26Mo Waking Early

Ugh, feel your pain. Could have written this myself. Right now we are just getting in naps when we can. Taking a few extra car and stroller trips around nap time when possible. When we first transitioned I'd spend up to 1-2 hours trying to get him to stay in the bed or just CIO and it wasn't working and making my day miserable...so enough of that, lifes too short. I think the early rising will eventually work itself out. Our 4yo did the same thing when we first moved him but now sleeps until 7. I think that is a sleep maturation process. I'm sure they were awake in their cribs before but didn't have the freedom to move around so just went back to sleep. Our 2yo went to sleep an hour earlier last thurs. but was still up at the same time. Try a gate and some books/toys in the room. Ours has climbed everything and just wants Momma in the AM, so be it! I guess I need to invest in an espresso machine :)

Hi MT-

2 year olds need a total of 13 hours of sleep a day. I strongly recommend at least 2 of those hours be a nap to make everyone happy. In my experiences with 2 year olds (16+ years), they still need a nap and usually give it up between 3 & 3.5 years old.

As for the sleeping issues, I recommend parents try to put their kids to bed 15-30 minutes earlier when sleep schedules change. A child's sleep patterns change so often and quickly, we don't realize it until an issue pops up. I've found if I miss, what I call the bedtime window, the child will not sleep at all, or will sleep very poorly.

Try a slightly earlier bed time.

I hope it helps.

R. Magby

We are going through the same thing with our 21 month old. He gets up at 5am-6am. A friend recommended pushing his bedtime to a little later (it was 9, and now became 9:15-9:30) and it helped a bit. He's gotten up for the past 3 days at 6:40am.. I spoke to our ped and he said just try a couple of things - put him earlier and see if it works (counterintuitive, I know, but apparently works for some kids) and putting him later. Good luck!!

My son was about 2 1/2 when he didnt' need naps anymore. He got plenty of sleep just at night, sleeping from about 8 until 7-7:30. All kids are different, so you may have to only let him sleep for an hour when he does nap, and when he doesn't, adjust that bedtime.

I don't know what time you are putting him to bed at night. Maybe trying to put him down for bed a little later every night. And with the nap thing - you can try to put him down for a nap - sometimes it may work and sometimes it doesn't. He's changing, his body is doing some major changing - you are just going to have to adjust to it too. My son went through that - where he would sleep until 9 in the morning - it was great...then he hit toddler age and was up at 6:30 in the morning - what a drag. Now he gets up about 7 or so and he's 4. Some kids are early risers, no matter what you do to try to get them to sleep longer. It's a battle you will lose. I miss those napping days....Good luck hun - it will work itself out.