morning wakings driving me nuts

[jenalix]

Hi,

I posted a little while ago asking people about using the wake to sleep method for my one year old.  At that time, someone suggested that I cut out his morning nap, which we've since done.  He's now 13 months and still wakes up at 5 or 5:30 am.  Sometimes we can get him to go back to sleep by giving him his bunny (snuggle toy) and a pat on the back.  Other times, and more frequently, he insists on getting out of his crib and his super crabby until we are able to convince him to take a power nap an hour or two later.  By "insists", I mean that he doesn't respond to P.D., and can keep up his groaning/screaming for over an hour.  When he power naps, we get him up after a half hour or less. 

His general sleep schedule is:

5 am: wake up
If he goes back to sleep, he gets up again at 7 ish.  If he gets up, he takes a 15-30 minute nap at 7 or so. 
12 or 12:30 pm: nap
3 pm: wake up
7:30 pm: wind down and bed time. 


The worst part about the morning wake up is how crabby he is - not just when he first wakes up but pretty much all day.  He's a much happier guy (and we are much happier parents) when he's able to sleep in until 7. 

Any tips?  We are really at the end of our rope with this. 

Thanks, Miles' Mommy

[LisbonMom]

Hi,

Have you tried going to your lo just a little before waking up?
You might have to set an alarm or something so you can catch it before it happens, but this is a tip used for extending short naps, so it will probably work this time too.

I know it's awful when they don't get all the sleep they need. Dd #1 was like that for a while, so I would just pick her up and take her to bed with me, that way we would both sleep more and be happier during the day. She eventually grew out of it as she got better at sleeping during the night (I don't really remember how old she was at this point, but well over her first birthday).

HTH,

Sara

[Jaime]

hi...

At that time, someone suggested that I cut out his morning nap, which we've since done

if you're the mommy i think you are (and my memory is so bad these days  :oops: )  i think i suggested that his morning nap was just too long.  at the time, it was 2 hours??  (and please forgive me if i've mixed you up with someone else)

it might be that he still needs a (short) morning nap - no more than an hour, as well as that long afternoon nap.

sorry if i confused you before, and again, this is just an idea.  HTH 

[jenalix]

Hello ladies,

Thank you for your advice, although I must admit I'm not sure that either tactic will work.  He definitely won't fall asleep in our bed - we tried to bring him in there once and he just crawled all over us and moaned. 

As for cutting short his morning nap instead of eliminating it - well, you have the right mommy.  The problem is that now if we allow the morning nap, his afternoon nap goes much later, and then he doesn't get to bed at a reasonable hour.  He definitely needs 3.5 to 4 hours awake time before going to bed. 

I guess at this point the only thing to do is just wait it out, although it's definitely causing stress for all of us.   :cry: Miles' very sad mommy