20mo waking up early, yelling, bad mood

CageyMack

Hi!

Just looking for some other mamas experiences.

Our darling (and vocal) 20 month old has always been an early riser.  First light (5am) wakes him, and it is a battle to keep him in bed until 6am.  Easy fix? Give him a cup of milk at 5am.  We try not to do this, but sometimes we give up.  If he has a beverage (water works about half the time), he will snooze until 6-6:15am.

He goes to sleep at 7:30, has a nap of between 1.5 and 1.75 hours around noon (daycare run).

Last few days he has awoken not crying (his usually MO), but YELLING.  Hollering and shouting.  It is really not cool, man.  We have taken to telling him "You cannot yell."  Plus, after going in to give him a pat and give him all his bed items back (which he throws out of the crib first thing upon waking), we have been leaving and letting him cry.  Miserable for all involved.  

I don't know what I'm looking for (shoot, yes I do: a magic fix. Ladies, give me a magic fix.).  I really just would like him to sleep to about 6am or a bit longer and not wake up in a foul and grouchy mood.  When we let him get up any time before 6am he is cranky, whiny, crying, won't eat, etc.  This morning after getting up at 5:30 he was so irritated that we had to put him back in bed, where he did fall asleep for another half hour before waking in a slightly better mood. 

I don't think it is his teeth as he just burst his canines.  Although now I'm typing this, I'm thinking I'll look in his mouth again.

I'm not proud, so feel free to give me some constructive comments. For those attachment parenting suggestions, we totally tried.  I AP'd my older kid and it was awesome.  This boy will NOT sleep with us, becomes more and more wound up, thrashes, kicks everything, you get the picture.  

TIA!

fusionbride

I don't have a magic fix at all, but what kind of curtains do you have?  do you think blackout curtains might help?

And everything I read says to put them to bed earlier to get them to sleep later.  This did work for us (but our LO never got up before 6am).  I think the things I read said to put them down 12 hours before they are waking up.  So try putting him down earlier-- even if he doesn't sleep later, he might be less grumpy in the morning if he got a longer sleep.

and keep in mind his biological clock probably didn't get the daylight savings memo, so that could be a factor, too.

and my only other comment is that my LO always woke up cute and babbly until she had a phase of about 6 weeks where she woke up crying and screaming for no apparent reason, and then after that went right back to her cute and babbly self.  So there could be some sort of phase/developmental aspect too.

Hope things improve soon-- 5am is a sucky time to be awake.

GracefulStar

Maybe he goes to bed too early? Try a little later? My son sleeps from 9pm to 6am at 16 months. Every now and then we might get between 630 and 730am. With one 1 to 2 hour nap during the day.

lana22

i would try putting him to bed earlier. i don't think 7:30 is too early for a 20 mo and my first son was still going to bed around 6 at that age and sleeping 12-14 hours (with one 1-2 hour nap during the day). my younger son goes to bed around the same time as yours but sleeps until 7:30 most mornings with a 2 hour nap during the day.

i'd try to be consistent with the milk and would prob not get into the habit unless you want to do something like that every morning. i would try not going in, and not giving him the things back, and maybe he will learn to hold onto them. if you do go in i would explain to him that it's still time to sleep, it's too early, and you are going to leave and he should go back to sleep. i would also try talking to him during the day and before bed about going back to sleep. i know he's still young but they understand a lot, even at that age.

oh second the blackout curtain suggestion if you don't already have them. you could also try a noise machine. is he a good eater? any chance he is waking up cause he's hungry and you could try to get more food in him during the day?

just my two cents. good luck!