Tips for those with early risers....

[mymoonandstars]

My 3.5 year old son goes down at 7pm every night. Hes done it since he was 10 months, no problem. Before when he was still having his nap he would get up around 7-7.30am. Now that we have dropped the nap he's now up between 5.30 and 6am. This is obviously too early and its making him a misery because hes so tired.

I am reluctant to put him to bed any later. I've tried that and he still wakes at 5.30am but just even more tired. Plus hes dropped the 2 hour nap so hes losing a lot of sleep hours already without the additional 1.5 every morning. He will categorically not fall asleep at any point in the day because laying down is an interruption to his running/playing/constant chatting!

So, any tips on what to do to either get him to sleep a bit longer, or keep him out of our room before 7am???

Not many tips but sympathy and shameless lurking for ideas
DC3 is also 3.5 and is often up at 5:30 sometimes earlier and often after waking during the night too.
I am considering introducing a gro clock my only reservation is he shares with 2 year old DC4 who loves and needs his sleep and I don't want him to be disturbed.

With DC1 and 2, I would set out a little game, a teddy bears tea party for example as I went to bed. They would often but not always play for a while before coming in to wake us up.

Mine either wakes at 5.20 or 6.20. I was hoping she might sleep more once she starts preschool..

Whatever we've tried its like she's wired to wake up that time regardless!

You could try putting him to bed earlier now that he's not having his nap.
There's a theory that if a child is overtired when going to bed, they fall into a deeper sleep earlier in the night and hence wake up earlier.
Now he isn't having any daytime sleep he may need an earlier bedtime to compensate for a while.
Also black out blinds are essential for this time of year IMO

Damn, I thought you were giving tips, not looking for them!

my 4.7yo DS is much the same - he goes to bed at 6 though, as trial and error has shown us that is his bedtime - but he is up for the day any time between 4.30 and 6am. 6am is ok, of course, but it's rare. He is much more commonly up by 5, and then exhausted all day.

We tried later bedtimes, but they just meant he was even more tired the next day, as he ALWAYS gets up early.

He goes to school nursery 5 mornings a week, and is kept very busy at home, but just isn't a sleeper!

23 month old DD seems to be following in his footsteps, except she has a brief nap and goes to bed between 6 and 8pm, depending on how annoying she is feeling - then is up for the day at 5.

My main tip is caffeine...

I have thought of another tip that might work for but if you're anything like me you won't get more sleep.

When we first moved the two boys in together DC4 would always wake up at 4 with a dirty nappy. I would change him and he would go back to sleep. I found if DC3 woke up at this time he would usually go back to sleep but sleep until 7, sometimes later.

The pitfalls of this are, often I would find it hard to go back to sleep, would end up dropping off at 5:30 then feeling crappy as I had to get up not long afterwards. DH however had no problems going straight back to sleep.
Sometimes DC3 wouldn't go back to sleep and I would be up at 4 with him.