How do I get out of this vicious circle?

[brightside]

DS keeps waking at 6am and it doesn't seem to matter what time he goes to bed, he still wakes at 6.  This has been going on for about 3 weeks. He's just turned 2 years old.

My problem is how long to give him at nap time. If he wakes at 6, he is shattered by 11.30. Then I have the problem of how long to let him nap. If I let him sleep until 2 so he's not OT, it means he can have a later bedtime and therefore hopefully wake up later. He would usually be asleep by 7.30 if I do this. Then he still wakes up at 6 and so the cycle begins again. The other route is to just let him have 2 hours maximum then an earlier bedtime. This works quite well and he tends to sleep slightly longer but then still wakes at 6 because he's had enough sleep. But then of course, he is tired at 11.30 again-see my problem?

When he wakes at 6 I leave him until about 7 until I get him up. Sometimes he is wingeing and other times he is chatting happily. I have to have him up by 7.30 latest because we have to go to work. If he wakes earlier than 6 then he will usually go back to sleep but only after about an hour or more of being awake.

On the 3 days he goes to daycare, he only has about an hour nap, miainly I think because he is so tired. They usually do nap time from 12-12.30ish. They would probably let him nap earlier if I asked but I don't really want him to nap at 11.30 as its really too early and doesn't really solve my problem.

Waking at 6 isn't a problem for me (would prefer 7 but never mind!) and I don't mind the earlier bedtimes. I just feel that he isn't really getting the right sleep and his routine seems so out of sinc with other children his age. He was also quite happily waking at around 6.30-7 and napping at about 12 not so long ago and that seems more reasonable to me.

Any ideas? Thanks.

[Shdef]

If you want him to sleep until 6.30 I'd leave him to nap long and tuck him in later, he will eventually wake later, it will just take  a few weeks for it to settle. Then the tuck in for nap will be later eventually, too, may take a couple of weeks though. Not getting him up or make any action before 6.30 is  a good idea, he will eventually understand that it's still bedtime...

It does work, just takes long, you know what I mean... Is it possible to make nap time 12, no matter when he wakes up, so that his rhythm doesn't get used to the early waking?

BTW, it's not that out of synch, look at the 4 am wakings of some toddlers...