My son has ALWAYS been an early riser never sleeping past 6-6:30AM from infancy (and I am not a morning person!!!) For the past several months he's been getting up even earlier - sometimes 5AM and not going back to sleep. He's 3 1/2 yrs old and his tendencies are starting to rub off on his 2 yr old sister who used to sleep until 8 or 8:30 and is now getting up around 6:30. We have tried everything from locking him in his room (he has books to read and a train table to play with but trashes his room instead, recently ripping down the wallpaper border), mommy lays with him (but he tosses and turns and just drives me crazy!), spanking, taking toys, etc. We now let him come out and watch tv as long as it's after 6AM, but this 5AM stuff has got to stop! We've tried to drop naps, but then he's falling asleep at dinner or a complete mess by the evening and still gets up at 6AM the next morning. HELP!!
It used to be around 8-8:30, but we've been pushing it as late as 9 recently. He's exhausted by 9 and falls asleep almost immediately. I've been wondering if we should go back to 8!?
Perhaps you could try dropping the nap and then putting him to bed at 7pm, kids still need 12/13 hours a night, it may help him sleep through to 7am.
Have you tried blacking out the room. My son loves his sleep especially if its dark in the room. He hardly ever gets up before 7:30am and is always in bed by 7pm. And has a nap during the day!
Just a suggestion...try some background noise. My friends son used to be like that and she finally put a radio on in his bedroom during the night and he sleeps well now. Good luck.
