waking earlier than normal

[orlasmom]

Hi,
I'm not sure if there's any solution to this, I was just wondering if anyone has any ideas.
My dd is almost 18 months old, she usually sleeps from 8pm to 7.30 to 8, but for the last couple of weeks she's been waking at 6.30.
Her routine is/was:
7.30/8 wake - play in the cot for a while
8.30 ish 7 oz milk then breakfast
12.30 lunch
1pm nap for roughly 2 hours
3pm snack
5.30 tea
7.30 bottle and bed
8 asleep
this routine was working really well until she started waking earlier, also her nap has gotten slightly shorter, about 1 and a half hours.
She is teething at the moment, but seems to be fine with it.
I tried putting her to bed earlier but she just played until it was her normal time to sleep! I haven't tried keeping her up later...
.
Is there anything I can do, I'm worried she's not getting enough sleep? When she wakes in the morning she's very happy to play in her cot for around 40 minutes before she looks for me.

thanks,L

[Caroline-Charlies Mummy]

If she seems OK, then I wouldn't worry too much.

My only concern is that 8pm seems pretty late for bedtime - if it were me, I'd start bringing the routine forwards, probably 10 minutes at a time, so she hardly notices it (rather than suddenly trying for half an hour early, which she'll probably rebel at ), aiming more for asleep at 7 - 7.15pm.

hth

[orlasmom]

Thanks for the reply, why do you think 8 o clock bedtime is too late? she's always gone to bed at 8 and most toddlers I know go to bed at 8 too.
L

[Caroline-Charlies Mummy]

Because, at her age, she needs around about (as a guideline) 14 hours sleep - she's getting a 2 hour nap, so she needs 12 hours at night. If she gets up at 7.30am, then she should be in bed at 7.30pm, etc. I know from experience, even now and my ds is older than your dd, that he easily gets overtired if his bedtime is any later than 7.30pm, so I try to aim for 7.15pm.

hth

[Layla]

Hi there

I have a 19mo who av about 13hrs of sleep. I don't think 8pm is late considering her previous wake up time & the time her nap ended but whenever my dd starts waking up earlier (be it teething or something else that might have caused her off track) then I do shift her whole day so that she does naps earlier and goes to bed earlier & is better rested. So I agree with Caroline in that an earlier bedtime would help but you would have to move her nap a little too... so from 12.30-2.30 & bedtime at 7.30. That was she gets about 11hrs at night with a 2hr day.

My dd (the 19mo) goes to bed b/n 6.30-7pm but she does wake at around 6 or maybe just after and her nap is only 1.5hrs long

If she's teething that would explain alot.... especially if its eye teeth! Also try not to let her nap past 2hrs cause it could be that she is making up for lost hrs during the day.

hth a little
Layla

[orlasmom]

thanks again for the replies,she is definitely teething, and it's eye teeth as well as back teeth, but the thing is that when she's up she's in good form and she's not waking at night with pain, so that's why I wasn't sure if I should blame the teeth.
I tried having earlier nap time and earlier bed time and the nap was fine but she just played at bed time for ages. I put her to bed at 7.20 (she seemed tired) and she played happily til about 8.20! and then fell asleep, woke at 6.40, which is roughly an hour earlier than normal.
So I think I'll just try sticking to normal bed time and hope it's teething and she'll sort herself out.
L