toddler waking times

We tell DS thats its still night time, and settle him back to sleep- DH has even opened the curtains and shown him its still dark.

I think 2 1/2 is too young to understand to wait in their bed/bedroom til the alarm goes off. I think Isla was closer to 3 1/2 when we got a clock from the sleepstore that glows green at the time u set that they are allowed out of the room- she still uses it now. When we first introduced it we did it in combination with a star chart for rewarding her for staying in her room til the light came on.

A great idea is getting a timed light. So that your DS will know that until the light turns on he should be sleeping or playing quietly in his room (if that okay with you). I haven't tried this as DS is still in a cot but it worked awesomely for my friends toddler.
I found the idea on a blog I read. I'll look for the link and add it here...

ETA Linky Link

Edited by SethsMama

yep we have a rule. it's in bed till 7am and we get up. she has books and toys in her bed and except for rare occasions, is happy to stay there (rare occasions usually either very hungry, bum needing to be changed, or too cold). It's been that way since she was very little, like 7-8 mths or so. Obviously we'd get her up if she's unhappy but it doesn't happen very often.

Too cold seems to be a reason for waking up at 5am at the mo for us. Wakes up bx she's cold, but has had enough sleep that she's happy to get up. but we're not!!

how long has it been going on? Sleep regression maybe?

I'm not aware of there being a common sleep regression at 2 1/2 but maybe it's a delayed 2 yr old one. Anything significant happening? Have you noticed him having nightmares/night terrors before? maybe that's the cause? although mostly that seems to happen at around 18 mths.

Hopefully it will settle down again and I think you're very right in being consistent and stubborn about sending him back to bed in the meantime.. don't want to encourage bad habits that you later have to break...

I hope things get better for you soon!

Two months doesn't sound like sleep regression, that's usually a painful 4-6 weeks and then back to normal.

Does he do this when you stay in other places?

Is his afternoon sleep the only sleep? It seems quite early to be dropping sleeps but then I do have a friend with a 2 1/2 yr old who is at this stage.

the other option is that he's not actually getting enough sleep? has his nap gotten shorter lately or disrupted in any way?

when are you due?

Thanks so much for the responses ladies, I really appreciate it.

We havn't stayed anywhere else for a while but last time he did he was fine. Also my brother had him for the night maybe a month ago and he slept through there.

His afternoon sleep is his only one now - its possible it gets disrupted on the days he is in daycare maybe I'll see if there is a pattern there. Even when he was a bub tho he wasn't a great day time sleeper.
I'm due Oct 13th - 20 week scan in a couple of weeks excited.

I might see what the pattern is like when he is at daycare and not and then look at dropping or even shortning that arvo nap.

Luckily the last two nights have been pretty good, this morning he only came in about 5am and the night before he came in at 6.20am when our alarm went off and said "clock up now" which was cute :)

I'm just glad I finally managed to go to part time hours at work so its loads more manageable for me.

Thanks again ladies - enjoy your day :)

sounds good Hadlam! well done.
We've been having up and down mornings - one morning awake at 5.30am (but still in bed) and next morning sleeping in till 7.30!! Think there is a bit of a cold or something going on.

Hey Ruthy,

We never got round to trying the timed light as we managed to teach him that he is not allowed to get up until he hears our alarm clock.
Now his favourite prase is clock time, which you can hear him start chanting as soon as our alarm goes off. Very occasionally he still gets up but as soon as I put him back down again he goes straight back to sleep and seems to understand (to a certain degree) that he needs to wake till "clock time".

Good luck - let me know how the light goes :)

Funniest thing Lisame we just bought him a pet goldfish and guess what he named it "clock time" lol!!