waking up early and crying

DS is almost 2 and for at least a year, has been waking up around 5 am. He now naps once a day for almost 2 hours, but when it was more than 1 nap, it was always exactly 45 minutes. I've tried grabbing him and moving him into my room. I've tried ignoring him. I've tried shushing him. I've tried putting him to bed earlier and later. He still wakes up around 5 am.
He also wakes up crying and screaming, usually waking up mommy, sister and grandparents who we live with. I have started telling him he needs to talk to me when he gets up, calling out "mommy" or "milk" or something instead of crying, and he sometimes does that, but not all the time. Toys don't help. He just throws them out of the crib and then starts to scream.
I don't really care if he wakes up early as long as he doesn't wake up the rest of the house. How do I get him to play quietly in his crib? Or wake up quietly? Or better, to wake up a little later?
Sleepy thanks.

 

have you tried giving him a sippy of milk in his crib? :unknw: i mean, when he wakes at 5:00am - not when he goes down for the night. sometimes, we've left our girls with sippies of water overnight - especially when it's hot out.

 

What time does he go to bed? Does he ever wake at night? How do you handle night-wakings (if you have any)? My guys go to bed at 7:30-8, and their wake time is 7:00-7:30am. I think that most toddlers need about 10-12 hours of sleep at night, so this is how I've scheduled their evening. I also arbitrarily decided that any wakings before about 6:30 I treat as night-wakings and handle them the same way. My way of dealing with night-wakings is to rock briefly, tell them that it's nighttime and it's time to go back to sleep, etc., then put them back in the crib. After 6:30 I either let them fuss/babble until I'm ready to go get them, or if there is serious crying/screaming, I will go in and get them up.

If waking at 5am means he's getting less than 10-12 hours of sleep at night, then I would handle early wakings like night-wakings. If he's getting sufficient sleep, then I might move bedtime a little later. :good:

I hope you find something that works for you and your DS. Early wakings are miserable! :hug:

 

He goes to sleep around 7, goes to sleep very easily, and almost never wakes up at night. He also goes to sleep very easily with no complaining for his nap, which is around noon-2. He's getting 10 hours of sleep at night and around 2 during the day, so 12 hours total. THat seems to be enough for him. Like I said, I don't really mind if he gets up early, but I don't want him to get up screaming. I'd like him to wake up and play in his crib, but can't seem to make that work.
He doesn't drink milk. I'm still nursing, and he takes no cow's milk. He throws out any toys or books I put in the crib. If I go in there, there is no way he will go back to sleep, so I let him cry. Then he wakes up everybody in the house.