Toddler waking in night and too early

[Ste7hunt]

For around 6/8 months now our daughter wakes in the night and has been waking between 5 and 6 in the morning. When we put her down to sleep we also have to sit by the door before she falls asleep. She will not let us just walk straight out the door. When she wakes she walks into our room and we have to put her back to sleep. I say us but really its mom as she doesn't want me and screams the house down for mom. Same when she wakes in the morning also, we try putting her back to bed saying its still night time and that mommy/daddy are tired but she just says no I'm awake and refuses to go back to sleep. Any ideas, happy with a wake up of 6am onwards but anything before really is to early. Before this 6/8 months of this going on she used to sleep a full 12 hours of 7 till 7. Any ideas as to what we can do or what we are doing wrong

The solution here is twofold (in my opinion).

1. Tackle the falling asleep with you there (which then means she learns how to fall asleep without you there at any waking)

1. Give her some way of knowing when morning is. I'd suggest a GroClock.

How old is she? Does she have a nap?

We have a baby gate on my DD's door so she can't wander about and we've recently had a bit of success with the gro clock and a sticker reward chart to get her to stay in bed until a sensible time.

How old is she? Does she still nap during the day? If so drop that. Gro clock can work and put a few toys in her room and say fine to be awake but don’t come out your room until sun is up. Start early then gradually increase the sun up time by five mins every couple days.

We were really struggling with this recently with our 2.5 year old. It seemed to come from nowhere and lasted months. The sleep deprivation was hideous. We tried loads of things but what worked for us was a nightlight. Almost from the first night things improved massively, no more getting out of bed or calling for us and now doesn't get out of bed until 6:30ish most mornings. May be worth a try.

She is 3 in March coming. We ha e tried a gloclock but she didnt take any notice of it nor does she if she wakes and we say play in your room she just wants us. We did have a stairgate on her door but she just stands at it screaming for us

She does have a gro temperature light in her room, always has done and that gives her enough light we believe she has never mentioned being scared of the dark or anything like that

There’s a sleep regression/development leap around this age, isn’t there?

Would she sleep if she came into bed with you?

Try some sleep training. It's a fucking pain in the arse but it short lived and produces wonderful results.

Sleep training as in just keep returning to bed and leaving the room?

Yeah there's a few options. Rapid return / gradual retreat / cry it out. But you both have to decide which works and stick with it.

Sorry, "which suits" not which works.

Maybe she doesn’t understand - and can’t vocalise - that she’s lonely. You, a fully grown adult, get to enjoy the comfort that comes from
sharing a bed with another human but she, who is still making sense of the world has to sleep alone?

I think it's perfectly normal for children this age to wake that early, it's just part of parenting

My 2 1/2 year old is the same. We have to sit in the room till he falls asleep, then he wakes up a couple of times during the night. He usually ends up in our bed which would be ok if he didnt move around and sleep talk loads. We are gonna try tackle the falling asleep alone first and see if the rest improves when that does. It is so tiring though.

@triceratops12

I think it's perfectly normal for children this age to wake that early, it's just part of parenting

Mine never did. Slept till noon throughout babyhood and till about 10:30-11am as a toddler. But she was up till midnight, so you don’t get it both ways!

Does she still take naps in the day? My little girl will be 3 in Feb and sleeps great now she's dropped her daytime nap. Usually 7-7. If she does have a nap in the day (which is very rare now) I find her sleep is terrible and she wakes really early the next morning.