I was going to post this in BT but as he's not a baby I'll post here. 

E has been getting up really early for a couple of weeks now, 5am ish and this morning was 4.50am.  I don't know why but once he's up, he's wide awake and up for the day. 

He used to sleep till 7 or later, he's really tired and grumpy at the moment! 

Any suggestions for how to resolve this please??

L has always been like this.  he is now allowed to take the ipad into bed in the morning and play candy crush or a football game, or he can 'read' a book until the clock goes to 7 in his room.

My eldest has always woken up early, around 6 is the average time. The first thing he does in the morning then is to come in and wake us up! You'd think he was old enough to know better but I can't get him out of the habit.

We've tried giving him a digital clock and told him he has to wait to see the 7, along with bribery of stickers, treats, cash etc. I've tried keeping him up later but he still always gets up at the same time so that just makes him grumpy all day. He has lego and books in his room to look at so we tell him to go back to his room and play. I just wish he didn't need to wake us up first!

I've also tried leaving 'breakfast' in his room for him to eat when he wakes up - cereal bar, satsuma or banana, drink. That worked quite well actually so I might try that again.

What are those night and day clocks called? Does anyone know what I mean? Lots of people rave about those.

I'm a believer in rewards. But rather than just stickers, it's like 7 stickers in a row means X. Like a figure, or trip to maccy d's, whatever works IMO. Does he recognise numbers enough for a digital clock to work. My friends just done it with her six year old. But she did 8am sat and sun!

Just wondered if you'd tried a black out blind x

Whilst he is tired he might end up waking up even earlier and it getting worse... are you willing to let him have a nap during the day to help him get back on balance?

I would see if I could get him to bed earlier - what time does he go down now?

E sleeps better and for longer when she has plenty of sleep - G too actually x

I'm glad 1stbaby agreed. The more sleep mine have the better they sleep. B is over tired at the moment and is fighting sleep ever night

Thanks all. I don't think he'd nap, unless he was in the car.  I've taped his blind to the wall with masking tape tonight, will see if it makes a difference.

1stBaby he usually goes down around half 7. Tonight he was asleep in bed by 6.50.  

I've seen those clocks and H thinks a clock we have works like that but we're not sure how it works so need to have a fiddle with it!

Other than that putting stuff in his room is a good plan.  

I think maybe he's waking early because he really looks forward to seeing his dad when he wakes up!  My H works lates sometimes so E might not see him for some time and he really looks forward to seeing him the next morning.  Obviously I can't change that but will work on keeping him in his room til a decent time!

Not my 5 year old but my 2 year old wakes early. Especially since we took his dummy off him at nighttime. However, he knows not to come into us and will quite happily lie on his bed and read a book. you do sometimes hear him hovering outside the door! I don't think there is anything we can do to get him to sleep longer.

Zoe's wake up time varies wildly.  We have a gro clock, she is not allowed to come out of her room until the sun comes up.  If she is wide awake and the sun hasn't come up then she will play on her kindle, "read" books, etc.  I also always leave out her clothes for the next day and she will get herself dressed.  I have found that since we have had more toys in her bedroom she is better at staying there.

She has kind of set herself a rule that if there is only 1 star on the clock she can get up but stay in her room, more than 1 star and she tries to go back to sleep.  The downside to this reliance on the groclock is we have to take it with us whenever we go away.

Thats the only thing thats putting me off JB- I don't want him to become reliant on a clock .  I'm impressed she gets herself dressed for the day!

Well its 6am and he's not got up yet , fingers crossed he sleeps on a bit longer.  Typically I've been up with O since 4.50am as he woke early coughing!  

He came in just after I posted, so 6am. Better than 4.50.

I didn't know she could do it either, I was having to dress her every morning.  Then one night i left her clothes out ready for the next day and then when she came down to me (we sleep on different floors) she was dressed and has been doing it ever since.

How did it go last night? We used to Velcro stepsons blind to the wall, usually bought us an extra half hour or so, but he's nearly 9 now and is always up at the back of six, he's just an early riser unfortunately!