13 month old early waking

[2littlegirls mom]

My almost 13 month old has a very regular routine during the day, but wakes anywhere from 5-6:30 each morning.  How can I get her to sleep longer and wake more predictably?  The early wakings have continued for months.

Her schedule:
7/8:  eat breakfast
9:30/10: snack
11:30:  lunch
1-3: nap
3: snack
5:30:  supper
7: bed time routine (BF, stories, bed); sleep by 7:30
early morning waking (2:30-4:00) : BF

I offer her a morning nap if she wakes at 5, but she won't take it.  So some mornings she is up 8 hours before the first nap.  Haven't had a morning nap since her birthday and that day she refused the afternoon nap!

I am in the process of weaning her from breastfeeding.  First was 11am, then 3pm and just this week 7am.  It doesn't seem to be affecting her early waking.  I should have removed the night feeding before starting this, but I didn't.  She's not too crazy about drinking milk from a sippy cup so her diapers are drier than they used to be.

I would really like to sleep in until 6 (ok, 7) and not wake during the night either! 

She is a very active child.  She walked on her first birthday but prefers the faster mode of crawling.  She loves to get into everything.  Today I caught her on the picnic table...

Any ideas?

[andibig]

i think a lot of the problem is the timing of her nap.its far too late if shes been awake since 5-6.30am.this is probably causing the nightwakings as well.
i decide on a wake up time such as 6am and once she is waking regularly at that time then you can always move the routine forwards.
i'd probably aim for a nap at around 11am (11.30 at the very latest).so you'll probably have to move lunch till after her nap.
i'd do bedtime at around 7pm for the time being until she starts sleeping later.
HTH
Andrea

[SallyDom]

Hi,
I would say she is overtired at the moment which will probably be causing the early waking, and habit is probably the reason for the night waking. I am no expert, and aren't sure of the amount of sleep a 13 month old should be having, but would think at that age she should maybe be having a nap and a short catnap to prevent overtiredness by bedtime (I'm sure someone will reply to this soon and let you know for sure).

I guess the next step would be to work on getting your dd to take a morning nap, if she wakes at 5am what time do you try and get her to nap? Maybe she is overtired by that point so you should try earlier the next day. How does she go to sleep? Do you have to rock her or does she go to sleep on her own etc. Not sure how much you know of BW, but maybe read up on the sleep techniques and prepare yourself for walk in/walk out or gradual withdrawal if you think she might need to learn to go to sleep on her own (especially to wean her off the nightfeed).

I'm not sure how many changes you should make at once (again, sure someone will come on and let you know). I'm not sure if it would be too much to attempt day naps and weaning from nightfeeds at the same time, would be tough on you both, but maybe you feel you are ready to tackle everything at once?  

Keep us posted
Sal
x

 

[2littlegirls mom]

Sashas mummyy:  So you think an earlier nap would precipitate a later morning waking?  Would the nap still be 2 hours? 

Potentially this would change the schedule to be:
awake 4-5 hours,
2 hour nap,
then awake 6 hours

instead of:
7-8 hours awake,
2 hour nap,
4 hour awake 

Is that right?  Are you saying the second wake period should be longer than the first? 

I guess these aren't really questions that you need to answer.  I'm just thinking out loud!  I like the 1 and 3 year olds on the same routine, but I guess that isn't really reasonable given the different ages.  I can try the changed nap time, though.

[andibig]

i'd probably make the nap longer.start with 2.5 hrs.
that way you'd be looking at awake times of 4-5hrs awake in the AM and max 5.5 hrs in the PM.the timing of the nap may need working on but i still think 1pm is too late.some toddlers prefer a longer morning others a longer afternoon.it doesn't matter which way round it is as long as the awke times are no longer than 5.5hrs at this age.
i think this way her day is more evenly spread and she is well rested. as at the moment she is accumalting tiredness which is causing the early wakings and night wakings.
HTH

[Layla]

You want an earlier nap so that she then goes to bed earlier. You don't want her doing to bed at 7/7.30pm when she's waking at 5am. On a 5am wake up, you want her going to sleep about 6-6.30pm. In a few days once she's caught up with sleep (night sleep especially), you can start moving her day in 15min increments until you come to 6am start.

I would do nap at 11-1 & put her down for the night at 6.30 (to be asleep by). She might even wake up later.... as they do once you offer them an earlier bedtime

hth
Layla

[2littlegirls mom]

Sarah was up at 5:30 this morning after a BF at 4:40.  She went down beautifully for a 11am nap which only lasted one hour.  So now the afternoon will be long instead of the morning.  I'll try to put her down 45 minutes earlier (sleep 6:30 instead of 7:15).  If her sister wouldn't have been around when S woke, the sitter may have gotten her back to sleep.  S falls asleep on the sitter some days.

[Layla]

Do the earlier bedtime.

Tomorrow is a new day !!!