Waking up Way Early..

Sleep begets sleep with little guys - if they are overtired, they don't sleep well. Maybe he does need that nap. When my son was 2 or 3, he started waking 4 or 5 times a night. If we put him to bed later or napped less, it got worse. I read something about "sleep begetting sleep" so we moved his bed time earlier by just thirty minutes, and he went back to sleeping through the night! It's worth a try anyway!!!

7 PM is a very early bedtime for a 3 y/o. I teach 3's and NONE of them have a bedtime earlier than 8:30.

Also, this is the developmental period when they start to physically need LESS sleep. Many kids omit the nap at this age. Since he has already done that he may need to lose an hour here or there.

Think more about the total amount of time he is sleeping (12 hours). His health and sleep pattern may be better served by a 1 hour nap and a 9:00 bedtime or keeping with no nap and an 8:00 bedtime...or a combo of the two.

I know it can cut into your grown-up time, but a healthy sleep pattern (not to much, not to little)can effect him for a lifetime.

Good Luck...hope you get some rest soon!

I have always heard that waking early is a sign of sleep deprivation. I would try putting him to bed a little earlier and see what happens. Also, make sure to try to wear him out during the day, take him to the park, let him run around. No TV close to bed time. Make sure he's not eating things with a lot of caffine like soda & chocolate.

I would say it's time to move his bed time later try moving it to 7:30 or 8, my son has always gone to bed late for a kid (9:30) but he still takes his 2 hour nap most afternoons (I know I'm a very lucky mom when it comes to the nap!). They need less sleep as they get older, but they do still need 11-12 hours of sleep at their age. The other thought is, if he sleeps with a nightlight, put it on a timer that shuts off at 7 am and explain to him he can't get up until the nightlight goes off.

Have you put a clock in his room? You might try and set the alarm. Just explain to him that he cannot get out of bed until it rings. Hopefully he will get bored and just fall back asleep. You might also try and make his bedtime later. My three year old just started not taking naps and I put her to sleep at 8:30 p.m. She will usually fall asleep within 30 minutes and wakes up around 7:30 a.m.

I didn't read all the other responses, but I will say that I thought we were the only ones dealing with this since none of the moms I shared my struggle with could help.

We went through the same thing and what worked for us in curbing the pattern was to start prepping for bedtime at 7:00pm instead of 6pm. At one point during the figure out process I just asked him... 'are you ready for bed?' - his answer was no, so I thought let's see where this goes - once won't hurt. I told him in front of daddy "OK you can let us know when you're ready" - all tv's were off and there would be no playing, all three of us just sat in the L/R and talked 1) he realized that we were boring and didn't do much of anything after he went to bed 2) he thought he would get to play if he stayed up and quickly learned that was not the case. He told us he was ready within 20 min and that is what finally led us to believe that his bedtime would change. Mind you, this question has been asked a couple of time and we follow through with the same actions.

As I mentioned above, we start the routine around 7pm (shower, teeth, potty), read from about 7:30-7:45. Turn off lights and talk about the days events til about 8:00 - 8:15. He's out by 8:15 - 8:30 every night and up anywhere between 6:30-7:30 every day. So far so good and this will only hold true until he goes through another change :)

Hope you find something that works for you!!

Oh my goodness, his little body is probably exhausted. I've read little ones need a lot of sleep and I know that my 4 yr old needs at least 8hrs. He doesnt nap often but on weekend at around 1PM I ask him to have quiet time and nap if he likes for about 40minutes (he usually falls asleep) try that, he can't play just sit and 'read' his books on his bed. I don't know if you have a nighttime routine, but if not, then start one for him. A nice warm bath will help him relax and help him go to sleep. When I see mine aren't 'ready' for bed and have lots of energy, I send each one to take a nice long bath. At the end, they are much more relaxed and we don't play anymore. I let them do quiet activities like reading or coloring and I even let them listen to calming music (even lullabies). Also, maybe making sure the lights aren't too bright when he gets up that early in the AM, so he knows he has to lay back down and 'think' about sleeping. I keep night lights all over the house and even in the bathroom for when they get up, that way they don't have to fully wake by turning on the bright lights. I hope it's a phase and that he can sleep soon. Take care, it must be difficult for all of you and maybe I've helped you a little bit.

Try making his bedtime later. My son doesn't require much sleep and when he first started school we would put him dowm between 8-8:30 and he would wake up between 3 and 4am ready for the day. So we started putting him down later and he would sleep til it was time to get up.