3yr old bedtime ideas

[willowonyx]

My 3.25 yr old DD is waking an hour early 5am.  I know this is a common thread but I am wondering if she is setting her new natural wake-up time.  This is her current schedule:

Wake by 5:15am
School
Nap at School 1pm-2pm (it never really last more than an hour, on the weekends it is a bear to get her to sleep, we have to take her for a ride in the car)
Bath 7:20pm
Lights out 7:50pm (she falls asleep almost immediately)

So, for the last year she was waking up when we went in at 6am with no problems.  There were a few times in the last 6 months where for a few weeks, she would get up at 5:30, but then she would go back to sleeping in until 6am.

Now, when she wakes up at 5am, she is WIDE AWAKE.  She is not grumpy. There are no noises or lights that would wake her.

So, my question is for all you BWs, do we start moving her bedtime later by 15 minutes, until we have her getting up at the time we want? Try phasing out the nap, which I do not think she is ready for? She is currently only getting 9hrs a night, 10hrs a day with the nap.  That is at the low end of the required amount of time.
 

[LucySol]

This happened with my DS when he was getting ready to drop his nap at 3.5.He had a nap every other day for a while which helped the EW untill he dropped it completely.
i would try dropping the nap to every other day and bring bedtime earlier on the no nap days.

Lucy xxxx

[deb]

I'd consider treating that waking as a NW, wide awake or not! LOL Maybe go in just as you hear her beginning to stir and try to get her back down for another sleep cycle.

[willowonyx]

Thank you for the two suggestions.  Hum, they both gave me an idea.  Sometimes if she gets up to got potty at like 3am, she will sleep in until the 6am time.  I am wondering if her sleep cycle needs to be reset, say around 4am.  Do you all think a W2S would work?

[LucySol]

W2S never worked for us but its worth a go! you havent got anything to lose.
Let us know how it goes x

another thing that made me think of when you mentioned her going to the loo at 3am.what would happen if you put her on the potty when you went to bed? Maybe she is waking early for a wee?
some people dont agree with the 'dream wee' but it always works wonders for us.

just a thought x

[willowonyx]

Not sure if it was a fluke but last night she woke me up at 2am, I took her to the potty, and then she asked to sleep with us (she very rarely does this), so I let her in our bed and she slept until 6.

I guess we will see what tonight brings.

[Mimi 2]

I think that you could try cutting hte nap down by just 10-15 min.  I remembered dd dong the same thing but cutting back on her nap seems to help with the EW.  It did took a few days for her to adjust.  I agree with Deb, treat it as a NW and don't bring her into your bed.  Go to her room if you have to as it's easier to take yourself out of her room then it is to get her back into her bed.

GL