early wakings

[Issalc]

Hi all!

I need some major advice to break my son's early waking cycle!  He will be 1 year old on the 5th of April.

Here is a typical schedule:

wake 5:15 - play in crib until 5:30/5:45
5:45 - turn lights on, change diaper
6am - bring downstairs to nurse
7 - breakfast
8/8:30 naps - usually 1.5 hours
10 - nurse downstairs
11:15 snack
12:45 - lunch
2 - nurse in his room, nap (i do not nurse to sleep), usually 1 - 1.5 hours
5 - dinner
anywhere between 6:15 - 6:45 bedtime

If this schedule is thrown off in any way (we are out and he goes down later for nap or we miss window in morning for first nap and he takes an OT shirt nap), he early waking is even earlier!!!  this morning he was up at 4:10 with a poopy diaper.  I changed him and sat next to him as he tried to go back to seep, but he couldn't, so we were up for the day.  He went down at 8:15 and is still sleeping (10:30am right now).  Yesterday had an OT short nap in the morning and then b/c we were ouy didn't nap until 4 (for an hour).  He was back down by 6:20.  He is not a flexible sleeper like my odler two.  any little things will set him off.

I am so tired, but what concerns me more is that he is waking my middle daughter (no matter how quiet it try to be) and now she is an early waking bad cycle too !!!


Please help!  how do i tweak his naps and nap times to move his waking a little later.  i am not asking for 8am...I would be happy with 6am...seriously! 

Thanks so much!!!!!

[nevinsmama]

HI there, I just have a second here but one thing I noticed is I think his whole day could be pushed a bit as a lot of 1 year olds can handle 4 hours A and are possibly heading to 1 nap territory! You may be able to push his A by 15 minutes every few days and move things out a bit.

Would you like to take alook here and see if any of this helps?

chronological EASY samples, 10-12 months

Also here is some more info on 2-1.

from 2 to 1 nap - how, when and the bumps

Hope this helps, let us know if you have more questions!! Oh and I am a stickler for white noise!! Can you put a fan in one of your LO's rooms ( even facing the wall) to drown out the other one. 3 fans in my DD's room has done wonders for my sanity!!!

[Issalc]

Thanks for your reply! So, do you think I can push his morning nap until after 4 hours of wake time?  the second nap will then shift too.  I can try it and hope for the best! 

[jessmum46]

I agree with everything Maryn has said   I think probably one of the biggest things to change is your first nap - it is happening so early in the day and that will be perpetuating the early wake up time.  I would actually work on pushing that nap out first and hope that WU time starts to follow.  So first three days, nap 8.30 at the earliest.  Next 3 days, nap 8.45 at the earliest (this is regardless of WU time), next three days nap 9am earliest etc.  really at this age having a long nap starting before about 10am is asking for an early WU time.  If he short naps (he probably will at least some days as you are pushing things) then do whatever you can to resettle, APOP if needed.  And if you can't resettle, do a shorter than usual A time afterwards. 

The other thing you can do (as you will read in the link about 10/11 month sleep) is to start capping the first nap as well as pushing it later, aiming for a short am nap and longer pm nap.  A combination of pushing the first nap later and cutting it shorter should discourage the hideous 5am WU!

[Issalc]

You ladies are amazing!  thanks so much for providing me with a plan! 

how long is the average A time between the last nap and bedtime for 1 year olds?

Thanks!

[nevinsmama]

A to BT depends on that last nap length. If it is a full nap then I would go with a nearly full A, I tend to cut back maybe 15 minutes just because it is end of the day. If it is CN length of 30 minutes then I would cut 30 minutes or so off of your full A length and see where that gets you.

[jessmum46]

Yes definitely a how long is a piece of string question!

Some babies are already on one nap at this age, others are doing short am/long pm so would have a full A time before bed, others are doing long am/short pm so may have as little as 2-2.5h A before bed.

[nevinsmama]

Just popping on to say that you are probably better off to stay more towards the lower end of A's after a CN as KAtherine advised, it is the end of the day after all! I was advised to trim just 30 minutes off a full A after a CN but am not quite that brave! It is somewhat individual and, as with all of this, takes some trial and error to find what YOUR LO needs! Hope this helps to clarify!