2 year old 4am start or up for hours in night

[Yelsiap]

I have a 2 year old who keeps going through periods of waking at 4/4:30. This happened a while ago and stopped but has been happening for the last couple of weeks again. The newest thing is about once a week she will wake in the night and is wide awake will not go back to sleep for 2 hours.

She naps for 2 hours a day, I’m wondering if I need to cut or cap the nap? She’s only 25 months so hesitant to cut completely? I have tried letting her have only an hour but have had no joy so far.

Any ideas?

My DD dropped the nap at 20 months due to this exact reason. Occasionally she’d still have 45min on so, but overall the nap was gone. I’d try for 3-4 days in a row to see if it makes a difference

I’m thinking maybe this is what I’ll have to try, just worrying because everything I read says she should still be napping at this age. Maybe I’ll try no nap today and bed at 6pm and see how we go.

I'd try shortening the nap first rather than cutting it!

Also there is a sleep regression at around 2 years old. We dealt with weeks of the same wake ups at about 23 months. Its rough!

God I am so glad you posted this. My 22 mo twins are doing exactly the same. Both awake at 5am for the last week or so. I’ve tried leaving them until 6 ish but they are currently in our bed watching peppa pig. I keep thinking maybe they are overtired but maybe they need more awake time…

It’s so hard isn’t it. I’ve put her in bed with us a couple of times because it stops her screaming in her cot, she lays there relaxing for hours before finally falling asleep.

I’ve just read about 2 year regression, didn’t realise there was one. I will try and cut the nap to an hour and see how that goes.

The early wakings are tough, the 4am has me dreaming of a 5am. When she woke at 5am it would feel like torture, I’m hoping that 4 doesn’t stay for too long.

The over tiredness can feel a bit like a vicious cycle! It’s nice to know we aren’t the only ones.

Its awful!

I would either cut the nap shorter OR ride through it as a regression. I was unclear in my post earlier

We didnt cut the nap and after about 4/5 weeks of the early starts we went back to normal sleep times with normal nap length.

I think maybe I’ll ride it out for a bit longer as she doesn’t fight the nap, and then I’ll look at shortening it. It always feels so wrong waking them up from a nap and it’s my only chill out time so I would like it to continue if possible lol.

What is the rest of her routine like?

@GraciousPiglet she usually has a sleep about 11 for 2 hours and then bed at 6. If she has a later nap at 12-2 because of toddler groups she will go down at 7 instead but most of the time it’s a 6pm bedtime.

Do you mean she goes to sleep at 6 or that that's when you start putting her to bed? If she's asleep at 6 you have to expect an early morning really - 10 hours night sleep for a child who also naps for two hours doesn't seem at all surprising.

That’s when she’s put in cot and falls straight to sleep as so tired. I’ve read so much that says she should still have 11-12 hours at night as well as a nap and she does wake up grumpy at 4. Also she will still wake at the same time with a 7pm bedtime.

Maybe I need to cut the naps to an hour and push bedtime to 7pm

DS had a sleep regression at 2 although in his case he wouldn't go to bed. We shortened naps for a while and made sure they weren't too late. He is now 3 and still napping most days, so I'm glad I kept it as part of the routine.

The clocks change in a month or so. Hopefully you won't still need struggling then but could maybe use it to your advantage to shift bed time and morning later.

Drop the nap or try keeping up later, mine went to bed about 7.30pm and got up about 7pm at that age

I think the main problem is that the nap is much too early. Bedtime is also too early. So she wakes very early, or during the night, because she's had enough sleep.

Most toddlers her age should be awake for about 5-6 hours before and after nap. So if you want her to wake for the day at 6.30am, try a nap at 12.30pm, wake her up at 2.30pm if she hasn't woken by then, and bedtime at 7.30pm. You might have to tweak these timings slightly but that's the general idea.

My DD is 17 months old, we had a similar problem recently and realised we were putting her to bed too early, we changed her bedtime from 7pm to 7.30pm and it fixed it. She goes down for her nap around 1-1.15pm and on some days we have to wake her up for the school run (2.50pm) and on other days we'll wake her at 3-3.15pm if she hasn't woken naturally by then.

Also check out this article which might be useful
huckleberrycare.com/blog/expert-advice-for-handling-the-two-year-sleep-regression

And huckleberrycare.com/blog/24-month-old-sleep-schedule-bedtime-and-nap-schedule

Thank you everyone for the advice. I think I’m definitely going to push bedtime later and shorten the nap too and see how this goes. She does go to bed early in comparison to others her age but it’s always been that way even as a little baby when she found her natural bedtime it was early and we’ve kind of just stuck with it. So think now it’s time to push that a bit later.

Hadn’t thought about the clocks going forward that could very much help. Fingers crossed anyway, I never thought I’d be wishing for a 5am lay in!!

So I’ve been trying this for a week and absolutely no improvement. She’s clearly tired and has bags under her eyes, this can’t be sustainable I am fed up of waking so early!

No advice but I'm up with my almost 2 year old and 3 year old ( 2 year old woke 3 year old up!), we have got out the sofa bed downstairs and I'm hoping they might nod off before waking anyone else.

My 1 year old has also woke up now, a sofa bed may be what we need to get at this rate. I also have very little patience at this time of day and it means I’m left with a very grumpy 2 year old all day long.

What time are you putting her down for her nap? Still 11am or have you pushed it later?

I’ve pushed it later so it’s about 12/12:30 now and I’ve been letting her sleep for an hour and then bed at 7. There has been a couple of days where she just hasn’t made it to 12 though as she’s just so so tired and she napped at about 11 instead.

Fwiw I think you've changed too much at once, my advice was to make the nap later and cap it at 2 hours (not wake her after an hour).

6pm bed times are your reason for 4am starts and it will only get worse as the days get longer.

I would try a natural nap in the day i.e. in cot when tired and let her sleep till she wakes - don't wake her. Then push bed time to 7.30 if possible. She will then, hopefully wake later, nap later and not need to go to bed at 6.

Also what are you doing when she wakes at the crack of dawn? I assume you're trying to settle her before starting the day? How does she usually go to sleep at bedtime? Does she wake in the night or just early in the morning?