2.5 year old sleep issues

[Sobiaf]

Hello, I'm hoping I can get some sound advice on here...

My little girl has always been a troubled sleeper but has been consistently been able to go to sleep independently since I sleep trained her when was much younger. She would still cat nap and wake early and the early wakings have been consistent for the last year (with the odd lie in here and there). I asked my HV for advice for early wakings when she was 1.5 and they told me that maybe I should just start my days at 5.30 and she'll grow out of it(!)

To an extent I have just accepted the early wakings but her sleep is still not great. I have tried the Gro Clock which she really enjoyed using and managed to push 5.30 to around 6 with it, but I then found that she was waking from 5--5.30 and the light was so bright (even on the dimmest setting) that she was just waiting for the "sun". I stopped using the clock when she had a sleepover at Grans and she was able to sleep through until 7am without it.

Now, she climbs out of her cot and wants to come into my bed. We share a room so she knows I am there. I try to put her back in her cot and tell her to go back to sleep but she cries so loudly and it wakes the neighbours upstairs. If she does go back to sleep, she'll wake again and we repeat the process. After 5am, I do let her sleep with me so I can have that extra hour before work.

So sorry for the long post but I'm just struggling as a single parent and don't have money to spend on a sleep consultant. Do I switch to a normal bed? Do I attempt to move her into her own room now? We have that option as we recently moved from a one bed to a two bed flat but I didn't want to unsettle her too much by moving her into her own room straight away. Or do I give the clock another go? I'm wondering if there is another option out there that isn't so bright

Oh and she does still have a nap during the day but this will be stopping as she'll be going to nursery from January

Thank you for coming to my ted talk lol!

Can I ask what her food and milk intake is like during the day? My DF's rather tall DD was just like this and it turned out she was hungry. The HV suggested that instead of having 3 meals plus snacks she had 5 or 6 small meals a day instead and she starting sleeping through straightaway.

Also, is she warm enough? It can be a bit cool at 5 am and that might be waking her.

If you're off over Christmas you could move her into her own room, have you thought through what you'll do if she wakes in there? Will you comfort her in her own room or take her into your bed?

This book might be useful too as it has a section on early waking.

Good luck and let us know how you get on

Hi, thank you for your response!

She’s a bit of a picky eater but does have 3 meals and 2 snacks and usually a small cup of milk before bed too. There are odd nights she doesn’t eat a lot of dinner but I’m trying to let go of the pressure of eating and letting her be more in control as she was becoming pickier and pickier. I’ve also pushed dinner back a little closer to bedtime (it was 6pm, now closer to 7pm and bedtime at 8pm).

She’s got a blanket and dressed according to the weather and I don’t think our room is overly cold in the morning.

The last few nights she’s also been very scared of the dark and crying before bed. Today I left the door slightly ajar and no tears so that’s a huge win.

Thank you for the book recommendation, I will check it out.