Early waking toddler - help!

[ClaryCazalet]

My ds is 2.3 and sleeps in a cot - we moved house 3 weeks ago and are planning on moving him to toddler bed in next few weeks as dc2 due in autumn and I think he's ready for it anyway.

He used to settle v easily at night but now takes around half an hour to go to sleep, with us going back in periodically. Bedtime is 7.30 and he has a good routine. Since the move, he typically wakes once or twice in the night, but just needs a quick pat and reassurance before going back to sleep.

He has always been an early riser - 5.30 typical but sometimes earlier eg 5 this morning. He absolutely refuses to go back to sleep even though he is knackered, eye rubbing etc, and by 9am he is super tired.

He typically has a nap after lunch of 1-1.5 hours and still really needs it - he goes down v easily for this and will sometimes sleep longer.

So my question is, can we sort the early waking and help him get more sleep at night? Most nights he doesn't fall asleep till 8, so eg last night he got 9 hours sleep which is just not enough.

I would love to sort this for his sake but also mine as getting up at 5 and doing full day's work with morning sickness is finishing me off! We did cc with him at 8 months which was very effective, Dh thinks we should maybe give it a try again but I don't think it would work now. Have tried groclock with limited success before but doesn't really last.

Sorry for essay! Thanks for reading.

I have the same toddler. He was up at 4.40 yesterday, 4.55 today.

Some days he manages without a nap but if he's up that early he needs one. It's a vicious cycle.

No advice, but I'm interested in what others suggest

A sleepy bump for me and Antidote!

What time does he nap?

Usually 1 or 1.30 pm for 60-90 mins. He goes down for nap v easily as he is exhausted by then.

This one naps at about 11 for an hour at the childminder's. Some days he doesn't nap, usually weekends & when GPs have him half day. This is not associated with later sleeping. In fact he often wakes even earlier because he's gone to bed earlier (and been too tired to eat supper).

Another clueless one here hoping for advice.....meanwhile selfishly comforting to know it's not just us! We've got final molars coming through, could be linked?

((((()))))) to you - you have my total sympathies and support.

We also have a chronic early waker (between 4.15 & 5am for as long as I can remember). DS goes to bed at 6.30pm, and is often not asleep until 7.30pm once bath is finished. He has this time because DP wouldn't see him otherwise after work.

My sleep expert friend told me when DS was 1 (he's now 2.5) that an earlier bedtime generally helps. My DP would never try it, but 18 months down the line I am so desperate that I have begged DP to give it a go, and he's agreed (too tired to argue probably!). So starting tonight and for for the next 7 days I will take him up at 6pm with the aim he's in bed by 6.45pm.

She also said leave the nap alone - so long as it's npot too late in the day, it has no connection to the early waking, other than if you remove it, it will get worse.

Of course, we ignored her and tried everyting - shorter naps, no naps, earlier naps, diet tweaks, the lot. Nothing worked!. DS generally has 1.5 hours around 12pm.

I guess we have nothing to lose by trying it for a week - at the very least an earlier bed time means I can open the wine earlier!

Good luck, I'll let you know how it goes.

ClaryCazalet - it doesn't look like your ds is napping too early or for too long, so i would be more inclined to think he may be a little bit overtired, so i'd second pp's suggestion of an earlier bedtime.

SharkSkin* - I agree with your sleep expert friend that cutting the nap likely makes things worse. However, i do firmly believe that the timing of the nap can have a real impact on early waking. Ime too late of a nap isn't really the issue - that would just lead to mucking around at bedtime. The problem arises when the nap is too early, as they are able to catch up on lost night sleep with the nap. My ds is same age as yours & he used to wake early, until i moved his nap later. To contrast, he naps at 1.30-2pm for around 2hrs & goes to bed at 8pm, gets up 7am, sometimes later. I'd say your best bet would be to slowly shift the nap later.

Hi all- I'm with Omama here. My DD now goes down for her nap between 1.15 and 1.45 and has two hours.

I know many many many people recommend an early bedtime for early risers but the ONLY thing which helped us was a later bedtime. She now has bath around 7-7.15 with stories and cuddles around 7.45. She's normally asleep around 8. I held off trying a later bedtime for ages as I thought it might make things worse.

Good luck- oh and teething and illness also results in early rising. We still have last set of molars to come through which I'm not at all looking forward to....

We're no better off than we were a week ago. Still 4.30am, still keeping nap as late as poss and only 90 mins. Taking him to bed around 6.30/pm.

He's taken to having a giant poo at half four, so on top of all of this I am also trying to get him to poo in the day.

If this was a job, I'd be phoning in sick today. (Confused)

SharkSkin I sympathise - DS has been awake before 5 the past three days and usually with a dirty nappy. Hard to ignore the cries of 'Mummy I done a poo! I done a poo!' at 4.50 this morning.

We moved bedtime a bit earlier so he is now going to sleep at 7.30, but waking has if anything for earlier. But has only been for three nights so maybe too early to tell? SharkSkin, how are things going with the earlier bedtime?

Sympathy to all and thanks for advice too.

Got earlier not for earlier