones who have to be woken up at 8am.

i tried messing about with bedtimes, but for all mine, 7pm was the magic time at which they would go to bed with no messing, earlier or later was/is a recipe for disaster....

so i've learned to be an early riser too. we tuck up on the sofa under a blanket and watch an hour of peppa pig before breakfast. and sometimes i cry into my coffee

I don't know, I wouldn't throw the towel just yet! I find on days when our DS napped poorly and I put him to bed early he tends to sleep better and longer than when he goes to bed at the usual time.
He has phases of early rising too but I felt it improved with starting to walk, mornings getting darker and stopping breastfeeding.. . We tend to go to bed early to make sure we still get enough sleep ourselves.
And since he has been sleeping longer at night his nap has gotten shorter.

Anyway, I read the advice below on another forum and it somehow made sense to me and I try to stick to it. They did say though that you need to do it consistently for 5 days or so to see results.

Is your DS happy when he wakes at 5:15? If he is then he probably has had enough sleep and doesn't need more. If he is crying he may be overtired.

I am sure you will find plenty of threads on MN about wake-to-sleep, worked for some people apparently!

But you will also find a lot of posts on MN from people who say that nothing works with early risers and that you might as well learn to live with it...

that's interesting vez, cos mine are all completely delightful at 5am, they wake up incredibly chirpy, which goes some way to compensating for the fact that it's still the middle of the night....

Oh really? Hmm, don't know. I just read your other thread, maybe it will get better when he drops his nap completely like someone else was saying.. But you could still try a slightly stricter routine for a week, who knows, it may have an effect?
Oh yeah, the other thing that really helps with my DS: plenty of outdoor exercise in the afternoon (I know I know, I wish I had the time as well!). You could always try that on the weekend..