Almost 3yo waking before 6

[Urgenthelplease]

DD has never been a great sleeper. Always an early riser, 5/530 for ages but she could catch up with naps. She stopped all naps at 2 and nothing will convince her. She had a lovely phase of waking at 7 but has gone back to screaming until you get her up around 550. Bedtime is 7 but she's rarely asleep before 730. We've tried a gro clock and she ignores it. We've asked her to read books or play with her toys in her room until we come but she won't. Any advice?

Later bedtime.

Sorry to say we had (and still have) one of those. At 11 a lie in is any time after 6:30 (eg when he was up to see in the New Year) and a later bedtime had zero effect (apart from leaving him beyond tired and needing a nap!). The good news is that from about 6 he was persuaded to stay in his room until 7 at the weekend and read.

May just need to move bedtime a bit later, all different & she just doesn't need as much sleep by what you're saying.
My DS 1 was same, by 3yrs he was able to understand he could play quietly in room or come downstairs & pop TV on. He went to bed at 8.30 by then. DS2 could go down at 6.30 & still need woken at 8am. DD went to bed at 9pm from aged 3 but did sleep until 8am.
You basically need to decide if you'd rather the evening to yourself or be woken at dawn, noright or wrong answer here it's whatever works for your family.

There's no way she can go to bed later she's totally exhausted, most of her peers are still doing 2 hour naps midday plus sleeping later in the morning. She isn't a kid that sits for any period. She's literally on her feet all day and mostly outside. She can walk the dog with me for an hour and still want to go straight to the park, then soft play then to a friend then swimming for example. Obviously we try to only do one or two of these but she's incredibly high energy and ratty as hell by 4pm.

If you've tried all those things and nothing helps then I'm afraid the only thing that will work is to wait. Eventually she will be older and she can have a later bedtime and will probably sleep in a bit or else play on her own. It's the same with a lot of parenting situations unfortunately, there's no solution except acceptance and the passing of time. You'll get there

Welcome to my world. 5yo has been a great sleeper since 6mo. 3yo likes to wake up before 6, ignores the gro clock, and often comes in to bed with us in the early hours, relegating me to my 5yo's room on the trundle because 3yo snores and kicks and I can't sleep through that. No advice, just solidarity. I think some kids are just not good sleepers, and actually my nieces and nephews (almost 8 and 6) are worse and have later bed times.

That's the thing I've got another child who wakes in the night for a feed (almost 9 months). She'll sleep in till 630 if she's not disturbed which of course means I have to get my toddler up even though I know its too early.

Try and earlier bedtime.

It sounds counter intuitive but was the only thing that worked for my early riser.

Is she hungry? Try a bowl of porridge before bed.

How did the gro clock work? You have to set it at her usual wake time for a good few days then push it forward slightly 5 mins every few days

earlier bed times definitely helped but in the end we just let them watch cbeebies on a tablet in our bed whilst we dozed till 7.30.

At one point tween the clocks changed they were getting up at 4.30 just totally awake though. We were at breaking point.

Yeah I don't think don't the gro clock 5 mins later will help as she totally ignores it. I can't try and earlier bedtime but I'm pretty sure she will just kick off more. Worth a go.

What do you mean ignore it? What does she do when she wakes?

My DGS is nearly 6. If he gets to 5am he's doing well.

Some children are early risers and it might not change.

Google cortisol and early wakings.
might not help but did for me. Basically when a child is overtired, they have high level of cortisol, that’s generated to be helpful so they can stay awake during the day. However, normally, cortisol gradually increases from I think around 3am, preparing for wake up at 6:30-7. However, if your child is overtired, they have high levels of cortisol and therefore when their levels rise at 3 or 4, they are already high and the level at 5 means they are awake.

I’d try and get them to sleep an hour extra in the day for a day or two if you can, if they sleep in the car or anything like that.

the other thing I did was set the gro clock for 5am for a bit so it is possible for them to stay in bed until it is yellow. Once they have it then gradually move it back a day each day

I would suggest an earlier bedtime. Sleep begets sleep.

Although it also sounds like me as a kid and like one of my children. First sign of ADHD is the bad sleep for us. If you have a kid who just doesn't sleep you have my sympathy just know you are not alone.

Lastly check if there is a noise at that time of day waking her? Heating coming on is a common one for waking little ones. Or a neighbour leaves for work that time banging a door or starting a car?

EARLIER bedtime for sure. Over tiredness is a massive player in early wakings.
She probably isn't getting enough hours at the moment for her age, and as you said, she's absolutely exhausted. Move bed time 15 minutes earlier each day, until you are at 6pm... leave it like that for a few days so she's consistently getting that extra hour. Then slowly move it back 15 minutes per day to 7pm so eventually that extra hour should effectively get added on to the morning. Does that make sense?
Might also help to avoid breakfast too early, try and give it to her at the time that would be ideal, and avoid any fun early hours (no screens etc)
I'd occasionally go and lie with my DS in his bed who's be calling out for me at 4:30-5:30am, in the dark and just tell him it's still the middle of the night and that we just needed to lie there and try to sleep until it was time to wake.
(We've just come out of almost 1.5 years of trying to fix my 3 year old sons sleep and after consistant 4:30-5:30 wakings we're now more at 6:20-7:20.
His behaviour has completely changed for the better and he's like a different boy.

Hope you have some luck soon ♥️

Thanks all. Definitely makes sense, I know she's overtired. Slight issue is we've got so much to do in the eve. We try and do dinner by 5 so she's in bath at 6 and bed by 7. We have a baby too so we alternate who has who. But can try and do it earlier. Shes so hyped when she's collected from nursery around 4 it takes that hour to wind down.

I do try and avoid too much screentime but I'm exhausted and she's in a single bed so I'm not lying there with her or on the floor. And by ignoring the gro clock I mean she shouts and screams and bangs on her door or the gate at the top of the stairs till you go to her. We can't ignore her as she wakes the baby.

Hi! Sorry I know this is very old now, but did things change? We're in this phase now! Thank you!