How to Help My Toddler Have Better Mornings

You have changed his world! It takes time for all of us to adjust to changes. Especially children. I know its hectic in the mornings, but, it important to take a few minutes and just hold him. Hug him and talk about how his day will be when he gets home with you. He is about to leave you for the day. He doesn't understand why. He needs your reassurance that everything is ok and you still love him and you are still his mom. Before he had you all day, at home. Now he doesnt. you are a great mom...enjoy your son

Make a game of morning routines. Be silly and playful, sing silly songs if you like. Try to be upbeat make him smile...

If you were a bad Mom, you wouldn't have posted this concern!We go through the same thing with my 2.5 year old. We are on the same schedule as your family. I think some kids are just not ready to jump into the day- even though we are asking them to!
I get up super early so everything is done before he gets up- I am ready, breakfasts are ready, lunches are packed- so I can focus on him. I try to make a game of things when possible. I have found that being silly, singing, dancing around and acting goofy helps a lot. (Exhausting, but rewarding!)
All the while, I try not to let him see that I am a little stressed about getting out the door on time! That only makes it worse, in my experience. If I can work him into a good mood, it helps my mood, too.

My son began doing this after naptimes sometimes after our daughter was born. Even though I ask my son, who is pretty talkative why he is sad or crying, he doesn't really give me any answers. I just take some time to cuddle with him and give him time to work it out. I think it might be the way they respond to a change (such as you going back to work). Also, I think my son caught on that he gets some extra attention from me when he does this. (I set a limit to a reasonable amount of time)
So, even though it's a change it sounds like your son likes, it is change and some deal with that better than others.

My first thought is that you have a lot going on right now and he may be responding to all the changes.

My second thought is that your son simply may not be a morning person and needs a bit of time to wake up. Perhaps that coincides with arriving at daycare. If you are able to organize everything the night before so all you have to do is get yourself and your son dressed and fed in the morning that might give you an opportunity to give him some extra TLC before going off to daycare, making you both feel better about the morning.

My third thought is that my SIL's and I often talk about something we call "the mom factor". We have noticed that when our children are left in the care of someone else (including their fathers) they can be pleasant, healthy and charming. As soon as we enter the picture they can become irritable, sickly/injured, clingy. It's as if they save all the "bad stuff" they are feeling/experiencing for the person who they trust the most to help them through it. Before we realized that all of our children exhibit this same behavior, it was really frustrating for each of us. Now that we see this behavior isn't unique to our own households, we look at it as a badge of honor and, though it is still frustrating, we deal with our kids more tenderly. Good luck finding something that works for you.

Maybe he takes longer to wake up. Also is he taking any naps during the day? It may be he needs to go to bed earlier. If he can sleep for 12 hours at night and take a 1-2 hour nap during the day he may feel better. In our society we have forgotton how much sleep children actually need. We figure if they only sleep 8 hours than thats all they need but its not true! See the book "Sleepless in America" by Mary Sheedy Kurkinca for ideas for your situation.

I had a similar problem for a little while with my oldest son when he was a toddler. A friend suggested a protein snack before bed. When we sleep and (of course) aren't getting any overnite nourishment, our blood sugar tends to naturally drop a little and this can affect our mood. We gave him things like peanut butter on crackers or on banana or apple slices, maybe a little cheese or lunchmeat rolled up...nothing fancy. It did seem to help him to be a more pleasant little guy in the mornings. Hope this helps!

Some mornings my son wakes up grumpy. On those mornings, instead of putting him right in his highchair we fill his sippy with milk & let him sit in one of our laps in our chair in the living room & cuddle while he drinks. It seems to help him easy into the morning. THen when he seems a little more awake we put him in the high chair & finish breakfast.
Some people are just slow wakers. It may take him a while to transition from sleeping to awake.

Stupid question: is he hungry or thirsty? On the other hand, he may just be anticipating that you are going to leave him at daycare soon and wants/needs some extra attention. He is still young enough to have separation anxiety, but old enough to know what to expect next (leaving for daycare, that is).

Not sure, but maybe he is simply still working through all of the recent changes in his life. At least he has progressed to sleeping through the night again, so maybe you just need to give him some more time and patience and he will eventually complete his adjustment to the new circumstances. Just a thought.