FFS - 2.6yo has started waking at 5am

[BettyButterknife]

We've been through phases of 5-something wakings, but since mid-December DS has been brilliant - it's been 6-7am all the way.

However, on Tuesday he woke at 5.20am, and was knackered all day. Weds - 6.15, Thursday - 5am, Friday - 6.20, Saturday, Sunday and today - 5am.

I REALLY want to nip this in the bud before it becomes a habit but I have a sneaking suspicion I may be too late. Planning to try wake-to-sleep tonight, but can anyone suggest any alternative suggestions?

It's weird - it doesn't seem to matter when he goes to sleep it's a consistent 5 o'clock wake up. Bedtime was 7.45pm Saturday and 6.35pm last night, waking time exactly the same.

I'm tired!

On all the books I've read they always recommend a consistent bedtime.

If he is now overtime a very short nap in the day to help catch up on some lost sleep may need to be done temporarily. As othewise they can overtime get so overtired things get even worse.

Is he in a bed? The old Jack in the Box toddlers do at this age maybe to blame. They come into a lighter part of their sleep and teach themselves to fully wake up and come into mummy and daddy.

First time they get up you could try it's too early, go back to bed, and then second time try not talking and no eye contact and placing back in bed consistently? May work over a few days for them to get the message? Worse case scenario a stair gate on their bedroom door?

Depending on what you reply I may have a few more ideas, have read a lot and learned a lot from my toddler here the hard way alas...

Overtired I meant. Not overtime

Hi teaandcake, thanks for your reply.

He's still in a cot, and interestingly, we were thinking of putting him in a big boy bed as a possible solution - MIL seems to think it'll solve all the problems

The problem is that once he's awake, he will not go back to sleep. That's it for the day. So I really need to find a way to break the cycle of waking at 5.15am.

Yesterday was awful - he was beside himself with tiredness, very short tempered, quite tantrum-y and not at all his normal self.

What time do you think a short nap should happen? And how short is short? We stopped his naps back in November, and he didn't seem to miss them at all (although I did!), and it seemed to improve his night-time sleep.

I should say that we do try to be consistent with his bedtime - our aim is to get him in his cot and asleep by 7pm, so we normally go up for bath and books between 6-6.30pm. That example I gave was a weird one - the early one was because he was nodding off in our arms, and the late one he was in bed by 6.45pm but lay awake chatting to himself for an hour. We've tried quite hard to keep the bedtime routine really consistent so he knows exactly what's happening and when, in the hope it will ease him into sleep.

Thanks

We've had some success with a light on a timer, and if the light's off, stay in bed, if it's on come and see mummy.
I say some success...please don't search from threads by me at 4am!
I have to admit if DS slept through the night and consistently woke at 5 I'd be thrilled

Its obviously not the light at this time of year - could he cold at all? Is he still in nappies and waking a little soggy?

This is the same time we put dd in a big bed and it went fine. A week later we started using the rabbit clock (with the help of some stickers) - and one year later it still rules in our house! No coming into to see us until the rabbit wakes up.....

He might be cold - he's in pyjamas and has a vest underneath, under a duvet with a blanket over the top. Sometimes when I go in he's the wrong way round on top of the duvet so very likely to be cold then... what's the best way to solve that?

He's in nappies at night and I sometimes wonder whether he's in light sleep and realises he's weeing - this is something he's very aware of during the day and gets quite upset about if he's desperate to go or (rarely) has an accident.

I might try your suggestions re clock and stickers, notyummy. Although part of my concern is that he's not getting enough sleep, rather than the fact that he's waking us. NOt that that's much fun either!

If it is a full size single duvet, have you tried turning it round and then tucking it really firmly under the mattress either side of him? We did this when we transferred dd to a big bed to stop her falling out and it (nearly always) worked. (Apart from the time she fell out and carried on sleeping and we only knew when DH went in to kiss her good night and trod on her in the dark!!)

That's what I was thinking of doing when he's in a single bed, which we're planning to get at the weekend. Glad to hear it works, and will look out for him on the floor in the dark!

When my daughter has woken early and is overtired I put her down about 12 ish and only let her sleep 90 mins. So she has an early lunch first, just helps to get her back on track if she's woken really early.

Clock thing is a good idea.

Can you put some of his favourite toys in his cot or room, so he plays with those when he first wakes up? I used to sneak them in as I was going to bed at the bottom of the cot.

Is he drinking a lot after 6pm or still having an 11pm feed? As those will make his nappy more wet.

I always leave my heating on low at the moment as both my little ones sleep better with it clicking on every now and then, if it gets below roughly 16 C in our house. Expensive habit though

I think in some ways I was lucky with my first child, if she woke early I used to say, "It's not time to get up yet, so you have to stay in your room, but here are some extra toys to play with" often after playing with them for a while, she'd fall back to sleep again and wake up later. But as I did that with her from an early age, she got used to it and didn't seem to mind at all. Lucky I know...

If you do move him to a bed it'll probably get worse for a while, as he gets used to the idea of being able to get out when he chooses but just keep returning him to his room, unemotionally, like a robot, not speaking etc and he'll soon get bored of it and be happy to remain in his bed at bedtime etc.

At least those are my thoughts anyway x