Need Help Getting My 2 Year Old to Sleep Later

poor exhausted S.! this must be so hard for you.
but i really think toddlers move through phases at what seems slow to them but is very fast for us. what was 'normal' last week just won't stay that way. the best thing you can do is teach him to play quietly until you get up with him. you can't force sleep, and over-tweaking the rest of his schedule to try and obtain it will probably just fardle things up worse.
i hope it straightens out for you soon.
khairete
S.

if it's only been 3 weeks (I know, I know, it seems like an eternity, I feel for you!), then the fact that you've tried so many things means you might not actually be giving anything a chance to show you whether or not it will work. Often earlier waking means your kid needs more sleep, not less.

If you cut his nap back before the early waking started, then that might be your culprit and you should go back to letting him sleep for 3.5 hours at nap as long as he's still sleeping 11 hours at night. If you cut back his nap in an effort to get him to sleep later, so the change was after he'd already started waking earlier, then the first line of defense is to put him down earlier. Try 15 min earlier but then stick to that for about 3 days, then 15 min earlier than that, so he's going to bed at 7, and then do that consistently for a week (while keeping everything else the same), and see if it helps.

I would also at the same time not get him up before 6:30 even if he wakes earlier. If he's upset, you can go in, say "It's still nighttime, go back to sleep," and then leave and not go back. If he's screaming and crying then you have to handle that how you see fit (Ferber, ignore it, comfort him, whatever works for you as a parent, however you've sleep-trained him in the past), but if he's just awake but playing quietly or something, then leave well enough alone.

Around this time, we taught our son how to read his digital clock: we showed him how to recognize a 3 and a 7 on his clock, because the earliest he can get out of bed at nap time is 3 and the earliest he can get out of bed in the morning is 7. He's often awake before then, but he knows that nighttime isn't over until the clock says 7 and naptime isn't over until the clock says 3. You may want to start talking about this with your son. It takes some of the pressure off of you: it's not your fault that he has to stay in bed, it's just that nighttime isn't over yet, so everyone has to stay in bed. It's the clock that dictates when he gets up, not you. You have it a little harder b/c you're going for 6:30, which means more numbers, but maybe you could just focus on the 6 part, and see if that helps you too.

HTH!

I have 6 kids so I've been in this boat before. I currently have a 2 1/2 year old who still takes a nap, but I never let him sleep more than 2 or 2 1/2 hours maximum so he will stay on target to go to sleep at an appropriate time and wake up at a functional time in the morning. I always try to get him down for his nap as close to the middle of the day as possible, so his sleeping patterns are balanced. I can't believe your little one will still do a nap that long! If he is still sleeping 10 hours at night, you are fortunate. Consider yourself lucky if that is the case and maybe catch a nap for yourself during that long stretch in the day at naptime.....
Good luck!

I have found that lately the birds are waking me up! Perhaps a sound maching for some gentle white noise might help. I've been thinking about this for myself, too.

Well, I am on the same path - pregnant with a 20 month old... and our hours of sleep (get up and time down are similar)
We have been having this same problem - a early riser (that at times still wakes up in the night)
So working with some friends moms we have decided to try the following (and after a week it started to work) - but trying each change in the schedule has to be tried for a few days (at least 4) if not it might not work
- dark room
- moving his bedtime 30 to 45 minutes later but not for one day, but for a whole week
- leaving a bottle in his bed (water) and getting him to understand it is there
- cutting his nap to 2 hours max
- getting him down for the nap never before 1 PM, and never later than 2 PM...

let me know if it works!!!

Cheers

My son who is now almost 3 still takes naps and wakes up at 6:30. He sleeps from 1-4 or 3 and then goes down at 8:00 I never felt he was tierd at 7:309 we stopped that a while ago. But what ever works for you he might be getting a tooth too!

you could try going to sleep earlier yourself..like when he does. they do say "sleep when they sleep". oh and "if you cant beat em join em".

my 2 yo goes through this occaisionally. I have found that often there is a noise outside that causes it, like noisy birds, trash trucks, etc. I have started ignoring his wakeups until I want him up, which seems to help him reset his clock. good luck

I would try an hour and a half napping (1.30-3.00pm more or less) wake him up and put him down around 7.30-8.00 for 11 or 12 hours.
See if that works, it did for me, but it always takes around 4-5 days to get used to the routine and of course they are not machines, but one nite in a while is not the same as three weeks in a raw.
Anyway it´s going to be a phase but since we don´t know how long this is going to be I will definitely try this.
Good luck and sweet dreams, crossing my fingers for you :)
P.

I feel for you!!! My son (20mths) does this everyonce in awhile and it drives me nuts. It started happening when the sun started coming up earlier. But I just leave him in his crib and he usuallly plays himself back to sleep. He also takes a nap from around 1:00 to 4:00, but I also feel that 3 hours may be too much. He goes to daycare three time a week and they do a lot of activities and he only takes at most a 2 hour nap. He always sleeps a full 12 hours after being at daycare. I'm finding that on those days when he is home with me I let him nap too long and he doesn't get as much ativity. I'm starting to see that he needs at least 4 + hours of awake time before bed and the more active the day the longer he sleeps. Since it's been nice outside we have been taking him outside and letting him run around and play. This has resulted in him getting really good sleep.

I know that those 3 hours of naptime are precious but he may be trading in naptime rest for nightime rest. Here's a couple thigns your can try:

1. Move his naptime up to 12:30 and let him sleep to 3:30 and make sure he is getting a chance to get all his energy out once he wakes up.
2. Decrease his naptime by 1/2 hr, so instead of 1-4 it would be 1-3:30pm.

And like the other ladies said whatever you try, stick it out for at least 1-2 weeks. Hope this helps.

You know this is just the age where they get up a little earlier. The reason why is because kids don't get up at a time they get up when the son comes up. Well these days the sun is up at 5 or 5:30am. My daughter does it too. There really isn't anything you can do about it. If he's cranky i would put him to bed at 7pm but he's still going to get up at 5 or 5:30am. If you put him to bed earlier he will only get less sleep and be cranky. You don't want that i promise. My mother used to have the rules with her foster kids, You don't get up until i come in and say you can get up. It worked for her. I didn't do it more because i didn't mind it stops when it starts getting light a little later. But she did it because she was older and couldn't peal herself out the bed that early. Either method works.
I feel for you though my daughter does it every season and I'm currently 7 1/2 mo. pregnant. It's just something you tend to get used to. Good luck