Toddler up at 5am screaming hysterically

[Leftie624]

Our toddler is 20 months and for the past few weeks - most of this year - he has been waking up at 5am inconsolable. We can’t work out what is causing this and we can’t fix it. We’ve tried moving nap times and earlier/later bedtimes; supper before bed; milk when he wakes up which he doesn’t want. He doesn’t seem to be too hot/cold, we have blackout blinds and curtains.

Something seems to be jolting him awake and we can’t settle him. He won’t settle in our bed and we have his younger brother in our room with us (he’s 17 weeks).

He has a decent routine and settles down immediately for sleep. He’s down to one nap a day and has between one and a half to two hours.

He needs more sleep than he’s getting (7pm to 5am), the difference in him when he gets an extra hour of sleep is massive. He’s so distressed every morning it’s a horrible start to the day.

The only thing left to try is putting him in a travel cot in our room as I did this whilst away for a weekend recently and he slept really well. Could have been a coincidence. He calms down when we go into him but as soon as we leave he’s screaming again.

Any suggestions? Anyone else been through the same? Friend’s babies have but only for a week. This all started with a bad bout of teething.

Some form of night terror?

He does also have periods of crying in the night when he isn’t awake. What can we do about night terrors?

My dd is 19m and doing this at the moment too. Awful as she is clearly still tired. She's teething but I also heard that separation anxiety peaks around now too which might play into it?

Neighbours dog or car alarm startling him awake?

Nightmares also a possibility. Any strange or possibly creepy shadows/toys in the room?

I discovered that the neighbours had a radio alarm set to go off at 4 am right next to my toddlers wall.
They didnt use that room and couldnt hear it.
Could it be some sort of noise like that?

There are also low frequency noises only children can hear. The neighbours have one that drive the kids potty. It’s a cat alarm to keep them off the garden.

Could you try gently rousing him (not fully waking, but a light rouse enough to "reset" his sleep cycle) at about 4.30?
I tried something similar with daytime naps & it took a few weeks but worked beautifully.
I know this seems counter intuitive and getting up at 4.30 is a killer but potentially worth it in the long run?

Thanks everyone for replying. After a lie in on Monday morning to 5.50am we were back to 5am screaming today. There is a dog somewhere that barks I can hear it when i’m up with DS2. He was unsettled last night and was up 2 times in the night crying in his sleep. I think his longer sleep was just a fluke!