How to stop 5.30 wake ups?

[Oliviera1996]

My 3 year old is waking up at 5.30am and calling for me. I tend to go in and get him and bring him into our bed and try to get him to sleep again until at least 6-6.30 but he is wide awake.

I don't want to ignore him and leave him shouting for me but also want to curb these 5.30 wake ups.

He's dropped his afternoon nap over the past 2-3 but I personally think he still needs it but it's a massive fight sometimes to get him to go or when he does have one then he is still awake at 8-9 o'clock at night.

I don't know what to do for the best. Advice needed!

Nothing can be done, he’ll outgrow it eventually.
Just make it clear that he needs to either come doze with you or play quietly in his room until X time - get him a gro clock.

Gro clocks are amazing. Really worked with my DD (3 and 3 months) - lots of books and a Tonies box in her room so she can entertain herself if she wakes, and stacks of praise for staying in bed until it lights up. She’s super proud of herself for ‘waking up mummy and daddy’ at the right time (even if we’ve been awake and scrolling phones for half an hour!)

Also, hate to say it but drop the nap. My go to nowadays is a car journey around 2.30pm (usually to an activity etc) that lasts around 30 mins. Means she packs in a quick cat nap but isn’t too grumpy to be woken as we’re doing something fun when we arrive. Sometimes struggle with this as we also have an 18mo who needs a proper sleep but I usually wake him up, pop him straight in the car then let her snooze on the way to wherever we’re going. Plus on the way home she’s usually hungry so going home for tea is a motivation to stay awake!

Sorry to say this OP, but with my older DD nothing worked! We tried EVERYTHING. Only now, at 5 yo, does she have days where she sleeps beyond 6.30! We even get the odd 7am day, which is late for her. Luckily when they're older, they can entertain themselves in the morning. Have you tried a gro clock? Didn't work for us, but plenty people have had success with one.

Quick caveat - don’t feel bad if it doesn’t work. I had two contact nappers for the first 6 months of their lives and I remember posting on here desperately for advice… nothing worked (except the sling which imo is just a contact nap where you have to walk around and can only wash up like a T-Rex!!). Just who they were as kids! So I am very aware that no matter what you do it’s just the luck of the draw with whether you get one that sleeps or one that doesnt. There are kids for whom the ‘hacks’ work and there are some who just won’t be persuaded - if you have the latter it’s not anything you’re doing ‘wrong’.

Thanks all I feared this was the case!

We tried a gro clock a couple of months ago with no success and to add to it the little monkey figured out how to wake the owl up so he just pressed it and told me it was wake up time 😂!

I'll try and preserve with no nap and see if maybe he will adjust.

He has also started nursery so maybe the mental stimulation will tire him out more.

We had a gro clock and similarly he worked out how to change it. We have colour changing lightbulbs in his room (Phillips Hue) which are slightly better because he can’t change them. Now he gets put back to bed until it’s time to get up. Not sure it’s working as we’ve been doing it weeks.

We have tried no naps and lots of naps and nothing seems to consistently make a difference. I think we just have an early riser. Very jealous of my brother whose daughter sleeps 630-830.

Don’t think there’s anything you can do. I have two early risers. We’re usually up around 5-5.30am. Can’t wait for them to be teenagers and sleep all day 😂

Adding to the knackered chorus of sometimes nowt you can do l! We
Just rolled with it and I went to bed a bit earlier.

Our gro clock you can lock so they can't fiddle with it.

I would try getting rid of the nap.
DD stopping napping at 2 and then developed early waking at 3 I tried all the suggestions including the gro clock that she told me was just a stupid clock that couldn't make her stay in bed.
I would get up with her and doze on the sofa while she played or watch TV.
We survived and she now has normal student sleeping patterns.

Tried everything and in the end resigned myself to the fact this was my new wake up time 😂