2 1/2 Year Old Waking Too Early

When we had a similar issue, my sister gave me some advice from a book (by a pediatrician sleep expert) that suggested - counterintuitively - to put the kid to bed earlier at night. This actually worked for us for awhile. The technique has something to do with promoting longer deep-sleep cycles. I had been putting my daughter to bed later and later (e.g. 9-9:30 instead of 8:30)trying to get her to sleep longer in the morning and it didn't work. We finally started putting her to bed earlier (7:30) and she actually slept longer. You can try it . . . However, this was back when she was more like one and a half to two.
Now that she is two and nine months, she does not seem to need as much night-time sleep and we are putting her to bed later again. A new problem is developing: 2-hour naps at school that I don't think she needs anymore (I also work full time and don't have control over the length of her day-time nap). So that is another possiblity - maybe your son is getting too much nap during the day?
Another possiblity - is he disturbed by your getting up to check on/nurse the 3-month-old and is there a way to alter the sleeping arrangements so that doesn't happen?
See if your Dr. has any suggestions too. Good luck!

Hi E.,
I too has two children close in age and it is never easy, but I look back on all the fun it was. They are now 27 and 25. I think you are right on the money, it is probably a transitional thing. Perhaps, he heard you up with his little brother at around 4 AM, and now his curiosity and wanting to be a part of what is going on has pushed his wake-up time to earlier instead of later. Perhaps, some special ritual each evening that includes his new brother, coupled with some special time with you or Dad and a good night story will help in the transition, and allow you some needed sleep. Just remember structure and consistent boundaries, it really works. Good luck and blessings to you and your family!

Chilren's sleep patterns change all the time and this, too, shall pass.
Have you tried keeping him up a bit later?
See if he still sleeps nine hours.
Does he nap?
Cut his nap short?
Put the babys crib in his room for a short while til he outgrows this stage?
Best wishes and God bless
Grandmother Lowell

Does he still nap during the day? If so, maybe he's ready to give up the naps. When my oldest was around 3 years old, she still napped really well in the afternoon, but then would stay up talking for 1-2 hours at night after we put her to bed. We eliminated the nap and she went right to sleep at night. It was a little tough transitioning to no nap, so we would do every other day until she got used to it. Maybe this will help for your little one.

The EXACT same thing happened to me about a month ago with my 2 1/2 yr old. How long is his nap? We reduced our sons nap from 2-3 hrs (really as long as he wanted) to 1- 1/2 hrs and it worked immediately. I have to wake him up from his nap which is never pretty, but he is back to waking up at about 6:30 am. I read that this age should be getting about 11 hrs of sleep in a 24 hr period.
I hope this helps!

I too have an early riser (she will be 3 yo in 2 weeks) and what I started doing was going in to her and telling her it was still the middle of the night. I then laid her back down, rubbed her back and sang her 2 songs and left (which is our same bedtime routine). Even now if she wakes early I so the same thing and she goes back for at least a half an hour - hour longer. If he gets more upset to see you then just leave him in there and go to him when you think is the appropriate time to get up and eventually he will learn to sleep longer or occupy himself in his bed (assumingly he is still in a crib). Good luck :)