15 month old standing in cot screaming at 5am- help!

[Loobyloo47]

My 15 month old son is waking at around 5am every day and stands in his cot screaming. He is still tired, but just won’t go back to sleep. I have tried leaving him, going in and lying him back down, stroking his head to soothe him, but nothing works. We are all exhausted.

He used to sleep through from around 7pm, to 6:30am, although he didn’t go through the night until around 10 months old. He previously went through a 5am wake up phase, but if I left him he would usually go back to sleep. Now he just stands up immediately and carries on screaming. Occasionally he will drop off if I carry on lying him back down, but it’s usually only for another 5 or 10 minutes, then he’s up again. He’s dropped down from 2 naps to one in the last couple of months and naps are a bit hit and miss- he will do 2 hours on a good day, but sometimes only does an hour and 10 minutes. It doesn’t seem to make much difference how his nap has gone though- he still wakes too early :(

I know this might not sound so bad to mums who are up loads through the night (trust me, I have been there!) but even if I go to bed at 9:30am, these early starts are still killing me!

Does anyone have any advice please?

No advice sorry, but I feel your pain. DD is 26 months and still waking most nights for 2 or 3 hours. Nothing settles her. The lack of sleep is torture.

No advice, just bags of sympathy. My toddler DS used to wake up for the day at 4:30 and that was it. And that was on top of waking every 2hrs through the night. How I survived my days at work I have no idea, I was a zombie!

I honestly tried every piece of advice given to me, but he didn't sleep thorough the night till he was over 3 and didn't sleep entirely all night in his own bed till he went to school.

Try everything though - you never know if something might work!

What happens if he comes into bed with you?

Thank you for the replies. Coming into our bed has never been an option, he just thrashed around and carries on screaming or thinks it’s playtime! The only thing left to try is the rouse to sleep method, which I’ve been avoiding like the plague, as setting an even earlier alarm to potentially wake him up seems like madness! 🙈

Can you try to shorten his nap during the day?

No advice but that’s completely normal in this house, we have a 16 month old. 5am is our new normal unfortunately but he sleeps through the night now so just make sure I’m in bed by 10 and then still get 7 hours sleeps

Ouch I remember those days! DS is 3 now and goes to...5.45am sometimes 6 but has always been a terrible sleeper! At 15 months he was ridiculously sensitive to light and cold so I used to put him down in a fleece onesie so he wasn’t waking up freezing after kicking the covers off. Also I found we needed both a heavy duty black out blind and black out curtains on top. Finally I’d go in when he woke up and try white noise which sometimes worked, but in all honesty it’s just getting through it however you can DH and I have a very strict alternating days system so we know we can have a lie in the following day which helps a bit but he’s just started working shifts so that’s gone out the window

Is this since the clocks changed?

The birds are waking me, but even earlier than that. Little buggers are starting around 4:15.

I think trying to get him back to sleep is a frustration best avoided. I'd just start the day & go to bed earlier. Hopefully his body clock will sort itself out if you can tire him out in the day.

Thanks for all the replies. His day time nap is about 1.5 to 2 hours which I can’t complain about. We made it through to 6am a couple of days over the last week, so I’m hoping it might be the end of a phase in sight. We have always used white noise since he was tiny, so hopefully that drowns out the birds! I guess sometimes you just have to hope and wait it out. Good luck to everyone else!