Not so much sleep as early waking, please help!

[RosinaCopper]

I have 27 month old twins. They sleep in seperate cots, but usually end up both in with me (I have a bed in their room) overnight. Youngest dt has woken at 4.30, 4.30, 4.30 and then horror of horrors at 4am this morning. I have been getting up with them at 4.30, as they can open the door of the bedroom and I'm frightenend of them falling down the stairs if they attempt it alone in the dark and in their sleeping bags. This morning I tried putting them back into their cots, and sitting between the cots so that I could touch them both, and just repeating that it was sleep time as it was still night time.

Unfortunately, the younger dt cried and cried, woke up his brother, who joined in, and then I joined them in tears as I am just bloody exhausted and it's so frustrating! Youngest dt kept saying 'No sleep! My go downstairs!'

After an hour of crying, I gave it up as a bad job and switched on the lights and we all went downstairs together. DH has offered to help, but he has a physically and sometimes mentally demanding job, while I am a SAHM at the moment, so I do take the brunt of it. The last two days I have gone back to bed for an hour when DH comes down at 7, which still gives me time (just) to have a shower and take older ds to school.

Any tips very gratefully received, it's really getting me down.

[omama]

a big hug from me, I've btdt with early waking & I know its a killer.

Is it just the last few days they've woken early or has it been going on for longer?

Can you post their daytime routine (naptime, nap length & bedtime) so we can see if its a routine issue at play?

Any teething atm? This could cause wakings in the early hours. Also now its getting colder, do they perhaps need another layer?

My only other thought is that they are testing the boundaries a bit, so it may be you need to plan a response when they ask to get up (much as you wre doing with 'its sleepy time' etc) but stick to it no matter what. Even though DH works, its a bl**dy hard job being a sahm too, so IIWM I would be asking him to share the load & help you with doing this. Oh & a gro-clock could also be a good idea for the twins at this age too.

WRT you being worried about them falling down the stairs - could you fit a stair gate, would keep them safe & give you some peace of mind.

[RosinaCopper]

They've always been fairly early wakers - but while I can cope with a 5.30 start, 4.30 is just too damn early for me!

They were just starting to drop their daytime nap, but with a 4.30 start, it's crept back in again, but only for around an hour, rather than the 1.5 to 2 hours they were doing before.

They generally have tea at about 5.30, then have a bath and then go to bed between 6.30 and 7pm. They have both slept all the way through the night (although not the same ones!) and probably only wake once overnight now each, whereas for a long time it was 3 or more times each. (I've aged about 10 years since they arrived!)

The stairgate thing is a bit of a problem, unless I put one across the bedroom door, but that might also be difficult in the shprt term. We live in an old house with wider than average doors, and the spindles on the landing are really unsafe, so I HAVE to be with them if they are roaming around upstairs, whatever time of day it is.

I know THIS TOO SHALL PASS, but it's so hard when you're in the middle of it.

[omama]

What time do they usually have their nap (on the days they do have it)? What was their typical wakeup before the EW started, and how many days/week on average were they napping (before the 4.30am start hit) And on no nap days, did they go to bed a little earlier?

Sorry that may seem a lot of Q's but it may help to establish whether the EW is related to the timing of their nap, having a nap when it needs to be dropped, or perhaps due to overtiredness.

WRT stairs situation - why are the spindles unsafe? Are they loose? Or is it just that the gaps between them are too big? We also live in an old house & our spindles are spaced too far apart, but we got this

& its been great. I'd prefer not to have it of course, but its see through so not really that noticeable & it keeps DS from any accidents. Also, did you know you can get extensions for stairgates, so they fit wider openings?

You can find some here

HTH.x