Sleep Training

Is there an age that we stop dealing with sleep training?

A few weeks ago Ethan started getting up at about 5:50am (instead of 7:30am). Of course this was NOT ok with me, but I thought he might snap out of it on his own. Not so. After a week I started brainstorming what to do. One idea was a sleep training night light like this one, but I was hesitating because it would be close to $40, and what if it didn't work?

Most of the mornings during this time Mike got up and put Ethan in front of a cartoon so I could keep sleeping. But a few times I got up and told Ethan it was still night time. I would sing him a song, get him back in bed, and he would sleep until a reasonable time. This made me think the sleep training light would work. Still not wanting to spend $40, I went to Walmart and bought a plain night light that lights up blue (no cute sun/moon night lights there) and an outlet timer for a total of $7. I came home and showed Ethan how blue means "sleep" and we practiced "falling asleep" as soon as it turned blue. He caught on quickly. I put him down for a nap with the blue light, but was hearing quite a bit of noise, so I went in to check on him and found the night light in bed with him. Apparently he liked it. I explained that it needed to stay in the wall.

We have been using the light at naps and night time since Friday. He's not completely consistent yet, but one of the following is what happens each time:

1: Most common-Sleep in until or past when the light turns white, signaling wake up. YEAH!!! (I've set his light for 8am, so it's even better than before.)

2: Once or twice he has woken up early, but after I point out the blue light he goes back to sleep until the light turns white. Nice! (I expected mornings like this as we started out.)

3: Yesterday Ethan woke up early and I was sick so Mike went in to tell him to go back to sleep. He didn't want to, so Mike told him he could stay in his room and read or play. When I went in to get him after his wake up time he was sitting on the floor "reading" a Thomas book.

4: The fourth option is what could be the downfall of this idea and it demonstrated in this story.

7:15am (so not too early): Ethan is jiggling the locked doorknob and calling, "Mommy." Mommy stands outside the door and says, "Ethan, what color is the light?" Ethan: "White!" Mommy enters the room to find the night light pulled out of the outlet, so it is white. *sigh* Kids are smart.

Ethan is already sleeping more, and I'm optimistic that this will continue to work.

In other wake up news: since moving to his toddler bed, Ethan has insisted on opening his bedroom door in the morning. That means that he calls for me, I unlock the door, and then he MUST open it. Now, though, almost every morning, and even after most naps, he doesn't open the door, so after waiting a few seconds, I do. I inevitably find him laying on the floor spread eagle waiting for a diaper change. It looks like potty training may be on the horizon as Ethan is all of the sudden not liking the feeling of a dirty diaper.