ok, so a lil background first... my husband, 2yr old (3 in oct) and i recently moved - 3m ago and then had our 2nd son 3 days later. my 1st son loves being a big bro and LOVES our new house/neighborhood/playground/friends.... loves everything right now. my concern is that w/in the past 2-3 wks he has been waking up 1-2hrs earlier than usual and is then tired and grouchy all day!. i have tried adjusting everything - temperature, pjs, bedtime, what/how much he eats the night before, everything i can think of. i thought maybe it has been bc of the changes, but he loves all the changes and was fine the first 2m of the new house and new baby. he still talks about how much he loves his new house and brother! i am losing my mind as to how to deal w/this!! hes totally potty trained and hes not waking up and asking to go to the bathroom, hes ready to b up for the day - potty or not! so for me, im losing 1-2hrs of sleep too and then trying to take care of an infant and a lil boy who is a bear during the day! and there r some days or times that hes his wonderful self and there have been a few days where he sleeps til his regular time and is such a darling lil boy all day - like he used to b!! is it jsut a growing phase? will it pass? please help im pulling my hair out!!!
update: he is very active during the day and the 2 of us have time for books between putting the baby down for a nap and his nap and he has quiet time at night before bed w/both parents to read a book. i have heard of the clock trick - my dad even used it w/my younger siblings - is 2/3 too early to teach that?
i thought i had made the room dark but i guess it wasnt enough. his room is now a cave and he went back to his reg wake up time... until the clocks changed! he didnt seem to adjust and is back to waking early and being grumpy :( back to the drawing board i guess.
Just a thought on the clock issue, have you heard of the "OK to Wake" clock? You can buy it on Amazon or at Walmart for like $30. You set a time when it is ok for them to get up, like 7:00 and at 7 the clock turns green to signal it's alright to be up now. I think there is also a setting for naps if you want to make sure they nap for at least an hour or something. I haven't tried it, I just remember reading a review about it. Good luck!
Lots of changes have been taking place and although he's having a very P. reaction to all of it, I'm wondering if he isn't also experiencing a bit of overwhelm - in a good sense. It's easier to see his ease and contentment with his enjoyment of house, new neighbors and baby, but maybe not so easy to see any stress he may feel as well. It's been a lot of change and at that age it's not easy to articulate it. I guess I'd suggest if you haven't already, taking some time in the evenings to have some quiet time that might give him a chance to feel that deep sense of peace and safety that home is. You might also see if he can let you know if he's feeling sunny or cloudy - a language he might better be able to relate to.
So glad your move has gone well and your baby has a loving big bro who's enjoying his new environment. With your help, he'll settle in.
Mine will be 3 in October too and we just went through this phase-- with no new baby or move. I think it is just a phase. We've moved back his bedtime to closer to 8 (we used to aim for 7:15) and after a morning or two I told him he'd have to stay in his crib until Mama came to get him. I will get him up at 7, but not before. We had one morning of a a big fit, but after that he went back to closer to 7 for waking up. i also made sure he had some toys and books in his crib so when he woke up he could look at them until I came to get him. It lasted about 2-3 weeks, and now sometimes I'll hear him between 6 and 7, but he seems to be drifting in and out.
I found that while he was going through this phase (which has repeated a couple times over the last 6 months) that he needed a morning nap for 45-1 hour in addition to the afternoon nap. When he got too cranky/disobedient (which he only does if he is tired) I put him down for a nap no matter whether he wanted to go or not. He usually screamed his head off for about 5 minutes and then passed out.
This too will pass. :-)
I'm gonna guess that it might be that he is having a growing spurt and that it will pass.
Have you totally childproofed his room? Can you put a gate up to keep him in there, and tell him to stay in his room and play until the clock says a certain time?
I'm not so sure this will pass quickly on it's own, unfortunately. My son started getting up earlier and earlier at that age, until we finally did a few things.
One - we got blackout shades for his windows so that sun doesn't wake him up. They are really inexpensive at Home Depot and they cut them to custom size for you.
Two - we did the clock trick - he knows he can't get up until the 1st number on the digital clock is a 7. If you think your son is too young for that, there are nightlights with a daytime scene and a nighttime scene and you program it to tell your child when it's time to get up. I've seen them in the One Step Ahead catalog (http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId.... They also have one that is like a signal light (http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...)
Good luck!
When I was around that age. My mom put a digital clock in my room and took a picture of 7am on my clock. Then hung it up next to my clock. I could leave the room and wake her up when my clock matched the picture. If I got up before then it was fine as long as I stayed in my room and looked at my books, colored or played quietly. Another idea, even though he loved his brother and his alone time with you he may be looking for more time with you. My daughter was 3 when I had my son and she loves being a big sister. Then we moved and we got her to say she wanted more mommy time. She is six now and in school, but by the time she was 4 most things went back to normal. Also once a week I take the oldest out just us. We go for a walk, a picnic or window shopping and make wish lists for Christmas and such.
P.S. SAHM of 2 a girl(6) and a boy(3)
Maybe you could get him some type of clock so he can look at it and know whether it's time to get up or not. I seem to remember someone on this site mentioning one that was made for this exact thing. If you can't find one at Babies'R'Us or someplace, you could actually make one that a toddler could read. All you need is a big faced clock, some stickers or something to mark the hands, and corresponding marks on the face to show him that when the marks line up, it's time to get up. If they're not, he has to wait.
I think disruptions in routines happen like this when kids are growing. Having said that, you could try to make his day time nap earlier or slightly shorter and see if that has an effect. I find it usually takes a week to see a change from something like this. Another option is that you just go to bed earlier, which I know is hard, but will help you to be more ready when he rises early! Also, you could really try to nap when he does during the day until this phase passes. Hope it doesn't last long! Hang in there! :)
