2.7 yo wakes morning crying....

[itscomplicatedlife]

Not every morning but most, our 2.7 yo wakes up almost instantly in a bad mood crying, it just sounds so intense to wake up abs balling her eyes out. is this normal and at her age?? I've found giving her a bottle of milk (she still has a bottle to bed also but that's it) it stops it straight away, I can't work out if it's hunger or comfort but it's most mornings and it's quite early, jjst don't know at almost 3 if it's normal. She rarely if ever to my memory has woken up just babbling or happy chatting it's always a very negative sounding cry.

Possibly hungry, lonely, scared or confused.

2.7 is very old for a bottle, I would be seeking to change that. What is her eating like generally?

@labyrinthlaziness Apparently her eating us very good at nursery but we do have a battle trying to get her to eat anything decent at home, we always offer a tasty dessert if the meal is mostly eaten but she rarely goes for it. She has always wolfed her milk down no problem but show her a meal she's rarely interested I think this is the issue she's prob not getting in enough calories from the milk she has before bed but we have to give her this as she hardly will eat anything when she's back from nursery it is a bit of an issue with the food.

Have you changed her bed recently? Is she waking up when it’s dark or light?

You really need to get rid of a bottle at this age. Milk in a cup.

@Fivemoreminutes1 We had changed her bed but months ago it def doesn't seem to be the bed and she's always woken in a dark room I never wanted her to be scared of the dark plus she's easily stimulated. It seems to def be hunger related I think as she's still on a smallish bottle of it before bed and isn't a big eater so I think it's probably hunger

Could you give her a warm milky 'pud' and try and wean her off the milk? Wheetabix with warm milk or porridge/ready Brek?

@20viona we have tried but she just goes abs ballistic, she's very strong willed and it still seems to help her to go to sleep, she's never been great at self settling it is a bit of an issue along with her refusal to eat a lot of anything. We just need to go cold Turkey on the bottle and she'll have to let it go I think and take the cup instead it's just hard hearing the screaming for the bottle but we have to get that gone then work on this food issue somehow to get her more filled up

Maybe if the milk is not an option then she will eat more. My daughter is exactly the same age and she is also extremely strong willed but at their age they understand hunger and Iv found eventually through their own choice or a little negotiation the eating improves.

@NotMaryWhitehouse she def wouldn't take anything except a pudding she may go for as it's sweet but she won't even take porridge with jam she's so adamant on the bottle it's such a pain! I can though try this and then get to porridge with jam if the pud works to try and get this bottle finally dropped! I just need to fill her up better and hopefully this early waking for more milk will stop 🙏🙏🙏

Try the whole dummy fairy routine for the bottles?

@20viona it's our biggest issue atm but I've got to get her to a cup at least then try to get her on to some form of food quickly instead like the warm milk and pudding or porridge / weetabix I'm just going to have to get it done as best I can and not give in, fingers crossed X x

@labyrinthlaziness that's a good idea!! Thank you x x

If she’s in a dark room then it’s probably just to get your attention and start her day and part of that routine is the bottle which unfortunately has gone on too long to the point where it’s going to be really difficult to stop it. Personally I’d use a night light, make sure she eats before bed and when she wakes up assuming it’s a decent time she can have a cup of milk with breakfast

Also you can't control whether a child is scared of the dark btw, my view is it is unwise to not have some light, so I would also get a light she can switch on.

I agree nigjt light. They get to an age where the brain starts developing and they become scared of things. Mine wakes crying when overtired. Has she had enough hours?

Also we use a gro clock and my daughter knows not to get up until it's gone yellow then she gets super excited to show us the clock in the morning.

My boy is the same age and exactly the same. He'll wake, come into our room but quickly get angry tears and meltdowns until he's scoffed a ton of carbs. I'm trying to push food 10 mins later every day so he's not up at 5am wanting breakfast but it's hard! He screams so loudly it wakes up DD so she's grumpy for school etc. Once he's eaten he's fine so assume it's all about his body clock telling him it's time for food.

Feeling the pain. Dd is 3 in July so a similar age and she rarely wakes up and doesn’t moan.

This morning she’s woken up crying because there was no breakfast on the table. She wanted a banana. Then didn’t want a banana. Then wanted it again. So I’ve dealt with ont tantrum abs it’s not even 7….