4am wakes

[Beautifulsiro56]

My 2 year old sleeps between 8.30 - 9pm (tried moving this earlier but she just messes around until this time and falls asleep naturally at this time) she then wakes up at 4am and wont go back to sleep.
Both DH and I work so she has to then go to nursery for 8am at which point she is ready to sleep again. Losing our minds and also feeling really bad for DD as she is going to nursery absolutely knackered and has a really awful day as all the kids nap there at 12/12.30.

I have tried everything, bedtime routine, capping naps, sleeping earlier.

What do I do, my main concern is feeling awful about nursery.

FYI if you are here to say i shouldn't be sending my child to nursery and be all judgemental please bugger off and dont comment - do not need the mum guilt right now.

No criticism here, just solidarity! Mine went to nursery full time from around one and she’s an early riser too so I really feel your pain. Nursery is great btw and she absolutely thrived (she’s at school now) and is really confident and social. When she went to school I was really glad she had the experience of nursery to prepare her as you could really tell which kids didn’t (although we live in London and most kids had been!). That’s an aside though, and the sleep thing is hard. Our DD has always been an early riser and like you we’ve tried it all and I’m fed up of people suggesting stuff that just doesn’t work and/or makes it worse (like later bedtimes). How long has she been at nursery? I wonder if she’ll adjust to the routine a bit soon and start sleeping in a bit, as mine was exhausted to begin with. We’ve generally found an earlier bedtime helps with early wakes rather than later but it’s so hit and miss. The current heat doesn’t help either.