Why is my toddler always raging in the morning?

[Mamabear04]

DS is 18 months old and is always so foul tempered in the morning. I don't understand why, he sleeps well and doesn't wake up hungry and even when he has his breakfast he is so angry. This is his routine;

Bedtime between 6.45-7pm (falls asleep quickly)
Sleeps through the night
Wakes anywhere between 6-7am
Naps are generally between 12-12.30pm and can vary in length so wake up can be between 2-3pm

In the morning we get up and i let him watch TV while I change his nappy so he doesn't wake up my 4 year old as we have a small house (no judgements please). He then sits on my knee for 15-20 mins until he's hungry and then he toddles through to his high chair and I feed him breakfast. It's so hard to keep him quiet, he just is so loud and angry all morning right up until we go out for the morning. Why is he always so angry? What am I doing wrong?

No answer for you bit I had the same with DS2 when he was about the same age. The mornings were absolutely draining! He'd scream and cry moments after waking up, cry getting changed and scream blue murder at breakfast.

He grew out of it after a few months and I've only just stopped to appreciate that stage passing after reading your post.

Perhaps something that helped was his independence. He would make such a mess at breakfast that I would feed him, but I soon just let him crack on (and make a mess) and that is perhaps when the morning rage began to die down.

He’s not a morning person! I know adults like this! 😂

My DD1 was like this, though while it was bad in the morning it was AWFUL after naps. She's three and a bit now and still a bit like that- the only meltdowns she ever has are after accidental car naps. Her younger sister, however is not like it at all despite having same sleep schedules.

I don't think there's necessarily a reason for it, nor anything you can really do about it except wait it out. Some of us are grouchy when we wake up!

DD was like this and she was Hangry but didnt know it.

I changed the routine so the first thing I did on waking up was to get her a warm milk to get started on while she sat quietly, then I had a bit of leeway to get breakfast sorted without the mood.

Have you tried giving him a drink? DS is always in a horrible mood when he's thirsty, but seems to struggle to identify that he needs to drink

So I have wondered if he struggles waking up because he is always in such a foul mood after his nap too. The only way I can stop him crying is giving him a snack of Raisins/berries/grapes/rice cakes. He is very similar to me and tbh sometimes I just feel so off if I sleep too long or too little. His language is really good and can ask for water or Cereal (all breakfast food is cereal) and can feed himself. It's nice to hear it might just be a phase, it's just so loud and intense sometimes and I'm always worried that my 4 year old is missing out on sleeping longer because of the noise. I just wonder if there's something else that could help or if it's just grin and bear it...