3.5 - Year - Old Early Wakeup

[FrankiesMom12]

Hi All - my son, Frankie, will be 4 in early November.  He gave up his nap sometime mid-winter, and over the last few months is sleeping less and less at night.  We try to have him in his bed no later than 7:30 due to some nighttime shenanigans.  He's usually asleep by 8 at the latest
  The problem is he's waking up between 5:00 - 5:30 most days.  Part of the problem is he has an 8 month old sister who gets up around then, and I've struggled to enforce staying in bed until his clock tells him he can get up.  He's pretty tired, though and I'm not sure what to do to encourage more sleep.  I'd be happy if he just slept until 6:30 at this point.  Is that reasonable?  Am I missing something?  Thanks!

[Haribo2012]

Hi there, it's exhausting isn't it. I have 6.5 month old and 4.5 year old both have this morning decided 5.30 is a good wake up time (yawn)

I'd say it's developmental goings on with him being 3.5 but also could you try an EBT to see if he's OT?

[FrankiesMom12]

Thanks for your response!  We've been trying to get him to bed earlier, but inevitably he's still waking up super early in the morning.  It can be anytime between 4 - 5.  I think he's actually having nightmares.  We got him a much brighter nightlight over the weekend, but that still doesn't seem to have helped.  Is this a normal developmental thing?  Is it possible he's cold and consequently sleeping lightly?  Lastly, if I want to try to force a nap, what time do you recommend I try and how late/long should I let him sleep.  Historically, if he takes a nap at around 2:00, he won't fall asleep at night until around 9:00.  Thanks again!!!

[Haribo2012]

I'm not really sure what time a forced nap would work, for us it would be a car ride around 3pm ish and only allow 20 mins but to be honest it often caused more hassle making BT late and then still EW so I used to just go for EBT.

How early are you trying BT?