how can I help ds stop waking up and having an immediate tantrum?

[ratbunny]

he is nearly 2, and generally a good sleeper. he went through a phase a little while ago where he woke in the night wanting to go downstairs and play, but we got through that, and he is sleeping through again. And he goes down for his nap and at night no problems.

But whenever he wakes, instead of chirping to himself or playing with his toys near his cot like he used to, he just has a major screaming fit wanting to be taken downstairs and played with. I already leave toys / books in his cot but he ignores them and just stands there screaming for me to take him downstairs.

Has anyone else gone through this? How can I help him wake up happy again?

Hi ratbunny. My dd went through a phase around the same age of screaming for half an hour or so after waking from her naps. It took quite a long time but she grew out of it eventually. She never did this first thing in the morning though.

Is your ds happy again as soon as you take him downstairs and play with him?

ratbunny - does an immediate snack help? or is it too early when he wakes up for you to want to get into feeding him straightaway? i only ask bcs from age 3-5 DD was FOUL in the morning and an immediate calorie boost went a long way to deflecting tantrums...

My DS1 regularly wakes grumpy from his nap, esp if he is woken up rather than being left to wake naturally. It sometimes takes him half an hour before he can have a civilised conversation! I have to often just sit him in his chair, give him a drink and a cuddle and leave him to it until he is ready to socialise!

katalex - yes, he is more or less happy when I take him downstairs. In the morning anyway.
In the afternoon, I always offer him food straight away but he doesnt want it... (EVERYTHING is no!)
so, maybe a biscuit in the morning before his milk..

My DS used to be like this. The only thing that worked was milk straight away!

you know, the more I think about it, the more likely I think it is food related.
He has just eaten his tea (leftover sunday roast, didnt eat it all), and now 3/4 hour later he seems to be still hungry..
And he wolfs down his breakfast.

Hmm, I wonder if feeding him up before bed would help....
Failing that, immediate food I suppose. But he is waking early (usually sleeps til 7, now waking at 6ish), and I would REALLY rather find a way of not having to get out of bed earlier!

my grumoy guts used to have a drink of milk shoved at her as soon as she was remotely half awake and that sorted the problem out for us

My son used to do this too. I found that getting CBeebies on TV and a drink and snack ready before bringing him down would normally provide enough of a distraction to snap him out of it immediately. As soon as the snack was finished, he'd be happy to go an play with the TV off.

I bring a cool bag to bed with me, containing a bottle of milk for DS, and I give it to him when he wakes at 5am. He'll usually go back to sleep for a couple of hours then. Worth a try.

As for tantrums when waking from naps, he still does that sometimes, and I haven't really found anything that works. Stories did for a while, but not any more. (he's 3 now)

Ds was on cows milk from age 1, but his first milk of the day was always a carton of formula as then I could keep it by my bed and just give it straight to him in the morning rather than going to the fridge and heating up milk!!