At the end of my rope will toddler waking extremely early, please help :(

[porkypig]

my lo has never been a great sleeper, it took him almost a year to go through the night and even then, the latest hes EVER got up is 6:30. As of late, the past few months it seems to have got worse, 5:30, then 5:00; this morn it was 3:40 and he literally screams the house down wanting us to go in and pick him and bring him into our room. he gets him self into such a state that his heart was pounding.
me and my my husband literally cant deal with it anymore as we both work.
At night, he goes down like a dream, absolutely no fuss what so ever, but we just need to crack this early rising as we are exhausted, i always feel very down, and craggy and we are ttc #2 and i swear this stress isnt doing us any favours. Please help

 

[Jemma_x]

I cant really offer any advice as my LO isnt an early riser but

 

[hypnorm]

I used to give mine a drink and they would go back off to sleep, i wouldn't let them in to our room at that time in the morning, my daughter comes through at 6.30 as snuggles with us. the light mornings don't help.

 

[porkypig]

thing is weve tried not going to pick him up, but he literally doesnt stop screaming blue murder, he will quite easily scream for an hour, he is that relentless. he used to come in to our bed, have some milk then drop off for a bit which wasnt so bad, but he is wide awake now and doesnt drop off now. i dont know where he gets the energy from but i know he is tired as he'll often have 2-3 hour naps- do you think this is part of the problem? ive tried waking him after an hour but he is so grouchy that it impacts on the rest of the afternoon/evening, he'll be miserable, then wont eat his dinner.......etc etc.. i seriously dont know where ive gone wrong with him, every other toddler i know wakes up at normal times 7:30, 8 etc x

 

[xxEMZxx]

What time do you put him down at night?

 

[porkypig]

between 7:45-8pm xx

 

[hattiehippo]

Tom's an early riser too - his wakeups this week have been 5.10am and he is awakw and ready to go. He's only ever slept past 7am 2x maybe and 6.30am is a serious lie-in. Whatever you've done wrong I've done it too!

He also has a 2 to 3 hour nap at lunchtime and I've tried waking him early but he is so grumpy it ruins the afternoon and he falls asleep early so wakes even earlier the next day. I'm sorry I don't have any ideas really, just wanted to let you know you're not the only 1.

 

[porkypig]

Tom's an early riser too - his wakeups this week have been 5.10am and he is awakw and ready to go. He's only ever slept past 7am 2x maybe and 6.30am is a serious lie-in. Whatever you've done wrong I've done it too!

He also has a 2 to 3 hour nap at lunchtime and I've tried waking him early but he is so grumpy it ruins the afternoon and he falls asleep early so wakes even earlier the next day. I'm sorry I don't have any ideas really, just wanted to let you know you're not the only 1.

im thinking of seeking further help, like maybe going to a sleep clinic or something it seriously cant go on. if you find a cure to this problem please let me know, and ill do like wise xx

 

[ClaireLouise]

I am having the opposite problem lately! Hard time getting him to sleep and won't get up in the morning!

I agree with regards to trying a drink. Or maybe even putting a tv in his room and letting him watch it if he wakes too early.

 

[Baby France]

Our little boy has just started waking in the night too and we're not completely sure why?

But he has asked for the toilet a few times (he's not potty trained yet but will occasionally go) or he'll ask for juice.

I'm also thinking that he's started having full on terrible two tantrums too when he can't get his own way...I think there may be something unlying with it. Have you asked him what he wants and whats wrong? Putting the landing light on for out LO has settled him back to sleep?

As for the 5/5.30 wake ups - LO has done that from about 9months old and has only just started to sleep til 6ish.

 

[Lightworker]

Hi hun.
When he comes into your room, does he want to get into bed with you? Have you tried allowing him to do that, and see what happens?
Toddlers are like adults in a way in that they can go through periods of anxiety, and they need the extra reassurance, especially if they are going through changes eg learning new things etc.
Sometimes they become anxious about things which we as adults find it hard to understand. It might just be a phase, and I would suggest allowing him into your bed for the extra reassurance if thats what he wants.
Also, if he is waking around 5am, maybe as the sun is rising, depending on the layout of the room, it might cast a shadow on some of his toys etc, which might be scaring him? x

 

[Elski]

What time does he have his naps? I guess if he's waking early he probably does need the extra sleep in the day but maybe you (or whoever looks after him while you're at work) could try putting him down as early in the day as possible so he has a long stretch of wake time before bed? Does he do plenty of energy-burning stuff in the afternoon? I take LO for a massive long walk in the afternoons so she's worn out by the end of the day and over recent weeks she's gone from waking at 6ish to sleeping til 7.15-7.30. She went through phase a few months back of waking even earlier (around 5.30) and it's a killer, hope you get it sorted...

 

[hattiehippo]

I think with Tom I've worked that he sleeps 10 hours at night almost deadon and then 2 - 3 hrs in the day. When he wakes at 5ish his room is pitch black now - for a while I thought it was because it was light early but he's the same now its still dark. We're lucky though cos he doesn't cry etc - he will happily lie chatting and playing with his duvet till about 6 when I get up with him. So he' not awake cos its light or he's scared...its literally he's finished sleeping.

It would be great if you find something that helps Porkypig cos the 5am wakeups are a killer. I'm just hoping Tom will sleep 12 hours at night when he eventually drops his daytime nap but I can tell that's not going to be for a while yet.

 

[ginab]

We have the same problem too with Maggie, for as long as she's been 'sleeping through' she's woken early and this last month its just getting earlier and earlier, and now the mornings are still dark it feels like the middle of the night!! I lie there thinking 'nooooo just another half hour please!'

She has her molars coming through and has a lot more teeth due to come in soon so Im guessing its partly to do with that and just her body clock perhaps.

I was told that if you do try putting them to bed later you have to try it a few days on the trot rather than just one night, as their body clock needs time to adjust, its just putting up with wingey toddler the next day i cant face!!

I shall be watching this thread hehe

 

[Xanthe]

I can only offer advice based on my own experience.

Unfortunately some babies are just not great sleepers. My daughter now 5 was terrible but now, having had my son who is a fab sleeper, I've realised that the problem wasn't anything to do with what we were doing at all.

Most babies I've know wake around 5-6. The difference is some are good at playing by themselves or dropping back off. Your son sounds the same as my daughter, screaming blue murder until someone goes in to get them. I'm afraid it all boils down to their character.

To be honest i think 6 is a reasonable time to expect a child to wake. I've known very little babies/toddlers sleep beyond 7. I would make sure he just has 2 hrs tops at nap time (12 -2) and put him down at 7pm instead just to see if it changes his pattern.

I would try and ignore the 3.40am wake up call and try and do some form of controlled crying if that,s for you.

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

What time is he waking up from his nap?

I think anything from 5am onwards is kind of par for the course in toddlers but 3.40 is obviously no good at all! If this was happening to us Ruby would be in with us no question but I'd definitely look at the day time sleep.

 

[RachA]

I really feel for you, it's not easy having to deal with that when you both work.

I know you have tried letting him cry it out but to be honest that is the only way i really know of to deal with it. My son would have times when he didn't want to go back to sleep after he woke up. I remember one night when he woke up about 4am and we literally let him cry until he went back to sleep - it took about 2 1/2 hours but he did go back. We obviously didn't leave him the whole time - we would go in and settle him down again, offer a drink etc and then go back to bed.

Your son has no concept of time, regardless of if you leave him for 10 min or 2 hours then minute you go in and get him up and let him stay up then all he knows is that if he crys you will at some point cave in and get him. As hard as it is don't give in. It's awful listening to them cry - i've been in bed crying myself before as i've hated it but sometimes you have to be tough.

IRO the naps during the daytime - 2-3 hours during the day isn't too much and shouldn't be affecting his night sleeping, unless he is having that sleep from say 3-6pm. My son is 4 and still has up to 3 hours during the day and then sleeps from around 8pm-7.30am

 

[porkypig]

Our little boy has just started waking in the night too and we're not completely sure why?

But he has asked for the toilet a few times (he's not potty trained yet but will occasionally go) or he'll ask for juice.

I'm also thinking that he's started having full on terrible two tantrums too when he can't get his own way...I think there may be something unlying with it. Have you asked him what he wants and whats wrong? Putting the landing light on for out LO has settled him back to sleep?

As for the 5/5.30 wake ups - LO has done that from about 9months old and has only just started to sleep til 6ish.[/QUOTE

He just wants us to pick him up and bring him into our bed which we do and have done for ages. Our landing light is always on too xx

 

[Baby France]

If he can talk and understand you, I'm not sure I'd do cry it out. Only because he has a means now of communicating and Jacob would cry ALL night until we went!!

We ask Jacob what is wrong. But we have to take him out of his room and sit on the landing and calm him down first. Once we've listened to him and done whatever he needs, he does tend to settle straight away (you may have to repeat yourself).

Don't get me wrong he will paddy and have wants that we won't allow but we try to steer the conversation away as in, go back to sleep because in the morning we're doing x, z, y or peppa pig/fireman sam are still in bed asleep if he wants to get up When he says he wants to get in our bed, we say no back to Jacobs bed and just keep taking him back. (wrongly though I do sometimes give in )

I do think though that when they are learning something new, they do tend to wake up in the night. How long has he been doing it for?

 

[Jchihuahua]

Daisy wakes at 5am every day. It is really hard .