So 17mo DS has been waking ridiculously early (4.30-5am) and refusing to go back to sleep for a few months now. He's adamant the day must start, and screams blue murder if we leave him in his cot, so we're already living in a fog of tiredness.
But now problems have started at bedtime too! Up until recently we'd do our routine, pop him in the cot with his dummy and he'd self settle. In the past week he's started crying as soon as we leave the room. We've tried reassuring him over the monitor but it doesn't work, so one of us goes back in and asks him to lie back down. A kind of gradual retreat thing had been working but it's taking longer and longer each evening - tonight DH was in there for nearly an hour trying to settle him.
Has anyone experienced this? I'm thinking maybe sleep regression? Or separation anxiety? I don't have a clue how to handle it 