Can anything be done about an early riser?

[mistermagpie]

DS is nearly two. He's a shit sleeper, always has been and it has certainly been worse than it is just now, but I'm fed up. He naps well and goes to bed like a dream but he wakes up anywhere between 4:30 and 5:30 and that's him for the day. There is no point leaving him because he just gets worked up and starts screaming and then wakes my 3 year old up. I can't have them both up at that time! If you go in to try and soothe him he just shouts until you get him up.

I've tried - putting him to bed later, putting him to be earlier, dropping a morning nap, dropping an afternoon nap, lots of fresh air and exercise, boring days at home. Nothing works. He is still pretty much on two naps a day because he's so knackered, so it's not as if he's just one of these people who don't need a lot of sleep.

Any tips? Sympathy? Anyone else in the same boat? The days just feel so long and I'm running on empty most of the time.

Gro clock worked for us but maybe from 3yrs? DD isn’t keen on compliance! Dropping the nap is key I’d say. Good luck!

If you press and hold the 'down' button, an X appears on the sun/moon cheek, then it is locked.

Ooh thank you! (Doh)

Right, today he was up at 4:55 so something has to be done. I managed to keep him up til half ten and he's still asleep now so that's all he's getting today. Older DS doesn't care about the gro clock so he won't even notice I've taken it. I'm going to try it tonight.

Try the clock, but also drop a nap. If he's drooping in the morning, give him lunch at 11:30, nap at 12. Bedtime 6.30/7. You'll need to persevere for a couple of weeks, don't give up too soon!

The groclock was pointless for us plus I hated the bloody long cord that could have nicely strangled them (it may have changed since I had one).

Dts are just early risers 530 no matter what time they go to bed and they're 8 now. At least now they're old enough to take themselves downstairs.

I think some of them are just built that way.

Keep it simple. Persevere with the reduction in day sleep

Good luck with gro clock!

My advice is to set it gradually later each morning eg start with 5.30 and then gradually work towards 6.30 (or whatever time you want)

And with the nap you can do the same, it was 10.30 today so you can gradually make it later and later, maybe aim for 1

The nap is tricky on a Monday as I have to drop DS1 at nursery for one. But other days it's easier. I'm not convinced he'll get the gro clock but I'll try anything. I've ordered him a duvet today as he's been in gro bags and I'm not sure he likes them either!

How's it going?

We had a similar problem, and we ended up consulting a sleep-support person (can't think what you'd call them!!) over the phone, who said that our DS was using his morning nap to top up his night time sleep. He'd been starting his day at 4am for months and we were sleep-deprived messes!
I would strongly suggest that you permanently drop his morning nap. It may not have an effect straight away, but in our experience, the early morning starts are a result of napping too much. You may not notice a difference until four or five days in.
With our DS, we dropped his morning nap and he started sleeping later in the morning. Then he started getting up very early again, so we had to drop his afternoon nap. And he now doesn't nap, but sleeps until 6.30 every day (which is a blessed relief compared to the 4 or 5am starts).
It was very difficult both times cutting his naps. We had to do it gradually, first cutting it down to 30 minutes (he did not want to wake up after 30 min and was not happy) and then cutting it altogether. Although he didn't like it, I was a much calmer and happier mum getting up after 6 every day than I was getting up at 4.30 so on the whole, it was much better for him!

Well we've done 4 days with only one nap, it's varied in time but 3/4 have been around 12pm ish. He slept through one night til 6am (amazing!), then had a terrible night and the last two nights he's woken once in the night briefly but then slept until 5:45. This is an improvement believe it or not!

The gro clock was a fail. He's obsessed with lights and things that plug in so just went crazy to try and get it, but dropping a nap might be helping a bit. It's been a mixed bag but we're sticking with it for now.

That does sound like an improvement so far!
You had some big changes to make, the transition from two naps to one, plus trying to get him sleeping a bit later, so it's not going to all be transformed overnight, but it sounds like good progress in the right direction. Keep up the good work

That sounds like progress OP. DD was on one nap a day around 14m.

I agree with a pp that food seems to make a difference. A good filling meal in the evening, or a supper of porridge and a big drink of water might help.

Another thing is that I realised that DD was waking up when the heating came on at 5:30. I now leave it on all night but with the thermostat on a lower temperature so that it doesn't click on at the same time every day.

So last night, he went to bed as usual but was knackered (nursery day) so I didn't have high hopes. He slept through til 5am, standard, but I decided to leave him. He chatted and fussed a bit but didn't cry and then at about 5:45 went back to sleep!

He then slept until 6:30.

This is very unusual, never mind his tiredness levels once he's up he's up normally. Maybe this is a good sign? He napped once today but for nearly three hours so god knows what tonight will bring.

Yes very good sign!
Are you persevering with the gro clock? If so what time did you set it for sunrise?

Mine are 7 & 5. They get up at 5am every.single.day. Groclock didn’t work, a million other things haven’t worked. They don’t go downstairs until 6, but they almost always manage to find an excuse to wake us up too. You have all my sympathy.

What time does he go to bed? My son 20 months is also an early riser but an 8pm bedtime has helped. We tried a later bedtime previously and it didn't work but I'd read on here you sometimes have to persevere for 4-6 weeks to see a result so we stuck it out. He was getting up at 4:30am a lot of days. Now 5:30 is the earliest but it's usually between 6-7.