Early wakings, please, please any advice?

[fairybeagle]

We are absolutely at our wits end! 20 month old has been waking between 4-5 every morning for about two months. The latest he's been up is 5:48. It's killing us (I'm now pregnant worth second).
Has anyone had this problem? Please I'm willing to try almost anything. Although he is so happy in the morning it breaks my heart if he's upset.
He naps for about 1 1/2 / 2 hours in the day and still wakes at least once in the night.
Please help!

What time does he go bed ?
You say it's been for about 2 months - is it because it's much lighter in the morning and that's when the birds start singing ?

Well I’m posting at 6am because I’ve been up since 5 with my 2.5 year old so maybe you should ignore me :) but here’s my two pence worth

• don’t get up and have fun with him. Just tell him it’s still sleeptime and leave him to chatter to himself in his cot for a bit. You can comfort him/pass him a book to look at, and I wouldn’t leave him upset, but if you keep getting up and having fun With him then that’s an incentive for him to wake up early. Set an earliest time and refuse to get him up until then.
• gradually extend what your earliest time is, as he gets used to staying in bed for longer.
• get a gro clock.
• check his curtains are blocking out all light in the mornings. Add on a gro blind or similar if you need to. If light is leaking in around the edges you can cover the edges of the windows with foil to block that out.
• nap when he naps!

After doing EVERYTHING HUMANLY POSSIBLE (earlier bedrime, later bedtime, blackouts, banana before bed, exercise, white noise, and etc ect)...my then toddler.would still wake early. He was a 4.30am child for a long time. After a year and a half this gradually progressed to 5am. Then 5.30am. He's now 6 and wakesjust gone 6am, so it's progress! If you've tried everything else and they still wake early.. I'm afraid, just like some adults, that's probably just the way they are.

This isn't helpful, probably, but my 17 month old wakes up at 5 most mornings, sometimes earlier and so I've started going to bed earlier. The last 3 nights I've been asleep between 8:30-9:00 and I still only get 7-7:30 hours sleep

I'm also going to suggest it's the daylight/birdsong early in the morning. DS is about to turn 2 and he has been the same, yesterday was the first day we've had cloud/rain in weeks and lo and behold he slept in until 7am. I've just been going along with it as I've got a 3 month old so I'm probably up anyway!

For the daylight, stick tin foil to your windows. Literally cover all of the glass and stick it to the frames, but do window by window rather than across the whole thing so you can still open them during the day. It will be pitch black in there until you open the door. I can't help with the birdsong though, DS has loud white noise and even that doesn't drown it out!

530 here on a good day, I feel your pain. I don't think it's daylight here as he's the same in winter. Think he just came out that way...

Hi everyone, I'm so sorry I never wrote back. I read all the replies and they certainly made me feel less alone!
@soontobefour4 going to try the foil. I
He's still the same at the moment, starting to think he'll always be that way 😭
Also thinking of just admitting defeat and going for a later bedtime even though that evening is so precious 😩
And maybe, as it gets darker he'll sleep longer, I can only hope