2.5 Year old waking at 5am every morning.

[imwithspud]

She used to wake somewhere between 6-7am, usually around 6:30 but sometimes as late as 7:30 which was fine, never really enjoyed the 6am wakings but I figured it's a fairly reasonable time for a toddler to wake up at. She had the odd early 5-5:30am waking but we just put it down to one of those things, now it's progressed into her waking at that time EVERY morning without fail. We've tried not letting her nap, nap, later bedtime, earlier bedtime, keeping busy through out the day to tire her out, chilling out during the day to make sure she's not over tired - nothing changes. Her room isn't cold and she has a blackout blind and a pair of curtains up, she also has a box of toys in her room which 9 times out of 10 she refuses to go play with once she wakes. She either wants to go downstairs or get into our bed and climb over us/watch TV. A lot of the time she's still obviously tired but flat out refuses to go back to bed.

Is this a phase that she will grow out of at some point? Is it a developmental thing? She stayed overnight at her grandparents a couple of weeks ago and apparently she slept till 8:15 there, in-laws were very happy to gloat about this fact I'm 40+5 weeks pregnant and could really do with getting her to sleep in a little bit later for when number 2 arrives. I'm wondering if she senses the changes a new baby will bring which might be having an effect on her sleep. I just want to know why/what is causing these early wake ups really, even if there's nothing I can do to encourage her to sleep a little later so any tips/advice/experiences would be great.

No advice I'm afraid but sympathy - we have an early riser too. This morning she actually slept until 6 which would have been great except the sodding cat woke us at 4.45 and I didn't manage to get back to sleep!
I hope your little one starts to sleep longer soon. Congratulations on your new baby.

Ours have always been like that. It gets easier as they get older. Once DS1 was about 5-6, we showed him how to use the cable box and put DVDs on. He and his little brother still get up at stuoid o'clock, but they amuse themselves nowadays. We only occasionally have to get up to break up arguments.

Stupid o'clock

I have one like this too. Not inspired by the 'it got better age 5 comment'!!! I'm thinking of trying a Gro clock.

Don't waste your money - been there, wasted the money. If they are wired to be larks, you can really only effect minor change. It's more about finding ways that they can be entertained early in the morning whilst you get more sleep. Or splitting the early shifts with your OH.

My dd is 2 and a half and I have to say the Gro clock mostly works for us. It is set for 6.30 am- if she knocks on her door or tries to come out before then she is not allowed to watch half an hour of cbeebies. If she waits, which happens much more often, then she can watch it until 7. She will now quite often sleep through her clock. It's worth a try depending on how well your dd responds to reward!

Thanks for all the replies, I have thought about trying the Gro Clock but I've heard mixed reviews about it. Might end up trying it as a last resort, hoping this is just a phase that will pass and that it isn't the new norm from now on, especially as she tends to sleep later when staying over at grandparents houses. In fact she's gone to my mums for the night tonight so I'll be very interested to find out what time she will wake up in the morning.

It is just so light in the mornings isn't it! I have recently got a gro clock, and if it is pre 6.45 when he wakes up (when the sun comes up on the clock!) then I talk to my ds through the monitor, ask him if the moon and stars are still out on the clock, he says yes, and I say 'back to sleep then, or play quietly in the cot'. It works about 1/2 the time. That's good enough for me!!!!! Good luck with your new baby and hope you get a few lie ins.

Yeah really light! Even with her blackout blind and decent quality curtains there is still some light that manages to sneak in which I'm sure isn't helping. Thank you! My oh will be pitching in a lot and keeping DC1 entertained so me and DC2 can snooze on his paternity leave which will be a massive help.

If it is the same time every morning when at home but not at grandparents could it be something wakening her?? A car passing or starting up? Milk delivery van? Your heating coming on?

I was thinking there might be a noise from outside or next door or something. If that's the case then I'm not sure what can be done about it

White noise?

Go for a gro clock! They're fab! In my experience they work well when combined with a sticker chart for every time they get up on the yellow!

DS1 started waking at 5am when he started sleeping through the night around 14mo.
He would wake between 4:50am and 5:20am EVERY SINGLE MORNING (unless he had a cold/was poorly - then he'd have a 'lie in' til about 6am) until he was 2.5yo
He then dropped his daytime nap and gradually slept later and until recently was dependably sleeping until 530am-630am. He was also asleep between 630-7pm and in my view you can't have your evenings AND your lie ins
We put him in a bed around 2.7yo and he started waking around 5/530am again but we'd bring him some milk and he'd go back to sleep again for 1/1.5hrs. Was bliss.
However, at 2.10yo he's finally realised he can GET OUT OF BED and now wakes at 5am and just gets up and wakes us up. Can't coax him back to bed at all. Best case scenario he sits on our bed and reads for 30mins while we doze.
DS2 is 6mo and in the next 6mo or so we want to put them in a bedroom together. God knows that'll mix/mess things up again.
Nothing is linear, you can try to fix one thing but another thing will pop up.
To be honest, 5am when it's light is preferable to 5am in the dead of winter when it's four hours til the sun comes up!!!