My DS is 2.5 and without fail he wakes up screaming/hysterical every day from around 5am. He will wake up screaming for us to wake up/ to go downstairs and gets hysterical if we don’t go into his room. Either DH or I will go in and lie down with him until 6am. He’s been doing this for the last 18 months. He is in his own room, has black out blinds and is in a bed. We have a gate on his bedroom door to stop him from running downstairs as our stairs are steep. White noise has never worked and he hates it.
Recently, we started limiting his naps to 1hr (past week) but it hasn’t made a difference to his wake up times. If anything, he’s started going to bed later at around 8/8:30pm. He usually goes to bed at 7/7:30pm.
He didn’t nap at all yesterday and was exhausted so went to bed around 6:30. He woke up today at 3am and has been awake since. He was screaming at the top of his lungs and wouldn’t settle until DH went in. When he did settle, and DH left, he sprang out of bed screaming. I went in to resettle him and he fell asleep. I left the room and 3 mins later he wakes up screaming for me. We go in to resettle him because we live in a terraced house and I feel really bad for our neighbours, especially at 3am.
We also have a 6 week old baby who funnily enough sleeps well but the toddler’s sleep is all over the shop now and is really effecting DH and me, and will no doubt effect the newborn too once they become more aware of their surroundings.
It’s getting to the point where DH and I are both feeling really down about the toddler’s sleep. This morning I broke down in front of DS crying. It’s so hard waking up to screaming every single morning and dealing with an irritable toddler who doesn’t want to do much because they are so tired. He’s downstairs now with DH and I can hear him crashing into things, banging doors and crying/screeching nonstop while DH tries to sooth him.
I really thought the issues was too much sleep during the day but if anything it’s making things worse. We are due to go away for a few days this week so one of us (most likely DH) will have to sleep next to DS but does anyone have any advice on how we can break this cycle or get him to wake up happier? He’s always knackered during the day (red/dark circles under eyes) and he’s gets so irritable.
We have tried a gro clock (he messes with the buttons and pulls the cord out). I am tempted to let him cry it out but don’t know if this will work at his age. I just want him to wake up refreshed and happy.
I feel so sad to admit this but I dread being around DS sometimes. If he woke up happy and refreshed I could handle the early wake ups but as it is I just feel miserable and can barely muster a smile most days. On the rare occasions DS has woken up at 6/6:30 it has honestly made such a difference to his mood.