Does your toddler do this

[Hohohole]

My 2 year old is waking up in the middle of the night. I have the baby monitor on and he will wake up at 4 and mess around in his cot for over an hour. Then he'll go back to sleep. He doesn't look for me in this time. Just hangs out in his cot. He doesn't have toys in it so he just messes around doing handstands.
He's quiet so he doesn't wake me. I just feel bad for him bring up on his own in the middle of the night.

Hopeful bumps. It's freaking me out at the moment.

Sounds like he is happy and safe so I would leave him too it.

If he’s not disturbing you I wouldn’t worry. My son is just turned 2 and has recently started to enjoy playing by himself for a little while. If he wanted you I’m sure he’d shout you

My DTs do this, DS in particular. I’ll quite often go in to watch them sleeping check on them and they’ll be awake just staring at the ceiling or playing with a teddy.

They’ll also get up and party in their cots at about 1am sometimes, and then go back to sleep when they’re done.

Think it’s perfectly normal! I tend to leave them to it unless they start to cry or shout mama.

I mean, do you always sleep through the night without waking? Or do you ever wake up for a bit and lie awake for a while before you nod off again?

This is normal human sleep. Congrats on the toddler who doesn't need Mama to settle down again.

It’s normal in my experience. My DD used to wake for an hour at that age and ‘practise’ talking. I could hear her blah-ing away to herself in the next room and then she’d just drop back off to sleep.

DS is quite a bit younger and still in our room but does similar. He wakes for a while, has a happy wee chat room himself, rolls back on to his side and goes back to sleep. If he wants us he's perfectly capable of letting us know by shouting and I'm sure your little one is the same. I'm a rubbish sleeper and wake up several times myself, I think it's a similar thing for them.

Thanks so much for putting my mind at rest. He's currently being assessed for autism so I'm a bit worried over nearly everything at the moment.