16 m o waking at 5am - help!

[EJ85]

Hi everyone, this seems to be a common issue at this age so wonder if anyone has any advice!
My 16-month-old son recently dropped to one nap. He was showing the signs for ages; refusing second nap, refusing first nap, routine all over the place etc.
His sleep has always required lots of attention by this one has me and my partner stumped. He’s gone from waking briefly in the early hours and easily resettling to being wide awake and hysterical at 5am. He’ll
Sometimes go back to sleep after ages of patting / shushing but it’s getting harder.

He seems to sleep better when he has a good 2 hour nap but some days he’s refused to go beyond 1 hr 20 but is clearly overtired. We went back to trying 2 naps and it didn’t help (nap refusal again) but now I’m at a loss and am getting so stressed about it as he’s so bloody knackered.
Can anyone help?

I clicked on this to say Gro Clock, but yours seems to be a nap issue and mine were/are awful at napping so no advice there!

DD1 was a similar age though when we got a Gro Clock, and it trained her to resettle and sleep until a more acceptable time. Took a few weeks to reset her body clock and we haven’t had an early wake since (now almost 3).

We are in exactly the same position! You are not alone! But I’m afraid we have no advice...

We have been having this with our child, but seem to be having success with pick up/put down.

I’ve been reading you have to look at the cause - how recently did the nap get dropped? Could it just be an adjustment? Does it still happen even with the 2 hour naps? Other suggestions are an earlier bedtime, or a later bedtime (helpful I know, it’s just what I read).

Posted too soon! Was going to say how much better is it with the 2 hour nap? Does he sleep till 6 or is it still an early wake?

For us, as it wasn’t a napping or bedtime issue, it was just habit. She knew if she woke at 5 she’d get picked up and cuddled and eventually taken downstairs, so we have done pick up put down. Every time she wakes up we go in, say lie down and give her a kiss, and leave. The first night we were in and out loads of times but it gradually reduced and a week later she is sleeping till 6/6:15. The advice I read was treat every pre 6am wake up as a night wake.

I have no idea whether that will work for you but as it has worked for us I thought I would share it, in case!

@Timeturnerplease Thanks, we do have a gro clock but I still think he’s too young to understand. Good to know that you used it successfully at a similar age!

This is my son too, at the same age he dropped naps and waking up any pint between 5 am and 6.30 am. He's now 5 and still the same.

I'm so surprised to see gro clock suggested! My son is the same age and i'm pretty sure he'd not have a clue what i meant with it.

Our boy does the same but the only thing that changes anything is if we bring him into bed with us at that time. Then we can usually get until around 6. He's been on 1 nap for a while so I don't think it's an adjustment for him but hopefully is for yours!

@Miriam101 Oh, sorry you’re going through it too!

@Mindareno Thanks for your lengthy reply! It does seem to be better after a 2 hour nap, actually. He managed 2 hours today so fingers crossed for tomorrow!
The pick up put down or sleep training might be worth considering. We’ve been patting / shushing and it doesn’t seem to be working so well any more!

@bcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyza Eek! Maybe I’d better get used to it then!

@mumofbun It seems to be such a common problem at this age! Unfortunately bringing him into bed only makes him think it’s playtime - I wish this worked for us! Glad it helps you get a little extra kip 🙏

Good luck when the clocks change on Sunday. Not sure how you can change it, I had one who was a night owl and the next one was an early bird, for years I was lucky if they were both asleep between midnight and 5 am. I was tired beyond tired.