Toddler suddenly waking very early. So miserable.

[ibajlp]

18 month old suddenly waking at 5:55 without fail. Used to sleep until gone 7. I’ve tried everything in the last two weeks and nothing is changing it! Slightly earlier bedtime, slightly later, more exercise, more food, less food, more drink and less drink etc. The room is pitch black so it’s not a light issue. I’m a lone parent and this feels like the worst thing as it’s making my days seems even longer. Please help

Haven’t tried a gro clock but think he’s too young anyway?

What are his naps like? Having too much or too little daytime sleep could also be affecting his night sleep.

Start the gro clock now and he'll eventually get it. Just keep putting him back in bed until the owl is up. When the owl is up make a big thing of getting up and how it's morning, when it's asleep minimal interaction, the owl is still asleep back to bed.

It could either be teeth, a developmental phase and it'll just right itself or he's getting too much day time sleep. My bets the nap is too long op 😊

@Row23 just one nap around lunchtime. Usually for around an hour

When he wakes he’s sort of blabbering away to himself with intermittent cries so I usually go in as I feel bad! But he’s not constantly crying if you see what I mean

I had to kill that naps when mine was 2 otherwise she wouldn't sleep longer than 5.30 and couldn't get to sleep until 9pm

Mine went through a phase of getting up like this this but earlier, around 5-5.30, and before we had a smart tv so I used to have to wait till 6 when cbeebies started to have 15 minutes to myself 😂

Can you do what I used to do when mine woke super early which is bring them in my bed and pretend to be asleep so they cuddled up and went back to sleep with me? Room was child safe anyway so if they played around a bit on the bed it was fine but after 10 mins in the dark 'on their own' (IE me there but 'asleep") they always got bored and went to sleep; Never failed.

That said, that would never work at 6am - that's morning for a lot of people let alone a toddler! Just try and make the most of the day and grab an earlier night yourself every few days to catch up?!

Is the nap too long?! I wouldn’t be so sure. An hour nap for an 18 month old seems really on the short side to me.

My 6yo is up before 6am most mornings. It's very tiring 😫 hopefully just a passing phase for you OP

What does he do if you just leave him to it?

@fieldsofbutterflies i haven’t left him, bar one occasion when I really needed the loo and he was crying then seemed to fall back to sleep.

I never know where the line is though to leave him to cry a little. As soon as I go in there’s no going back as he assumes the day has began, so it’s not an option to go in and try to re settle.

That seems like a pretty short nap

Overtiredness was usually what caused early waking in our house.... a 1 hour nap isn't a lot. 18 months would have been peak nap in our house - could easily have got 3 hours. Bed at 7.

However, its quite common for kids this age to be larks, especially in summer. Its light, and that sneaks around even the best blackout blinds, the birds are singing. Their bodies know its morning. My 7 year old will still wake without fail by 6am. Your best chance at sanity is to not go in and in the long term they may learn there's nothing to wake up for.

5.55 so basically 6am is not that early really. I think you'll have to just go to bed earlier yourself. Most working people are probably up by 6am.

Sympathy op . I was a lone parent with an early riser and I hated it. Not much you can do though. In a few years they will be old enough to be given some
breakFast and out in front of the tv and you can go back to bed for a bit.

I’m not sure there’s much you can do, 6am is a normal time for toddlers to wake up.

Sounds like a normal get up time for a child that age to me. It's not that early and you will get used to it.

Is the boiler turning on?

I thought you were going to say 4am OP! 6am or thereabouts is a normal wake up time for this age. My DD age 5 has only ever slept til 7 a handful of times in her life. Given your DC used to sleep til 7, this could be a phase, but just before 6 is still within the realms of normal (albeit not nice for us!).

That's a lot of things tried in a 2 week period, none of them long enough to actually see if it worked. I'd be thinking about scrapping the afternoon nap, and I'd put them to bed a fair bit later than usual, not just a little.

I've just thought - his sleeping pattern didn't change when the clocks did?

In my experience 6am is normal. Mine used to wake at 5am regularly. I think the challenge is being a single parent which must be really tough.

It changed from about age 4 he sleeps until 6:30. Best thing you can try is wear them out in the day get them to run, jump etc.. but no more exercise after 5pm. Make sure they drink enough in the day so not too much un the evening.

You'll probably have to change your routine around it ie do stuff in the evening to prepare.

I know some people find 6am acceptable, but it's too early for me. Dd went through stages of waking. It usually lasted a week and then she went back to normal 7.30-7am). Somethings it's a developmental leap. If your dc is just babbling and not crying (for more than a few minutes) I'd leave them to self soothe.

Also a one hour nap isn't very long. It's counter intuitive, but toddlers do often sleep better with a longer nap.

Yeah would be far too early for me also. Id just bung mine in bed with me and they'd fall back asleep. No interaction no talking etc just put them in the bed and go back to sleep yourself.

What time does the child go to bed?