Wake up times

[SchofeTee]

I need some advice desperately. My boys are so good at going to bed at night. Read them a story or two, turn the light off and they put themselves to sleep. But they have got into a habit of waking up between 5-5:30am every day and nothing I try to change it has worked. Tried talking to them about if the sun isn’t up, they shouldn’t be. Tried later bed times. Black out blinds. Warmer pjs, cooler pjs. Pls tell me if anyone has any great ideas?

They are 4 & 2 and they share a room. But I also have a 4.5 month old baby who I don't want them waking up when they wake up.

What time are they going to bed?

7:15-7:30pm. But we have tried to move this later to 8pm and we have even done movie nights on the weekend where they have gone to bed between 8:30-9pm.

They still wake up between 5-5:30am but they're even grumpier the next day because they went to bed later

Grow clock perhaps ?

Has this worked for you?

Some kids need less sleep. I think you'd need to consistently move their bedtime back - so maybe do 15mins later a week until you're at 8ish. Just doing it as a one off won't make any difference.

My six year old goes to sleep at 9 and is up at 6am every day - it's just the amount of sleep he needs. If he went to sleep earlier he'd be up earlier as well.

Are they tired during the day?
Do they get 3 hours of exercise a day?

Definitely. They don't take much rocking. 4 yr old is in reception an 2 ur old goes to childminder who is always doing stuff with them