Toddler Sleeping Advice!

[Scuba]

My little girl will be 3 years in June and has always been an early waker.. She wakes up at around 5am every day and while its not a huge problem as we've adjusted ourselves to going to bed earlier and getting up earlier, it would be much better if we could get her into a routine of getting up a little later!!

She has a bedtime routine of bath, milky drink, story, toilet, bed and that suits her well, she generally has a 7.30 bedtime, we get her up for a wee on her potty at about 10pm which she doesn't wake up for lol, and then she sleeps through until 5am when its wake up time!
We have tried putting her bedtime back to 8.30 but she still wakes up at 5am! She has no light coming into her room really - she has blackout curtains..
She has a nap most days at around lunch time - on the odd days she doesn't have her nap she still wakes up just as early in the morning, I'm not sure if I need to start with holding these naps and if that would (once it became routine) help her to sleep in later in the morning? Or whether some children are just early risers?!

ANY thoughts or advice would be great - she's my first (so far only!) child so I'm not sure what to be doing really!! xx

 

[polaris]

Thomas is younger but he is an early riser too, I don't think there is much you can do to change it really. I personally wouldn't cut out her daytime nap as if she's still taking a nap then I would say that she still needs it. You will probably find that she drops the nap herself over the next year and you never know it might make her sleep a bit later. I thought when Thomas moved from two naps to one that we had cracked it, as for about two weeks he was sleeping until 7! But then he adjusted and was back to his preferred waking time of 5.30. The clocks changing have moved that to 6.30 at the moment, which is heaven, but I predict that he will slowly shift that back as the summer progresses!

 

[mumnbean]

I have 3 quick ideas that might help:
1) Do you feed her soon after she wakes up? If she gets used to not being fed or given milk until 7am or later she may not bother to wake up until then.
2) Does she get cold? Could you warm her room or blankets a touch so the early morning chill doesnt wake her?
3) Can she stay in her cot or room playing quietly until you go and get her. You can train her and make it a bit later over time... Just so you can have a lie in!

Hope she decides to sleep in soon for you

 

[redpoppy]

The theory (In sleep books) that it takes real guts to test is that if they're waking up too early put them to bed earlier. The theory being sleep begets sleep and babies are waking early because they're tired which makes them wired etc.

I've only ever tested it by 15 or 20 minute factors and it's helped but only minimally. My theory is that her sleep cycles are set, so when she wakes at 20 mins before her usual wake time she figures she may aswell go back to sleep? I made that up and probably isn't true at all.

 

[polaris]

This actually worked for us - I tried putting Thomas to bed earlier when he was younger and was waking up too early but still obviously tired. I put him to bed at 6.30 rather than 7 and it did seem to help him to sleep a bit longer in the morning and wake up refreshed rather than cranky. However now he wakes up early but is clearly well-rested and eager to start the day. Putting him to bed earlier hasn't worked for us when he is waking up well-rested. Maybe he needs to go to bed later but I'm happy with his current bedtime of 7/7.30 so I will put up with the early mornings.

I do leave him to play in the cot for about half an hour as a previous poster suggested. It took a while for him to be able to do that without protesting but I just persisted with it and gradually increased the length of time that I would leave him before going in to him and now he will happily chat away to himself for half an hour which gives me a chance to either stay in bed a bit longer or have a shower before he gets up.

 

[Scuba]

Thank you all very much - I think I will give the earlier to bed thing a try - I figure it can't do too much damage long term?! I hope lol!!

Thank you again for replying - I had started to think that maybe (as some friends suggested!) she wouldn't outgrow her early mornings until the teenage years hit - eeeeeek!! xx