Posting for traffic. Help re 2.5 year old

[Derlei]

Hello, I’m after some ideas about how I can fix this

DS 2 years 5 months old.

Dropped his day nap about 2 months ago.

Goes to bed between 7 and 7.30 in his own cot-bed. Settles down easily most nights

Wakes up anytime between 1pm and 3pm asking for milk. I work full time and can’t cope with the sleep deprivation so I give some to him. I can’t imagine he is hungry as he eats well and regularly during the day. He drinks it and goes back to sleep.

5am-ish : wakes up again only wanting to see me and gets upset if it’s DH. I go in. He says he wants to go downstairs. He understands when I say “it’s dark outside” that it’s not time to go downstairs, but he refuses to go back into his cot-bed, so he comes into our bed. He sleeps a bit but relatively lightly, until 6am when he becomes insistent to go downstairs, and I cave in.

I can handle the early morning wakes but I don’t know how to stop the request for milk or the waking up at 5am. How can I explain or teach him not to do this?

Do you think I need to reintroduce a midday nap?

Maybe I need to push his bedtime back a bit to say 8pm?

Would welcome any advice!!

My DS did this for a while. Because I gave in for a few days, it very quickly became habit to wake up at that time. He wasn't actually thirsty, although do make sure your DS is drinking enough during the day - also that he's running around enough in the day to be tired out by 7.30.

The only way we got over it was for me to say no to the milk. There were some angry tears but I just calmly kept saying no, there's no milk, giving him a kiss and leaving the room, and then coming back in two minutes later if he was still upset, leaving the room, repeat etc.

It took less than a week and then he slept right through and has done ever since.

As for the early mornings, my DD did the 5.30am sometimes even earlier waking thing. I got a Gro-Clock and she loved it and from that point on even if she woke up she would just stare at the clock until it changed colour. That was at about 2.5 years but she was a lot more advanced than my DS. He is nearly 3 now and no way would he understand the concept. So it depends on what your DS is like but might be worth a try?

My DS did this too wanting milk at night.

We slowly weaned him off.

So he normally had 7oz in a soppy cup. First night we cut it to 5 - did that for 3 nights. Then down to 4,3 etc. I think by the time we got to 1oz we could just get him back with a cuddle.

I’d also look at a later bedtime.

My son just needs less sleep than his peers. Always has. He’s 5 and his normal bed time is 8.30. He wakes at 7 - 7.30 no trouble with that time. His friends are going to bed at 6.30/7.00 - that just wouldn’t work for him at all.

I don’t have kids so there may be a thousand reasons why this wouldn’t work but could you leave a sippy cup of water in his cot bed so if he wakes and is thirsty he can drink. Might take a few nights of saying no milk and reminding him the cup is there.

My daughter used to do this, but I explained to her ( she was about 2.5 yrs) that she should not wake Mummy in the night as Mummy was so tired the next day! It worked