Early Waking - 3.5 year old

[redleader]

I know from most of the messages on here that I'm pretty lucky in that my son sleeps through but the early mornings are killing me...

How do I stop my 3.5 son from waking up early - anywhere from 5 to 6. We've tried the grow clock, reward charts, black out blind, nothing helps.

He will stay in his room 'until the sun comes up' at 6.10 but plays loudly, wants to chat, be read to, complains of thirst, hunger etc

He goes to sleep between 7 and 7.30 and will sleep through .

So do I suck it up and just get up when he does or is there anything else I can try.

I have always found my children sleep in later in the winter months and are up earlier in the summer months. I assume to do with the light, even black out blinds bleed light through the sides.

We've always coped by allowing morning snuggles in our bed. Would you consider letting toddler come into your bed in the hope of a bit longer dozing?

Another option is allowing play in his cot - providing teddies or similar and teach him to play alone in the mornings.

Finally, you could have a back to sleep battle. It will take a while bit if you treat the early morning wake up as you used to when he was night waking as a baby, he will eventually accept it.