16 months old - waking at 5am

[Gabriella]

Hello!

Haven't posted for a while because Elio's sleeping patterns got way better than they used to be, but these last few weeks we seem to be going backwards.

He started waking at 5 am every morning and nothing would make him go back to sleep. He is now sleeping in a big bed, so he can get out of it, come to our room and howl the place down. If we close his door, he'd sit behind it and scream. I tried everything, giving him water, milk, lying down beside him, cuddling and ignoring him, no luck. If I turn on the light and go back to bed, he screams because he doesn't want to play alone. I have a two-week old to look after too and I am exhausted.

He has a nap around 12pm, about 1 - 1 1/2 hours. He goes to bed consistently between 7 and 7.15pm every night.

Any suggestions? Would wake to sleep be an option?

Thank you in advance,
Gabriella

[Mom to M&M]

He's likely overtired - at 16 months you really want that nap to be 2-2.5 hours. Have you tired starting nap about 5 hours after waking and bedtime 5-5.5 hours after it ends?

Why/when did you switch to a big boy bed?

[Gabriella]

Hi Karen, thanks for reply...

I know he's overtired... I'd be happy to have a longer nap, but he usually wakes from it quite early (sometimes after 40 minutes), so I go in, give him a small bottle of milk (or not), lie down beside him and try to make him go back to sleep. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Also, he goes to daycare three days a week and naptimes are fixed there, so I cannot do anything with that. I'll try and move his nap to a bit earlier tomorrow since he'll be home, see if that makes a difference.

We moved him to toddler bed because we need the cot for his sister. He's been in the big bed for almost two months now and his sleeping improved a lot since then. (Except for this latest setback...)

[Gabriella]

Well, sleep is still an issue. Elio's been sleeping through the night for the last month, but now it's really a disaster.

Last night looked like this: Got to bed at midnight after guests gone, both kids asleep.
2am: Tereza hungry.
3.30am: Elio wakes screaming, I give him some water, lied down beside him, fell asleep.
5am: DH woke me up, Tereza hungry again.
5.15am: Elio screaming again, crawled out of bed. Gave him milk, lied down beside him, he kept on sitting up, tossing and turning. Finally asleep.
7.30am: I am frozen (no blanket), go back to my own bed.
8am: Tereza hungry again.
8.30am: Elio wakes up. (This is VERY late for him, but since he had a rough night, I thought it was ok to leave him a bit longer.)

I feel like a zombie. Elio refused to take his afternoon nap, finally my Mom took him for a drive in the car, hopefully he'll sleep half an hour in his carseat.

I think Elio's bad sleep is due to him being overtired + lot of emotions these last weeks (his grandma was here from Canada and shared his room for two weeks + new little sister), so I am hoping it will get better, but it seems to be a vicious circle as it is right now.

Any ideas to break it and start improving things? Or should we just wait until all the excitement settles a bit?

Thanks.

[andibig]

I'd be tempted to move his bedtime earlier esp if he is taking a shorter nap.That could be causing the early waking as well.A sign of overtiredness is also early wakings.
HTH
Andrea

[Gabriella]

Hi Andrea,

Elio goes to bed between 6.45pm and 7.15pm every night. I don't think I can move this earlier. He has supper at 6pm, then bath, pj's, bottle and bed.

[Layla]

Jasmine is 17 months & she can only handle 5hrs A time before bedtime (just). If she takes a short nap (which is still happening as she has not settles into a nice 2hr nap yet), her bedtime is 6pm.

I agree on the earlier bedtime until nap extends or at least to give him the chance to catch up on sleep. Could you bump up dinner (we do dinner at 5pm & then milk to follow) & bump up bedtime to 6.30pm to see if that will help. It could be the new sister & you could wait until things settle but I would still try for earlier bedtime in the meantime

hth
Layla

[Gabriella]

Hi Layla,

I'll try for earlier bedtime, but it is hard... Last night was a little bit better, as he didn't wake up between midnight and 2am, only at 5.15am. I really don't know what to do though, this morning he cried from 5.15am until 6, despite me being beside him in his bed, cuddling and talking to him. He wouldn't even drink his milk (his ultimate comfort item). Finally I managed to make him drink around 6am, then he settled down and slept until 7.30am.

Any ideas why he cries so unconsolably?

Thanks.

[Layla]

Usually with my children if they wake up crying then its from overtiredness or perhaps pain (teething).

[Gabriella]

Elio always wakes up crying, but usually within a couple of minutes, he's fine. But lately when he wakes in the night, he just cries and cries and cries...

[andibig]

Gabriella.
I'd try and rule out anything medical such as teething or ear infections etc.Normally if DD wakes and cries and cries its a sign shes not very well or in pain.

[Gabriella]

I think it might be a little bit teething related, but I think it is mostly about need for comfort after all these changes in his little life. Last night he woke again around 1.30 and howled... I put him back to bed, but every time I'd leave the room, he'd wake up and start crying again. There is a gate at his door and our room is about three steps away and I kept talking to him, but he'd stand at the gate and cry... So in the end (after about an hour of trying to get him to sleep) I put down a thick blanket on the floor beside our bed and told him he could sleep on that if he was feeling lonely, so he laid down and slept. He had a bottle of milk around five, then slept until 8.45am (absolutely unheard of, he always wakes before 7.30am) I'll leave the blanket for a couple of nights, we'll see if being able to come there and have a sleep near us helps. Hopefully soon he won't need to come there anymore.