18mo waking 1hr earlier - sleep regression?

Hi everyone,

I was just wondering if anyone can offer any advice on my 18mo DS who recently has gone from waking at 6am to waking at 5am, sometimes at 3am to cry (we leave him to settle himself) but at 5am he is back up again, crying for someone to come and get him. We try to leave him to settle himself down again for a bit (it's still dark!) but I find that too stressful so I always go in. I try to settle him without taking him out of his cot, but he has just started saying "Mummy" and so pleads with me to get him out and I cave every time (it's so hard when you're still half asleep and just want to go back to bed). So in the end I have been jumping back into bed with him where he lays quietly (not necessarily going back to sleep) but just thankful that he is with us and no longer alone in his room.

Is this the dreaded 18mo sleep regression I have heard about??? He didn't sleep for the first 12 months so I'm feeling a little bummed he has only been sleeping through for 6 months and is now starting to creep back to his bad sleep days :(

Waking earlier can be a sign of over-tiredness if he's become more busy/active (I know that sounds odd!). When he goes to sleep at the start of the night does he zonk out or does he chatter/play around for a while then drift off to sleep? If he zonks out then he may be getting his deep sleep at the start of the night and sleeping more lightly durng the early hours so you might try putting him to bed half an hour or so earlier.

What about daytime naps? Does he have one or two and what time of day? If he's still having 2 you'll probably want to drop one and if his nap is early in the day it may help to push it back until it's after lunch or around the middle of the day (if that's do-able with school runs etc!), again so he's not too tired at bedtime.

My son did that, and we had to cut back on his nap. Try that and see if it helps. I think Zana has a lot of great suggestions--I can't really add any more! :)

I have the same problem but mine is getting his two side middle teeth in and wakes at 1am or 4am! I take him into bed or he will scream and wake my other eldest and then i have 2 problems!I Know bringing them into bed is a bad idea but as you do probably for the same reason is to get some more zzzz's my eldest i never did this its only my youngest he is 21 mnths but has always had problems sleeping.
Sorry im not much help i just realized i know the only thing to do is let them cry it out and get back to sleep on their own but when its that early in the morning its the last thing you want to do.Hopefully its just a growing phase and it will pass:)