1 year old screaming fit and early wakes

[bexx77]

Hi All
My 1 year old has recently started nursery 3 days a week.  At around the same time (not necessarily those nights though) he has begun to wake earlier (typically wakes at 0645 but can be as early as 0430 now) and is having a massive temper tantrum on waking.  So he is thrashing about in his cot, banging his head really hard, screaming so it's not a scream any more just a throaty shrill noise and is too much to bear.  We have ignored it and also done CC and he's occasionally gone back over. But usually not.  This morning I just couldn't leave him any longer for fear of the damage he'll do to himself.  As soon as we pick him up he is totally fine, sobbing to himself for a while but totally stops the crying.
He is usually napping 1.5 hours in the day (though less on nursery days - 35 mins is good on these days) and goes to bed at 6.45.  Used to sleep for 12 hours.  He eats well.
But it is not every night that he is doing this, just some.
Please does anyone have any tips or suggestions on how the BW would approach his problem, is it behavioural? Is there something wrong with him?
Thanks in advance
Bec x

[coopers_mommy]

Maybe on the days that he is in nursery, you can move his bedtime up.  If he's not napping well on those days, he's probably OT by 6:45.  And thus the EW can happen.  Putting him to bed even as early as 5:45 won't make his wake up time earlier, it will help him get the rest that he missed from naps that day.  I think that will help a lot of your problems.  If the EW is still present, you could try WIWO or W2S.  Although I would suggest an earlier bedtime for a few nights for those days at nursery to see if he responds to that first. 

HTH

[becky1969]

Aw, poor little sweetheart!

I'd absolutely say he's OT on nursery days.  Not only is he napping short, but he's also very very stimulated while there! Lots of kids and new toys! Great and fun, but also exhausting!

Those EWs and tantrums are a very very OT bub waking early.  It sounds like you're typically getting a 10 hour waking, which is always OT at our house.  In fact, just had one this morning! Unlike a normal day, he wakes at the 10 hour mark screaming.  I think they are frustrated because they are still tired (and my guy is 2.5!).  You may also be seeing some night terrors -- with NTs they appear to be awake but aren't.  They can even continue screaming while you hold them, and its because they are still in the throws of the NT.

Earlier bed on nursery days should help! And hopefully as he gets used to nursery, he'll nap longer which should also help.  I wouldn't worry about the non-correlation of the nursery days and the EWs -- OT is cumulative and can just be more bothersome on some days and not others.

[bexx77]

Thanks both so much for your replies, I will definitely look to make bed time a bit earlier on non sleepy days, it is just reassuring that others have had this too, and that he isn't totally unbalanced in some way! lol
Thanks again, pleased I have found this forum
x

[Miche]

yep we went through this too. I made sure Luke went to bed earlier when he went to nursery to catch up on his sleep. He wouldn't sleep much past 40 mins in the beginning - now he sleep 1.5 hrs and they have to wake him - same as we do at home!