Knackered & naughty: 2 yr old waking at 5.30 & crap naps - WTD?

[LaTristesse]

DS is just 2 and for the past few weeks he's been waking at half 5. He used to wake at 6.30 which wasn't ideal but manageable at least. Coinciding with this his naps have gone to shit too- he'll wake after 30 mins although he's desperate for more sleep. Come mid afternoon he's shattered and his behaviour gets crazy and wild, although he does always go down really well (7.30pm) and rarely stirs in the night.

Any ideas what I can do to help him get more sleep? He so obviously needs it and I'm starting to suffer too with lack of patience come mid afternoon Thanks

I sympathise, DS has always been a stupidly early riser, and I'm naturally an owl, not a lark. It drove us nuts and I was permanently knackered.

He's a little bit older than yours, but we've had massive success with a Gro Clock (www.gro.co.uk/Gro-clock.html). He will now stay in bed until 0630.

I got mine for £22 online from Mothercare. The best £22 I have spent since his birth!

What time do you put him down for a nap? I've found if I wait until too close to 1pm, it's not a good nap, whereas if we have lights out at 12.45 (blackout blinds up for naps), then he goes to sleep quickly and for a good time.

I'd put him to bed earlier too if he doesn't nap. Early bedtime doesn't equate to early wake up when they're over tired. Try 7 for a few days so he can catch up.

Thanks ladies. I bought him a Gro-clock a couple of months ago but he just keeps unplugging it so that's not really happening.

He's always napped from 1 til half 2, but I will definitely try putting him down earlier to see if that helps. He fell asleep in the car this morning at half 9 (long journey). But when you think he'd been up for 4 hours already that's no surprise I guess...

Will also try some earlier nights for him to catch up. Will let you know how we get on...

Wow - I hadn't even considered that DS might unplug it (but then our plug is quite tucked away down the side of a chest of drawers, so not an obvious target).

Other things we tried - toys in his room so he'd have something to do in the morning when he woke (didn't work for us but has for others I know), discouraging his daytime napping (made his nightime sleep much worse - I still don't understand why, but we abandoned it), big snack just before bedtime so he wouldn't wake up so ravenously hungry (helped a bit).

People did suggest controlled crying to us, but frankly I couldn't see the difference between being up faffing about with timings and us taking it in turns snoozing on the sofa while DS ate toast and watched CBeebies, so we didn't try it.

DH and I were utterly rabid about sharing the pain, though, and on non-work days there was a very, very strict rule that one had to get up while the other one lay in, and vice versa the next day. (Still is, for that matter - we quit while we were ahead with a 0630 wake-up time.)

So I put him down for today's nap at 10am. Went down fine but still only slept for 30mins- it's like his sleep cycle has changed / shifted. Is that even possible?

Earlier night last night didn't adversely affect his wake up time - still 5.30.

Not sure whether we have 2 separate problems going on here or just 2 parts of one issue.

Anyone have any other ideas / tips / thoughts...?

He needs a week really of early nights and naps to see a difference. Try napping at 12.30 after taking him for a run about and an early lunch at 11.30ish.

My DD is 2.2. She has just this week moved up to a new room in nursery and is also going through a massive growing spurt (can't stop eating and grew out of trousers almost overnight).
Her sleep times seem to have gone all over the place too. She used to sleep 8 til 8 without a peep and 1 til 2.30 in the afternoon, but this week has been messing in her bedroom in the evening and waking at the crack of dawn.
I think her development is interfering with her sleep as she is a bit overtired/'manic' when going to bed - frantically re-arranging her toys, and also now talking in her sleep about nursery.
She has also today come down with a fever and diarrhea.

Maybe your DS is sickening for something, or is having a growth spurt.
We're trying to have a quiet weekend of relaxing and resting and nothing too stimulating, to get her back to herself.

Teeth?? Or hungry......maybe

Thanks! I'll stick with early naps and bed at 7 for a week before I pass judgment!

Defo not teeth, he has them all already. Don't think he's hungry as he eats like a horse!

Could well be developmental though, his speaking is coming on leaps and bounds recently.

Thanks for the replies everyone!

I find there is generally a lack of awareness as to how daytime sleep affects nighttime sleep. Sooo many threads about nights going up the spout and no-one seems to think daytime sleep is the cause. Not sure why....

A classic sign of needing to drop naps is faffing at bedtime, waking in the night and waking early.

Thanks loveis..., but I don't see how he could possibly drop the daytime nap when he's so obviously shattered come mid afternoon. If we could get him waking at 7 we may get away with it, but it seems a bit chicken and egg...

That's exactly it. They're tired because they're waking at the crack of dawn but they may also be waking at the crack of dawn because they need to drop a nap. Totally chicken and egg! My DD was up at 5am every day for longer than I care to remember and the only thing that solved it was cutting her amount of daytime sleep down. It was hard work because she was really cranky while it was happening, but it worked.

I'm not saying all children are the same, some still need a long nap until they're 3/4, it's just something to consider. Hope that helps.

Hmm. Problem is that the exact same signs are also signs of over-tiredness. I would certainly not dare cut out my ds's day time nap because he would collapse by 3pm. It's so hard isn't it? OP I am in the same boat with my 20 month old and I'm putting it down to 2nd set of molars bothering him... Exhausted and at my wits end so I have to believe it is something temporary having tried everything else to make him sleep past 5am!!

Def true about signs being same for OT, it's blooming hard isn't it?! I guess the sign here is that OP's DC has changed sleep patterns having been fine before. I would have thought that's more likely to be age-related under tiredness (growing out of need for that amount of daytime sleep).

Only you know best as sleep habits are very individual but I'd just add its not unheard of for a 2yr old to drop all naps. My DD was one of them. Also, if it's teeth or illness, you generally see the signs during the day as well, not just at night making it easier to ID. My DD has just cut all 4 molars at once and while her sleep was marginally affected she was also a cranky madam during the day as well.

Ds whose 2.6 has gone through phases where we think he wants to drop a nap (early waking etc), but the one thing he hasn't done is resist the nap itself unless we put him down too late and he has a second wind. The phase then passes and we go back to sleeping through, not waking early etc...

Yes I think I'm going to assume this is a phase linked to speech development which will eventually pass. We have dealt with it in the short term by reverting to 2 naps actually, one at 9.30 and one at 3.30, each of 30 mins, which is as long as he can do. He still wakes tired from each - if I let him he'd sleep lying on me on the sofa - but is does mean we get through the day without major behaviour deterioration! Still wakes at 5.30 mind, although this morning he did go back to sleep for an hour. Basically it's all over the place, but we're managing!

When DD2 did this I got a CD player and some story CDs and put that on when she work which seemed to help go back to sleep.

i have to say I was desperate as DS 18mths younger was waking at 3am as well.