# Any ideas!!!!!



## ma1978 (May 30, 2009)

Hi guys wondering if anyone can give me any advice our little one is 17mths old and has just started waking at 4 or 5 in the morning quiet happy babbling away to himself but when we get up at 8am he's so grumpy and tired. Any tips for black out blinds up got his old curtains back up. We give him so ready break at supper time. Both me and hubby are knackered just wondered if anyone else had anything like this before and how did they sort it. Thanks guys    X x


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## Mummy DIY Diva (Feb 18, 2012)

Is there anything happening in the house that might be disturbing lo. Our hot water comes on about 5 pm ready for morning showers etc and the tank on the landing makes a noise.  Shutting the girls door when we go up to bed helped our sleep just blocks out outside noise.


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## ma1978 (May 30, 2009)

Yeah we tried that but little one likes the door pulled quiet closed but likes having landing lamp just shinning through. Just me and hubby are so tired and can't think what else might be causing it. X x


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## GERTIE179 (Apr 20, 2005)

Hugs I've been there with the sleep deprivation - it's a form of torture.


If there's nothing you can think or & he's quite happy/settled then I would put it down to age as lots of folk talk about this at this age. You can try and break his sleep pattern slightly by gently waking him about an hour or so before he's waking and hopefully that will allow him to sleep a bit longer.

Do you go yo him when he's awake or are you just woken and then all getting up at 8? If so I would think you may need to be getting up with him at 630/7 as most toddlers wake earlier and I can count on one hand how many mornings my LO has slept after 730. At 17mths he was waking at 615/630 and 530/6 when first home and we gradually got longer til he woke. I found I had to rock him back to sleep at 5ish for a few weeks to get his body used to sleeping after 5 as his body doesn't need it as much as if it were 12/3am.

If you look through the Parenting/Sleep section of the main board you will see some similar threads and ideas.

HTH x


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## Flash123 (Jan 29, 2006)

You have my heartfelt sympathies. We had the same problem at approx 18 months but with our little man it was also accompanied with severe anxiety if we left him when he woke. It started with him chatting happily and then moved onto screams and tears. Apparently it's really common at around 17/18 months. I don't know why but when I googled literally hundreds have been through the same. I spoke to our Hv about it and she confirmed. I know it doesn't really help but it was good to know we weren't alone. We did everything you are doing and eventually it just stopped naturally. 
Tell yourself ITS ONLY A PHASE! ITS ONLY A PHASE! ITS ONLY A PHASE!
we also did 'wake to sleep' to break the cycle but with mixed results although others have said its fab. We also put his cd on continuously through the night in case there was a noise we weren't hearing such as a neighbour leaving for work. I know it goes against everything they say about taking them out of the room but Things got so bad here we bought a new tv for the spare room and I would take him in there, put the tv/DVD on and doze on the bed with him beside me, then at 6.30 ish dh would take over and I would go back to bed. Regarding the light have you read about using a red nightlight/bulb? Apparently they help produce the chemical that is needed for sleep? May help. Ikea do one that's really cheep. 
I know it's a total nightmare and you have many hugs from here ((()))))


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## ma1978 (May 30, 2009)

Thank you guys for all your advice and ideas I certainly will give them a try. Would you guys go into little man  when he wakes up or would you just let little man go just that he has a dummy and when his dummy falls out I always go in and put it back in again. X x


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## Flash123 (Jan 29, 2006)

When wee man had a dummie I always went in as quickly as possible so he knew his needs would be met promptly. He no longer has a dum dum but I do still try to get to him ASAP when he cries as If not it quickly escalates into inconsolable crying so in the long run it takes less time  x


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## keemjay (Jan 19, 2004)

gah dummies that fall out are a pain in the wotsit! i used dummy straps..(clipped them far enough down so no risk of strangling or anything!) then they put the darn things back in themselves!!
kj x


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## Anjelissa (Jan 11, 2007)

You have my sympathy as we have a very early riser too, we're currently (fingers crossed) improving things with the current phase.
I would add at this point that our little man is now almost 5 years old, but has always been an early riser, it's just gone up and down through phases (between 4.00am-6.00am).
We're at about 5.15am atm, which is a relief as it's been 4.00 - 4.30am for ages.
Our 21 month old daughter sleeps until about 7.30am (lucky her )  

It really is trial and error and my one piece of advice is to stick with each thing you try for long enough to see if it makes a difference. I think that's something we did wrong with some of the things we tried.
We ended up taking little man to the doctors about a year ago as no matter what time we put him to bed he was waking at 'stupid-o-clock' and not going back to sleep, so was exhausted.
Along with prescribing Piriton (to try to make him sleepier and break the cycle/reset his clock, which didn't work), she also said we needed to put him to bed even earlier (about 6pm) for a while to help him catch up on some hours (as he still woke at 4am even if he went to bed late).
We did this for quite a while and although it certainly helped his tiredness (not ours obviously though ) in the long term I think it made matters worse as it just further cemented his body clock to waking early.

As an example of trying things for a substantial length of time, we tried putting him to bed later for a spell but I don't think we tried it long enough for it to make a difference, and gave up after a few days as he was getting so tired (still waking at 4am, but losing precious hours due to going to bed later).
We've now 'tweaked' his bedtime routine and we've been giving it another go at slightly later to bed, it's taken a few weeks to see a change but we are now at about 5.15am (and as mentioned above that's a big improvement for us).    

I'm not saying 'later to bed' is appropriate for you as your lo is only 17 mths but we've now learnt that anything we try or any tweaks we make have to be in place for a while for us to know if they are actually going to make a difference, I think that's the key.
We've also had to adjust and adapt new strategies as he's got older, as what worked at 11 mths obviously isn't now appropriate at 4 years 

I have friends who have the opposite problem and can't get their lo's out of bed in the morning, I can't write on here what I normally say in response to them mentioning that     

Having had an early riser for years there's not much we haven't tried, but as others have said, external noise is often a big factor (in our case, at one point our boiler, and then a while back next door leaving for early shifts on his motorbike).

There are so many things you can try and so many solutions people may recommend that worked for them but wont for you, so just try everything until you find something that works for you.

Lots of luck and I hope you get more sleep soon  

Anj x


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## Macgyver (Oct 27, 2008)

Bless you, we had the same where our lo was getting up at 05:30 every morning and I was a total zombie. After we put up black out blinds I thought that would solve it, but boy was I wrong.  After trying a few things like a Grow clock and giving him porridge before he goes to bed he now sleeps in until 6:00 will moan for a bit but drop back off until 06:30.
He my sleep until 07:00 but that's very rare. It maybe worth a try sweetie.
Good luck


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## Flash123 (Jan 29, 2006)

Whatever advice I gave you, ignore it and throw it into the next county because I was obviously talking out of my    . In the last 10 days our wee man hasn't slept for a period longer than 3 hours and the latest he has got up is 5.30 arrrrrrrrr xxx


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## Kaytie (May 7, 2005)

Flash,

Sorry you're probably totally exhausted, but your post made me laugh out loud. Poor you, I feel for you all.

For us however, the problem is me, mummy, waking early any time between 5 and 6am. Lil man often needs woken up, or will usually wake on his own between 8 and 9 am. Really don't mean to rub salt into wounds here, sorry, I'm tired and then really struggle through day. Don't manage work so well either just now.


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## Duckling (Oct 5, 2009)

Only here to share   as we have tried everything and our mornings begin between 5.30 and 6.10 (that's a very good day for us!). We did have a phase of 4.30 for a couple of weeks!! To be fair though ds sleeps soundly for 10, usually 11 hours. We have tried everything: blackout blinds, gro clock, cereal before bed, pretending it's night time still (it is for me!) and the worse one was making his bedtime later - as others have said, no matter what time you put them to bed they get up at the same time.
It is really hard though I know and it's hard not to start the day grumpy which sets the tone for the day. The only thing that works for me is going to bed much earlier. Xx
Oh Kaytie ! Do you know on the very very rare occasions that ds has slept in, (I'm talking 6.30 am here) I have been wide awake!  

Oh also I go in in the morning and put a story or music cd on for about 20 mins and then put his light on and give him some toys, which gives me another 20 mins to come round. X


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## Anjelissa (Jan 11, 2007)

Flash, lol , you made me chuckle .
I think all of us above should make a pact that when they become teenagers and are enjoying their 'slobbing in bed until 3pm weeekends' we should go in with cold flannels and wake them at 4am on a regular basis to make up for our years of lost sleep!  

Mind you, saying that, our little man will probably be up at silly'o'clock even then if he's just a natural early riser 
I'll have to think of another payback  

It's all part of the occupational hazards of being parents though hey , and I wouldn't change things for the world (except of course maybe a tiny bit more sleep!) 

Anj x


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## ma1978 (May 30, 2009)

Hi ladies 
Thank you all for your advise and it is nice to know we are not the only ones going through this with our lo.
Well I spoke to the dr on Thursday and she has given him some  piriton to try that worked for 2 days and then last night lo woke at 2am even after piriton. Totally shattered today so I've been giving lo ready brek before bed for the last couple of days. Last night I did not give him any  ready brek and he woke at 2am so tonight  I gave him some here is hoping as so tired and tearful today. X x


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## Wyxie (Apr 10, 2013)

Just a couple of thoughts as to what tends to wake ours early morning.  

Does he chuck his covers off?  With the warm nights our little man will sleep through and doesn't want his blanket on, but I think the cold often wakes him in the morning.  I tend to go in when I go to bed and make sure he's covered, and again if I get up to go to the loo in the night.  Black out blinds are definitely helpful.  

Other than that, is he walking much yet?  When ours do this I just tire them out.  Could you try doing lots of active things in the afternoons - swimming is generally a good one for us - or just take him walking - as long as I accept the speed will be highly variable, we have always covered quite a bit of ground.  Lots of active play, crawling round on the floor chasing him etc?

Other than that, I don't have any real suggestions.  If you go into him in the mornings when he wakes will he go back off again with a bottle and a snuggle?  I find if Bladelet wakes very early, he will, but if it's as late as 5:30, not a chance.  Also sometimes he needs changing and will then go back off.

I used to sleep when Wyxling did when she was doing waking early, and that definitely helped.  Bit harder with two, generally Bladelet wakes me early, but I can't have a nap because Wyxling doesn't any more.  Probably why I'm so ruthless about wearing the pair of them out, but we still go through phases where wake up will be 5:30-6:00.  I also just go to bed earlier when they're waking early, a couple of months ago I was in bed by 9 every night.  They seem *touch wood* to be generally sleeping later the last month or so.

Failing that, if he's happy in his cot, earplugs in and get some kip for an extra hour or two.  If he's grumpy when you get him up, grab some extra snuggle time and pop him down for his naps.  I am absolutely terrible, but when Bladelet was doing this and we had our winter duvet on, I would wake, hear he was OK, and just pull the duvet over my ears and go back to sleep.  Hubby could never understand how I could do it!

Lack of sleep is a really difficult one, and I don't think there's always an easy answer, but worth trying everything you can think of!


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