Toddler Early Waking

Is it possible that there is a paper delivery boy, airplane, train or some other type of noise that goes on that time or morning everyday? did you move his room to another side of the house..etc.. my son did this and we found out it was b/c the neighbors started to get the paper delivered..lol so he heard the car pull in and the lights would flash in his window..haha the best advise i have is to put him back to bed make sure he's ok or that everything is ok.. i wouldn't keep him up or lessen his naps b/c them being OVER tired can cause them to not sleep well. (i know it sounds weird, but it's true) also i would just lay him back down in his bed and tell him it's nite nite time.. and be consistent when you do this.. it should just be a phase.. stay strong..lol :)

Hmm... I would advise picking up- "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child"
this book has saved me much struggle and grief with my 2yo and 10mo.
It's a book I constantly recommend and am so grateful my pediatric neurologist friend told me about it! It is a life saver!

Best luck!

Does he know his colors yet? We got a clock for my daughter that turns green at a certain time (we set it). We tell her to stay in her room and play with her toys until it turns green and then she can come get us. She was closer to 3 when we started using it though. I got it off of amazon.

If you brought him into your bed at that time...could you all get a couple more hours of sleep? Or at least rest...

I used to have the tupperware bowl with lid, filled with cheerios. If they came in my room too early they could snack in my bed and watch a video. I do feel for you. I don't miss that. I now have the kids that will sleep til noon if i would let them!

oh man do I know how you feel! My daughter who is now 3 1/2 was an early riser from about 12 months until..... 21/2 years. Yes it was so hard. No matter what I did she would wake up without fail anywhere from 5 am to 6am but if she slept in until 6 I felt lucky. How sad is that? I had a night time routine from the day she was born. I tried putting her to bed earlier, later, gave her toys in her crib, books, a sippy of water, let her cry to see if she would go back to sleep and even darkened her room hoping she would still think it's night but nothing worked. I think it really just took time for her to get older and sleep in better. Now thankfully she sleeps in until 8. But what I did start doing was when she woke up I would give her a yogurt smoothie in a sippy and let her sit on my bed and watch cartoons while I went back to sleep. That would buy me about a 1/2 an hour to 45 min. extra sleep before I had to get up with her. So hopefully for your sake he will grow out of it soon.

At about 2 years old... toddlers often get sleep tweaks.
Its a phase.
They are changing/developing a lot at this cusp age of 2 years old.
Ride it out.. it will pass.
Both my kids did that too.
To a certain extent, we cannot 'extinguish' developmental changes.. but keep to your same sleep/nap routines and times.
Don't make him go to bed later or without a nap... it will make it worse and backfire.

Also at this age, they cognitively change too... they get night-mares, 'fears' or fears of the dark, and restless EVEN if tired.

Teach him, that if he is tired, it is "okay" to say so, and it is NOT anything 'bad'... and that its okay. That is what I taught my kids from an early age... otherwise, most kids think that sleeping and naps and being 'tired' are 'bad' things.

all the best,
Susan

Is it possible that there's too much light coming in his room from a window? Do you have a dark blind or even a blanket you could try covering the window for him? It is also possible that he's developed a bit of brother envy and is doing this to make sure he's spending more time with mom & dad.