18 m/o now waking for the day at 3am daily?

[TwittleBee]

Our brilliant sleeper now wakes up at 3am daily. Is there anything we can do?

We have tried keeping him later (despite him asking to go to bed at 6pm we wait till 7pm now)
We have started given him a snack before bed time thinking he might be hungry
We have tried leaving him but he screams for us and isn't fair on the neighbours
We have tried resetting but he just keeps talking to us like it's morning

How long is he napping? Is it too late in the day?

Is the heating coming on around the time he wakes up? Delivery vans outside?

No answers but it sounds painful!

The four tips I've picked up from various books written by 'experts' include addressing the following;

• is the room too cold (try putting a heater in room and/or thicker sleep bag)
• are they eating enough protein particularly with evening meal? (Try giving some milk or toddler formula before bed)
• are they napping too long or too late in the day? (Limit nap to two hrs and wake them by 3.30pm for a 7pm bedtime)
• try the earlier bedtime (sounds counterintuitive but it's something to do with sleep cycles, try 6.30 instead)

Good luck, early rising is not fun.

So his usual day was:

Awake at 5.30am
Nap at 10-12
Bed at 6pm

He would have dinner at 4.30 and have a bedtime snack and milk at 5.30

But past 2 weeks he appears to be trying to drop his nap. Yesterday he woke at 3am and didn't finally nap till after lunch and only for half hour.

Thank you both for replying btw!

Oh should add our heating has always been a constant 19.

I got mine a gro clock at 17months - explained that we couldn’t get up before Mr Sun appeared, and then spent a couple of days moving it up from 5am to 7am.

I have -no lie - not got up before 7am since. DD is 3.5. It is AMAZING.

@RubaiyatOfAnyone that's really impressive! Were they able to understand that concept at 17 months? E.g the next day they literally woke up, looked at the clock and then waited till Mr Sun appeared before calling out to you?

I’m trying to remember the details, but basically yes. I think it was interesting for the first few days and then became habit.

I was inspired by a friend who said he really regretted not getting his dd a gro clock earlier because in retrospect he thought she definitely could have understood it earlier, so i took a punt and it was the best thing ever (can you tell i suffer from sleep deprivation badly? )

I realise posting at this time in the morning invalidates my argument, but i promise this is a rare cat-fight related early waking, not a child one .

Okay I shall look into getting a gro clock once pay day rolls round. He is a bit backward in his development so he might not get it yet (probably be more interested in lobbing it across the room as he usually does with anything new)

If it helps, they quite often come up on ebay for about £10 if you don’t mind them missing a box - that’s what i did, then you mind less if it doesn’t work.
You have my full sympathies - sleep deprivation is hell. Fingers crossed you (and he) get some more sleep soon.

Meant to say also - our nursery put them down for a single nap from 12 midday from about 12 months old. Could it be that the gap from 12-6 is making him over tired? (as opposed to, say, napping 12-2 and sleeping again at 6?)

So tried ensuring he had a nap yesterday and day before. No luck. Losing will to live as so tired from being pregnant

Bring into bed with you and cuddle up.

He doesn't like cuddles and doesn't sleep in bed with me. I've tried that previously

Personally the rule in this house is if (15month old DD) awake before 5 then it’s a bottle of milk and back to bed. Also breakfast is at 7 or later, not Earlier.

Past 2 nights I've just been keeping him in his room and trying to resettle him (he puts himself to bed usually at night and doesn't need settling) but if he's screams get too much I have to take him downstairs as not fair on the neighbour's son. This morning he would only stay quiet and attempt sleep if I stood in his room and so done that between 2 and 3.30. I then tried to sleep on his floor but that made him angry. Took him downstairs as his screams where so bad. Calmed him down and he had only water.

Waited till 7am to give him his breakfast.

Sounds like hell op
To be honest you need 3 days at least to crack this sleep hell.. it's a habit
You will have to stop worrying about neighbours son .. and just be consistent. 3am is not morning. Put him back in to bed and leave. Go in every 5 mins to lay him down and shhhh him... Then leave. Repeat until either sleep or you consider it morning.

Yeah we done CC to get him to go to bed time a few months ago. Only took 2 days for him to crack it then. Did piss our neighbours off despite it being only 6.30pm when we were doing it!

I'll give it a go tonight.

Mine was the same, kicked off if we left her room at night but facts were she wouldn’t settle in our bed, she was dry and just had a bottle, I let her cry it out, was only c.10mins- may be annoying to a neighbours for a couple of nights oh well.

Screw the neighbour sometimes you have to be selfish for long term gain. You cannot carry on long term with 3am mornings so get it cracked. Maybe take them round some wine 😂😂

I'll start it on the next weekend so they can at least have a lay in! I'll knock with wine for the parents and chocolate for their son and apologies.

I actually think they're gonna move soon, kept hearing talk of it when we were in our gardens over the summer.