One sleepy mumbie (mum zombie) here looking for a friend.
My newly turned 21 month old has started waking up at 4-4.30 am every morning for the past 2-3 weeks. We've not changed the routine in any way shape or form, if anything, as a result, we've pushed bedtime to a bit later (7.30-7.45 pm, it used to be 7), and have capped the nap to 1.5 h (she used to sleep for as long as she wants, sometimes 2-2.5 h).
The schedule looks like so:
- Wakes up at silly o'clock happy and full of beans, ready to start the day shouting something like "I FINISH SLEEPIN".
- Does 1 nap of 1.5 h:
- When in nursery (during the week) this is at around 12-12.30 pm till 1.30/2 pm.
- When at home (on the weekends) she starts getting crabby and wants to nap as early as 9 am, which with distractions we manage to push to about 10.30ish. Wakes up by 12 pm.
- Goes to bed at 7.30-7.45 pm on weekdays; and at 6.45-7 pm on the weekends, because of the earlier nap.
She loves her milk and still asks for milk before sleeps, so she has her little bottle and then I pop her into her cot. She puts herself to sleep within 5 to 10 min.
She does sleep well and does not usually wake during the night (of course, this too has changed the past 2-3 weeks and she wakes once or twice).
She has always been an early riser, 5-5.30 am is our usual; we've had spells of later wakes up at around 6 am; but this 4-4.30 am is a new low.
I know there is a sleep regression at 18 and also 24 months - could this be it???She's not putting up a fight going to sleep, but the sudden extra early rising and wake ups in the night are definitely new. She's also cutting her canine teeth at the mo, so I'm sure that's not helping either.
Anyways, just looking for some advice, or someone to commiserate.
It feels like her schedule is out of whack but I'm at a loss for how to adjust it. I don't think she's sleeping too much in the day; she's plenty active throughout the week and the weekend, so she cannot possibly be under tired.
Is this a phase? Is it a case of just waiting it out??
Oh, and she really really really started talking like a LOT. Her speech and language has basically exploded in the past 3-4 weeks. She knows a ton of words, and it feels like every day she has learned 4-5 new words; she's started stringing words together in little sentences so we have full on little conversations. When she wakes up, it almost feels as if her brain is buzzing with excitement over this newly found skill because she often greats me with a stream of chatter "moning mummy! I see window! Books! Door! Bear!" just whatever comes to her little mind. Could this be the culprit? she's just super excited that we can now converse??
Sorry this is super mega long! If you got this far, Thanks!!!