Early morning waking

[nic32]

My youngest d is 2 years and 8 months and has been getting up around 5.30am for around the last year - this morning it was 5.15am. It makes no difference what time she goes to bed or how tired she is. My eldest d started doing the same at around 16 months (when d2 was born) and has just about grown out of it - other than the mornings that d2 is particularly noisey. I am at the end of my tether getting up so early, although once settled d in front of tv i go back to bed i very rarely go back to sleep. My husband helps in the morning rarely as d does not want him then and he is sooo slow waking up conveniently .......any suggestions?

how much is she eating at teatime and at what time does she have it? Does she have much milk at bedtime? Could anything be waking her up i.e. traffic noise, heating coming on just as she's coming into a light sleep. Have you tried ignoring it for a while or does she get very upset.

This is just what ds did and what worked for me was the nightlight on a timer.
You set the nightlight to come on at the earliest time that you want her to come into you and she's not allowed to leave her room till then. Part of the reason she's waking so early is habit. What keeps her awake is that she's got up to come into you and by that time she's too awake to go back to sleep.
If she wakes and sees the light is off and it's not time to get up it's far easier for her to go back to sleep or at least lie still and get some rest until it's time to come into you.
dd and ds still have their nightlight 'alarm' and they still won't leave their room until 7.

Also you could put a couple of drops of lavender oil on a face cloth and put it over a nearby radiator beside her bed.

She is not eating all that well - tea around 5pm and normally has a cup of milk before bed and I give her one as soon as she is up in the morning. It is not the heating/traffic noise and she has a blackout blind. Thank you for the nighlight tip I think I may try that one along with the lavender oil.