Early waking toddler?

[LAMom]

Our toddler is 19 months, and he is waking up far too early every morning. He calls out for me (still nursing in the morning and at nights) but we have a strict policy of not nursing him before six a.m. When he wakes up before six (many mornings), my husband goes in and explains that it's still the middle of the night, that it is not time to start our day and that mommy is sleeping (I wish), hands him his comfort blankie and then leaves him to try to go back to sleep. Needless to say, while this may cut down on his anxiety, it doesn't do any good towards getting him to go back to sleep and get up after 6 a.m.

My husband thinks that the problem is - at least in part - that our son doesn't have anything to occupy him when he wakes up in the morning, so the child is just sitting in his crib in his dark room with nothing to think about other than his hunger. My husband is thinking that perhaps something like the Cloud B Twilight Turtle might entertain our son so he has something else to focus on in the dark. But we're also concerned that if we have a Cloud B in the room, the child won't sleep as well because he'll be waking up in the middle of the night to play with the Cloud B.

Another thought is the "good nite lite." Our son is a little young for it according to the instructions, but our son does seem to understand (even if he doesn't accept) when my husband gives him the "it's still night" talk.

Any thoughts on either of these options (or any other options)? My DH is *NOT* a morning person and he is slowing starting to lose it . . .

[Nyfeara]

We have a good nite lite & it's worked great. We've used it since DS was 15mos or so. He didn't fully get the concept when we started, but we always made it a point to talk to him about it.

Now, at 24 mos, he really gets it and has for a couple months. For us, it works. If he does get up at 5, he doesn't always call for us, he'll babble a little and go back to sleep. Once it turns to a sun though, he lets us know. He's much calmer in bed while the blue moon is still showing and it's much easier to get him to go back down if he does call for us.

[hillview]

My boys both wake early. Between 5:30 and 6:30. I have tried the turtle and leaving books in the crib (when they were in the crib) and nothing seems to work well. Our house rules are that if it is before 5:30 back to bed, no one will play. After 5:30 you can snuggle with us. It is not what I'd like BUT it is what works. Also DS2 cannot be trusted to play in the house alone. DS1 is fine.

If he is still in a crib I might give him a night light or turtle and a book or 2 and see what happens.
/hillary