2.5 waking at 4.30am and not going back to sleep.

[birdybear]

my ds wakes at this time every morning and just Will not go back to sleep. he is crying., shouting., getting up and messing about in the bathroom and when i put him back to bed he just cries more and more. it is obviously waking the whole house up every morning and i have no idea what to do.

he is shouting and crying now and has been for an hour. i am really starting to lose my temper. he just won't go back to sleep and won't quietly play. shouting and crying shouting and crying.

has anyone any suggestions please.!!

I know how he feels :( I just can't go back to sleep - I'm ready for the day and if I was a toddler I'd probably be trying to get attention too. I could offer you Toddler Boarding maybe??

i would take you up on it like a shot! he is still going strong while i am lying in bed with my electric blanket on like a little old dear trying to keep warm! just heard my dd get up and go to the loo so he has succeeded there with his shouting.

What time does he go to bed? Does he still nap in the day? How many hours total sleep is he getting?

Watching with interest!! No help I'm afraid but my DS (1.5years) is getting up before 5 at the minute!! I'm not sure it's the best thing to do, but we get up and cuddle on the sofa and watch Thomas the Tank engine films so I can close my eyes for a bit longer!!

I would welcome any advice!!

Just thought I'd join this little club. Ds is nearly 23 months and is currently awake no later than 5.30. Dh usually takes him down to the front room to contain the noise.

It's my turn today, so am sat bf dd (3months) whilst watching all the raa raa episodes we have recorded.

The baby is definitely less work than the toddler at the moment!

Hiya - just another message of solidarity. My 7 month old has been waking up at 5am since the clocks changed. This morning it was 4.26am.

Gro clock and reward chart?

2 yo is up every day at 5/5.30am. Regardless of time put to bed or how little or long nap time is

he goes to bed around 7pm. he doesn't nap in the day anymore. he is quite naughty anyway! This waking up so early is making me so tired and making me less patient with him when he is naughty!

a chart etc will not work as he just cries and cries at that time and there is no reasoning with him. :(

Ok, so my immediate observation is that 7-4.30 with no naps means he's operating on a sleep deficit, which will make the early morning wakings worse.

Have a look at this link on sleep requirements by age - counterintuitive I know, but you could try gradually moving his bedtime forward to 6pm? Say in 15min increments per day.

Other things to consider: is there anything waking him up at that time? Like a boiler coming on, traffic starting outside, too cold, too hot, throwing off covers, creaky bed etc?

Lastly (and this is the nuclear option!) you might consider letting him sleep in with one/both of you. In a lot of countries 2.5 is considered too young to be sleeping alone :o.

well notablob that is a bit of a revelation! i would gladly move his bedtime forward but i have been letting him go later to try and get him to sleep longer in the morning! he doesn't settle easily when i put him down since he came out of a cot and into a big boys bed. he can get out of course whenever he likes. he doesn't get out much when put to bed but when he wakes, regardless of time starts shouting for me .

if i put him in my bed he doesn't go back to sleep, just messes about. i Will try the going to bed earlier option and see if it makes a difference. thanks for all the tips!

You're welcome :)

My 3.1yo was a terrible sleeper up till relatively recently, and we had fallen into the trap of letting him stay up later and later in the hope that he wouldn't wake so early.

He is now (fingers crossed and touch wood etc ) sleeping 7-7 on a regular basis. Not 10-4.30, which he was in the darkest days. For us, it's a combination of an earlier bedtime, and moving into the spare room's double bed with daddy (which we plan to experimenting with stopping around Xmas).