Support and Chat thread for parents of Early Waking Toddlers #2

[beckstrous]

Not sure if this thread is still going but I thought I would join in on the offchance of finding some like-minded souls!

My daughter is nearly 13 months old and has been EW for maybe 3 months now. She used to wake pretty consistently at 6.30 (and I thought that was early, ha ha!!!). Then it gradually got earlier and has recently been between 5 and 5.30am. We tried early bedtime (6.30pm) and it didn't make a difference. We tried a later bedtime (7pm, by accident rather than by design) and for 4 delicious nights she woke up between 6.30 and 7. And now we are back to 5-5.30. She has one nap most days, usually around 2 hours. Sometimes it is at 10ish, sometimes 11ish, and today it was just before 1pm because she woke up at 5, and after an hour of resettling then slept until 8.

Been asleep 2 hours now and I don't know whether to wake her (to preserve bedtime) or just leave her!). It is quite difficult not knowing what she is going to do because I am now back at work...

[lady5280]

Hey Beckstrous, FWIW, my guy has fluctuated btw EWs and normal, more civilized waking times for as long as I can remember. Sounds just like you described- sleeping in for a while, then gradually waking earlier and earlier. Then he goes back to later times. No rhyme or reason, and after 2.5 years of this, I've decided to just roll with it, although we did just get a toddler clock and that has significantly helped. Also, as he has gotten older, the EWs have lasted for a shorter amount of time before the later wake times come back around. I don't have any advice for you, but just thought you'd like to know that it gets easier and doesn't last forever!

[beckstrous]

Thanks lady - that is helpful.

She's now started to do a strange thing where she will sometimes wake just after 5am, babble for maybe 40 mins or so and then sleep in again until 7 or later! This is fine when I'm not working but a bit tricky when I am.....!

[pinkladyangel]

Hi all. I've posted this on sleeping for toddlers board but had no replies so thought i'd try here.
 Our lo is 16 & half months. For the past 3/4 days he has been waking at 6 rather than 7. He's not teething but is getting over a cold. His routine is as follows 7 wake up normally nap 1- 2.30 capped bt 7.30 Do i need to tweak routine and if so which bit  Dd at 18 months was on a 7 til 7 routine with only 10 min nap. She was lsn and by 2/2 & half no nap. I didnt think ds was but looks like he could be going that way. He's not ot and is a happy boy when awake.

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Hi pinklady. Have you tried doing an hour or 1hr 15 from 1.15 / 1.30 til 2.30? I think I'd try that first....

Interesting that your dd was on such a short nap at 18 months.  My son is lsn and just moved to one nap and I'm sure is getting slightly too much day sleep still.  I've been increasing A times forever though, so I'm trying to keep him where he is for a while and let him settle but I can see me having to cap further before too long, even though he's still so young.

[pinkladyangel]

Thanks lovely
dd was text book/angel baby. So easy. She just went with the flow. Our ds is sooooo different lol. Spirited but i think because we've always had routine he's not as spirited as some. We know he needs bt pushing when he starts playing up as he's such a good boy at going to bed.

[Lovejoy]

i'm fed up of living in hope every morning that the clock will say any time after 6am.
Reality check - EW are here to stay with my dd

[beckstrous]

Ugh. I know the feeling. Yesterday my dad woke @4.50, today 5.15. And not in a good mood either. There is no rhyme or reason for this as yesterday she had a good nap, 2 hours 20 mins, which finished at 1pm.

My friends' babies all seem to wake at 7am, 6.30 at the earliest. I'm soooo envious! It makes my working days really hard as I'm supposed to be getting ready (set the alarm for 5.45) and she's already up and angry by then!

[Nutmeg mama]

Not sure if this thread is still active, but thought I'd give it a shot!  My son is almost exactly 24 months and has major sleep problems, going on for several months.  In short, he is waking up about 1.5-2 hrs early in the morning and has been boycotting naps altogether.  He is getting his 2 yo molars,  has been for months now, and am not sure how/if this is affecting him.  Teething pain hasn't been a huge issue for him when his others came in, but honestly it's hard to tell.

His routine:
4:15 am wakes up for the day (goal wake up time is 6, we have an early household).  We cannot get him back to sleep.  Wakes up screaming and very upset.
12:30 pm try nap (he is exhausted and lays down sleepy and content, and is screaming about 2 minutes later).  Recently we've tried snuggling with him to get him sleepy, then lay down again...limited success.  He is probably OT by this time, but that's bc his is waking up so early. 
7pm lights out, always falls asleep immediately and is exhausted, sleeps though the night beautifully until 4:15-30 am, again, screaming.

I know he is not getting enough sleep and can't figure this out!  Any tips?  Do gro clocks work for this situation?  Or is it something else?  Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!  Thanks!

[Lauren2908]

I'm attempting my first post 

I have an almost 20 month old who has been sleeping 7-7 since 4m, ( with the help of df until 8m)
The past few weeks he's been waking at 6 or earlier. This doesn't seem that bad, but we have a 2 month old who often settles back down at 5 am. It's making for really long, days/nights...
He naps 1-3:30, sometimes longer and goes to bed 7:30.
Do I need to shorten nap?? Please tell me there is something I can do to get him back to waking around 7!
Thank you!

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Hi Lauren, welcome to baby whispering 

I have to admit to being slightly jealous of your 11-12 hour nights  as 10.5hrs is the norm here, with 11hrs the best we ever get, but I know how it is when your LOs sleep patterns conspire to stop you getting proper rest! I would say your LOs nap probably is causing it.  I think the average amount of total sleep needed at this age is around 13 hours, so if he's having 2.5 hours of that during the day he probably only needs 10.5 - 11 hours at night to meet his total.

You could try capping his nap to 2 hrs max and see if that helps over the course of a week.

[KookyK]

Hello ladies! Sorry for your early starts its a killer!

Nutmeg mama my DS sounds very like yours.

On a good week morning is 5-5.30. Rarely we get a lie in to 5.45. This week it's 4.40. I go in when his shouts or cries ramp up and say it's still night (walk in walk out sort of thing which sleep trained him well at 14m - he at least sleeps thru now!). But altho he goes quiet for short periods he's then shouting and crying and waking DD and husband who need rest for their busy days. So I get him up before he wakes them further.

I have set nap time no earlier than 11 and aim for 11.30. He had been doing 1 he 30 or 1 hr 45 naps but he's been waking early and miserable. Today he woke and wouldn't resettle (never succeed in resettling naps) and he fell asleep on me downstairs for another 20 mins. Will be interested to see what tonight holds.

Bed time is around 6.45. Before 6.30 And he wakes earlier! Later makes no diff either.

Also tonight i held back his pudding - yoghurt - at dinner and offered later. Dinner is 5pm and wonder if he's hungry at 4am. He has a full breaatfeed at bedtime. Tonight he had yoghurt, cheese and bit of banana at 6pm. We will see...

He's incredibly lively and into everything when he's awake but also quite cranky atm maybe tiredness or teeth. He's had a lot of illness this winter so we are forever getting back on track too.

[ginger428]

Hi, is anyone still here and reading? Kookyk, wondering what happened.
For about 2 weeks or more now DS, who is almost 17 mo, has been waking between 5-5:30 (10 hr nights) with a nice 10.5 surprise one day and WU of 5:50. Naps are 1h20m or so. 2 hr naps have stopped. So naps are usually around 12:00 so that we can have a decent A to bed, which has been 7:20, but with lay downs around 6:50. Should I make bedtime earlier again and see what happens? I've tried and he would wrestle until 7:15/7:20ish.

So tired.

[First mum]

Hey Ginger we are in the same boat  after a good couple of months of the 6:15-6:30 wu we are now pretty consistent with 5:15!!  Thankfully she is playing quietly in her cot and I didn't her yell "DAD" until 6:01 today but it makes for a long day!!

We had moved her bed to 7 and it helped for a couple of weeks but we had a bit of OT creeping in so now we are back to 6:30 and I have capped her nap at 2 hours.  Really trying to avoid the morning cn as well as this messes with everything.  But it is so hard when I know she has been awake since 5:15am!!

Are you lunchtime naps capped? Do you think you LO is getting enough overall sleep?

Another this we tried was a piece of toast or banana after bath during quiet time.  My LO has dinner at 5 so I thought it night be hunger.  I think I am going to try this again tonight.

[ginger428]

Oh.. Firstmum hugs for that! I can't wait to get off this boat and back on the 6-7 one. How did the snack before bed work out? 

I think I'm going to have to move BT to 6:30... He is obviously so tired when he wakes around 5:00 but can't go back to sleep.

His naps are already short at 1h20m usually so don't cap the nap. I'm not sure he's getting enough overall sleep... consistently for the past 2-3 weeks, he's getting 11.5 hours/24 hours. Makes for such long days.