To expect my toddler to wake after 4??

[booklover164]

Losing the plot here. DS is nearly 2 and for the past 2 weeks has been up between 4 and 4.30. His usual wake up time is 5-5.30 but this is just killing me. I'm also 6 months pregnant.

He has a 2-2.5 hour nap at 12.15 and I have to wake him for this otherwise he'd sleep for longer. He's definitely not ready to drop this.

Room is not totally blackout but almost. He has a dummy.

I can't even begin to imagine having a newborn and this crazy wake up time.

Any tips?

What time is bedtime?

That's horrendous, poor you. My son went through an early waking phase. Me and DH took turns to do shush pat for ages until he went back to sleep.

After about a week he went back to normal wake up time.

Also we have gro clocks which come on at reasonable get up time. The children know they have to stay in bed until the sun comes out. He might be a bit young for that but you could try to introduce it maybe?

Would it be worth shortening the lunchtime nap? My boy is nearly 2 and is pretty rubbish at sleep, even more so if he has more than 1 hour in the day?

Almost all sleep issues in kids are due to being over or under tired - your answer is either more naps, less naps, earlier bedtime or later bedtime! Choose your own adventure.

Cut the nap to 1 hour and move it to 11am?

I have a two year old son and we’ve recently done this and it’s been quite successful.

I would let him sleep until he wakes at lunchtime - even if it feels late. Then I’d do something really active and exciting with him after nap time. Aim for bedtime as usual but be prepared to push back half an hour if necessary.

Get a gro clock- it’s on the cusp of too early but I would say that’s the perfect time to teach him you can’t mess with it. Put it in sight but out of reach.

Enforce the ‘we don’t get up until the sun is up’ message with him- even if you have to lay in his room pretending to be asleep for a few mornings (this is still better than getting up at that time!)

Set the clock to your earliest ‘acceptable’ wake up time- so maybe 5? And then move it later by 15 mins every few days.

Be ruthless- no fun stuff/breakfast/drinks before the sun. Lots of praise if he makes it to the sun.

Good luck!

@dementedpixie between 7.15-5 depending on how long it takes him to nod off.

Thanks for your replies. I might try to cap his nap and see if that helps. He's just so full of energy all day every day. He's absolutely buzzing at 4.15am and can't seem to get himself back to sleep. He would love having us in there doing the shush pat and would find it hilarious! I'm pleased that worked for you @OwlinaTree what age did you introduce the gro clock?

OP I feel your pain - the summer our second child was born DS (nearly age 2) took to waking at 4. Every day.

There was nothing we could do about it - we stopped the naps, Put him to bed later. None of it had any effect - he just woke up at 4. (the 'choose your own adventure' comment is frankly offensive)

So we lived with it as best we could. We'd bring him into bed with us and have CBeebies/similar on at a very low volume - one of us would then go to the spare room to get a couple more hours sleep. We even tag teamed at weekends.

I do think blackout blinds are worth a go if you can. And maybe putting some favourite toys at the end of the cot to play with when he wakes up? (didn't work for ds as he used to hurl himself out of the cot. In the Grobag….)

But generally I think if you've tried varying naps and bedtime to no success then it's a phase you have to live with.

And? It did gradually improve but he carrion being a very early riser (before 6) right up until the hormones struck when he was about 13. And now the boot is on the other foot at last.

Second child slept through until 7 right from day one - a little ray of light for you?

I can't quite remember, certainly they both had then when they were 2.

I couldn't do shush pat with my second child, so I know what you mean! She just got more distressed not less.

We treated all wakings before 6:30am as nighttime wakings rather than starting the day. So low voices, no massive interaction and calm "it's still nighttime, let's go back to sleep". Even if only for 30 mins - 1 hour. It will take a few days to get the hang of it but is absolutely worth persevering. If you 'reward' him by getting up and playing etc., he won't ever learn to sleep longer.

We introduced a gro clock at 20-21 months and found our DC could understand at that age.

Also, as PP says, he could well be overtired. If he's starting the day early, that's a big chunk of missing sleep. A 2 year old should sleep for around 11-12 hours at night plus 1-2 hour nap.

Blackout blinds and closed windows or sound machine. It's probably the birds. They wake me at 4/420.

Try cutting the nap. Just a couple of minutes sleep meant 3 hours of being awake at bedtime. Not sure if it would work with mornings but it's worth a try. Also push back bedtime?

I appreciate all children are different but there is no way I would get a full night's sleep out of my two year old if she had a 2/2.5 hour nap in the day. I would try cutting the nap down (and allowing at least a week for that to settle - accepting that he might be a bit grumpy in the afternoon until he adjusts)

I feel you. We went through this stage - he woke earlier and earlier. There was a two week period where he was waking for day at 3am. It was painful.

We tried lots of things, but the thing that worked was an earlier bedtime! Sounds bonkers, but it really did make a massive difference.