3 year old suddenly waking early and yelling for us. How to handle?

[Anonymous]

Baby sleep I figured out, toddler, not so much. Our almost 3 year old has gone from sleeping or resting happily in the crib til 7/7:30 to yelling out for us around 5:30/6 saying he wants it to be wakeup time. Sometimes he asks to go to the bathroom or blow his nose, which we of course oblige (he's day trained, wears diapers at night but is in the crib so can't take himself). But most of the time once we get in there, he says he's not tired and wants to wake up and play.

We have an ok to wake clock but he usually isn't willing to wait for it. We haven't been the best about consistency since we just want him to stop screaming, especially with our four month old sleeping in the next room.

How have other folks dealt with this - is it a sign to drop the nap entirely or push bedtime later? Switch to a toddler bed? Should we turn on the light for him so he can play in the crib/look at books if he wakes early? Is there any "activity" we can suggest he do in the dark so he has the opportunity to fall back asleep?

He has preschool during the week and doesn't nap well there, so I worry he'd be a tired mess if he's up since 5:30 but perhaps that's out of my control. Maybe daylight savings will fix it?

Thanks for any tips!

[Anonymous]

All of the things you mentioned. Drop the nap, get him a toddler bed and a light he can switch on and some books/quiet toys. My three year old knows we're not coming in until the light is green. She can tell all she wants.

[Anonymous]

^^also, daylight savings is going to make it WORSE. The clock will say 6 but it will feel like 5.

[Anonymous]

Get him a toddler bed and tell him he can play in his room until his clock turns. That’s what we’ve done with our daughter. She’s now almost 5.5 and I can count on one hand the number of times she’s come downstairs before her clock turns green.

[Anonymous]

Can you make sure his room is pitch black? The sun is rising earlier and that's probably it.

[Anonymous]

Ours is a little older (just turned 4) but we’ve found she was really responsive to a star chart. It didn’t have to be days in a row, but when she got 6 stars (mornings she stayed in her room quietly until her clock turned green at 6:50) she got a star. Her prize was baking with me. We then did it again, but made it 8 stars. Those couple of weeks seem to have changed the pattern. It’s hard to know though because it’s still early…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ours is a little older (just turned 4) but we’ve found she was really responsive to a star chart. It didn’t have to be days in a row, but when she got 6 stars (mornings she stayed in her room quietly until her clock turned green at 6:50) she got a star. Her prize was baking with me. We then did it again, but made it 8 stars. Those couple of weeks seem to have changed the pattern. It’s hard to know though because it’s still early…

We do this with Pom poms. “You have to rest until 7 when the light turns green. If you can rest quietly, you will get a Pom Pom for your chart.” 5 Pom poms = ice cream. After three charts we were able to move to a jar, which will take longer to fill up, obviously.

[Anonymous]

When is bedtime?

[Anonymous]

Toddler bed, teach him to go to bathroom independently right after waking up, light that’s easy to turn on but not too bright for morning play, quiet toys or books for morning.....sometimes you just have to see what works but the biggest thing is.consistency, consistency, consistency

[Anonymous]

How long has this been going on? Our kids have had phases like that. It goes on for a week or so and then goes back to normal.

We also use a stoplight clock.

[Anonymous]

That’s just the time 3 year olds get up. It will change hopefully next week when it’s not so light out.

[Anonymous]

Heh. My kids always got up at 6. Any later means they are sick. With naps, withiut. I would put some toys or books at the end of his crib and tell him he can wake up and play but not yell. My 2.5 year old clombed out of crib so shes been in a toddler bed since 2. I hear pitter patter of her running to me at 6 am every day and the 6 year old is up about 10 min later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When is bedtime?

Op here, thanks all! Bedtime is 8ish, or a little earlier if he didn’t nap at all that day. He often skips nap at school but will sometimes take one up to 2 hours on weekends which would suggest he still “needs” it, right? Sounds like I should see what happens with daylight savings but will definitely try these suggestions.

[Anonymous]

My kids both woke up at 5:30 or 6 until they were maybe 7 years old so I don’t have any advice. It gets easier once they are old enough to play in their room by themselves in the morning at least.