2 Year Old Waking up Crying at Everyday

my two year old son wakes up every morning about the same time to nurse. we're weaning him so i started giving him cow's milk or a snack too at that time and he goes right back to sleep. i've always thought he wanted to nurse for comfort since they say the early morning nursing is the last one they let go of but now i realize he is just really hungry at that time. this must be normal for two year olds. let us know the outcome!

My 2 year old did the same thing a couple of months ago and still does it once in awhile. I feel that if he wakes up crying, he is really not ready to get up...when we do pick him up, he's grumpy for a long time. What we have done is to go in his room, make sure he is ok, tell him it is still nite-nite time, and leave. At first he cried for awhile, but now it will only last less than a minute because he knows we're not coming back. Sometimes he goes back to sleep, other times he just plays for awhile. The result though is a happy boy when we finally get up again!

K.,

Since your 4mo old is sleeping across the hall, why don't you get a humidifier for either her or your son's room. That way when he wakes up, you'll hear his cries but they'll be muffled for the little one due to the humidifier. And, come to think of it, the "white" noise of the humidifier in his room might keep him asleep longer because he can't hear every other noise going on in the house at any given time. My 2yr old daughter has also had strange sleeping patterns since she was about 22 mos old, but we never take her from her bed into ours. We usually just leave her for a bit and after about 10 or so minutes she'll calm down and either play or go back to sleep.

I find with my son that he is REALLY hungry first thing in the morning- maybe a cup of milk would settle him down- I had a friend give her kids a cup of milk in her bed every morning and it bought her more time! Good Luck

My 2 1/2 yr old does the same thing, doesn't matter if it is waking from a night's good sleep or a great nap. After determining that nothing was physically wrong, I've accepted that this is just her way....she takes a while to "hatch" and has always cried upon waking.

Yup, me too. I find distracting her right off the bat will help. Our routine is to go downstairs, turn on her favorite Dora or Little Einsteins. I get coffee and do some sit ups. If I try to do anything else, it fails. After a few days of her getting up at 5:30, she'll sleep til 6:30! A wonderful surprise and a break from the sit ups :)

K., I could have written this myself! My 2 year old daughter wakes up with a BANG every morning @5:30, same thing about wanting the other parent, comes into our bed, whines, cries, UGH. This is the same time my husband gets up for work so he has gotten in the habit of taking her downstairs for Cheerios and TV. I'm not crazy about having her sit in front of the TV by herself for an hour but my 1 year old son doesn't wake up until 6:30 and I relish that extra hour of sleep for both of us...I will be interested to read the advice you receive, and am going to try that putting her to bed earlier trick to get her to sleep later...Sounds crazy, but who knows! Good luck to you!!

Hi K.. All I can tell you is that both of my children did this after they took an afternoon nap. It was horrible and lasted a long time, too long for my liking. They are now 5 & 7 and they have grown out of it, I thinkg somewhere in the their third year. I often contemplated skipping the afternoon nap but there was no way I could do that, they needed that nap for sure. Things are great now and they are both good sleepers. Like most things with kids this too will most likely pass but I would certainly mention it to your doctor on your next visit. Good luck & hang in there!

Wrmly,
Jen

I haven't read the other responses you have gotten yet, but I thought I'd tell you that we went through the same thing with our son (who is 2 and 1/2) right around the time he turned two. Maybe it's a growth spurt time in their lives, but we discovered that he was HUNGRY! He talks very well, but wouldn't ever ask for food or say he was hungry... just screaming and crying and doing the exact same thing. Asking for the other parent whenever one of us went in. Now, we make sure he has a bed time snack (even a "meal's worth") about 1/2 hour before we start the bed time routine. It has COMPLETELY stopped the screaming. Now he just wakes up around 7am and comes into my room, stands next to my bed and says, "Hi Mommy! I want some cheerios!" :-)

Maybe your little boy is feeling the same way? A little hungered? (btw, we have a 6 month old who shares a room, so I know what you mean about not wanting his screaming to wake the baby!)

Best wishes!
S.

My 2yo daughter does the same thing. I agree with Carrie D's suggestion to set a routine for when this happens - it snaps my daughter out of crying and sometimes she'll even go back to bed for another hour or two.

The book "healthy sleep habits, happy child" is great at pin-pointing certain problems but one thing that i do remember from the book is when you have an early riser, try putting them to bed a half hour or hour earlier, it sounds crazy i know but it did push my sons wake up hour to about an hour later! Good luck!!

Did I post this? My daughter is 2 in a couple weeks. She does the SAME exact thing!!!! Same naps, but sometimes she wakes up from the nap screaming. Same sleep schedule. Frankly though, after sleeping from 8pm to 5:30am, I wouldnt expect them to sleep anymore. Getting up at 5:30am is probally why he takes such a good nap. Sometimes when my daughter wakes upset, I dont rush in, I give her time to wake fully on her own..(I know you cant do that w/ a 4mo old) ..... She does the same, wants Mom, then wants Dad.......... I figure this is something they will outgrow. But I'm there with ya!!
Good Luck

my son went threew a phase like that too He would nap fine and then get up a "grizzly" bear it was like walking on egg shells because we never knew what would set him off
we jsut tried to snuggle with him at times
it stinks now that the sun is up early because it's so bright that it's hard to get back to sleep my son is 3.5 now and wakes up at 5:30 some mornings and won't go back to sleep and my daughter is 5 months old and he wakes her up
good luck

Hi,
Just wanted to agree with Shari. My first guess would have been that maybe he is hungry. Since he doesn't seem to have any other sleep issues, this could be why he is waking up and crying. Or maybe he is just thirsty. Try the bedtime snack, which could help. Also, I used to keep a sippy cup of water in bed with my little ones so they could take a drink if thirsty at night. It was never a problem that they would drink alot or have to pee more- the cup was always mostly full in the morning but they could get a sip if they needed it. Sometimes hunger can be confused for thirst so this may also help him stay comfortable until wake up time.
Hope that helps,
L.

My two year old does the same thing. I find that if i put a bottle or sippy cup of water in her crib so she can drink it when she wakes up in the morning it tends to extend the time she will stay in the crib in the morning.

I also find a half hour of TV when both my kids wake up from their naps helps with the screaming and grumpies then too. (one kid is 16 months and the other 2.5 yrs -- and they share a bedroom)

I'm not much of a fan of the TV but at this point it really seems to help!