EW needs sorting before return to work - 8mo - advice please

[DM588]

DS is 8mo, always been an early waker but have just thought he'll grow out of it as he gets more active as day sleep was always spot on (pretty much).

Sometimes he'll wake at 5am and sometimes not until 6am if we're lucky!!! He has 2 naps  - first nap always 1.5hrs and always between 9-9.30am. second nap will be anything between 40mins and 1.5hrs as often out this time of day (although even if at home he'll sometimes wake at 40mins and happy to stay awake!!!

Should i start cutting his first nap right down and increasing pm nap??? should i try putting to bed at 5.30pm instead of 6-7pm??? he'll generally sleep 10.5-11hrs through the night so i know that is good!!! Just don't know where to go from here or what to try first but i'll be starting work again soon and will really feel it then.

Also he is happy when he wakes in the morning and will play in cot for about 30mins - and i never feed him before 7am (he also never wakes hungry so not that either!!)

Any advice much appreciated of do you think i just have to stick with it as a genuine early riser as rest of days and nights are good???

thanks 

[Tweakster]

HI there, I feel you.  We have the same kid.  Although mine was a hideous napper until about 7.5 mths, then went through the 2-1 early.  He only did 10-10.5 at night though and a lot of that was to do with teeth.  Is your LO teething? 

We did find that cutting that AM nap helped our day.  It's not for everyone and normally 8 mths is pretty early to start.  Do you think maybe he would be ok with a 1 hr AM nap and then a 1.5 or 2 hr PM nap?

Finn wakes happy and will play up to an hour or more in his crib in the morning.  He's just an early riser and we really haven't been able to shift him of it no matter what we do.  Although our EW were as early as 4:45 so we have made immense progress in getting him to wake at 6 a.m.!  He never has woken hungry either so he'll self-entertain and then even when we do get him up we don't have to rush breakfast.

If your LO is OT then an early bedtime does sometimes and often help.  But it can reinforce their body clock so they will continue to wake early.  We had to move bedtime out to 7:30 which is when we finally got to a later wake up, we stopped giving in to early bedtime because it stopped helping.  This was after 12 mths of age though and once he was napping well for his 1 nap and adjusting to longer A times.  I do think early rising is just built in for some kids and/or it's developmental.  Finn could never roll over and go back to sleep at an EW, for whatever reason.  Now if we hear him at 5 or so, he often just goes back to sleep.  But it's taken us 16 mths to get to this point :-)

Could you post a typical day for us.

[DM588]

Thanks for that wendy - my Lo certainly sounds similar to yours!!!! I think we could prob move to 1hr nap - he has recently been waking after 1hr 15mins anyway, i just worry that he won't get his PM nap if we're out and may just do 30mins, and although he never gets grouchy I don't want to build up OT - but it really depends on the day as today he managed 1hr30mins when we were out!!! So here is todays routine with good naps!!

6am wake up and play in cot (happy with 6am but quite often 5am!!)
7am bottle
8am breakfast
9am 1st nap (1.5hrs)
10.30am wake up
11am lunch
2.30pm 2nd nap (1.5hrs)
4pm bottle (would normally be 3pm but nap was late and a full 1.5hrs)
5pm dinner
6pm bath
6.30pm bottle and bed
7pm asleep

We quite often get a 30min nap around 1.30pm and another around 4pm!!! He also always has his 1st nap between 9-9.30am whether he wakes at 5am or 6am.
Don't think we'll get to just 1nap for quite some time as he loves his first morning nap and is always quite tired in the mornings!! Hope that all makes sense.

[Tweakster]

Hi there, I think that middle A time is a tad long.  4 hrs is pretty huge for an 8 mth old.  Also if he's up at 5, 7 is too late a bedtime for now.  I would aim for no later than 6:30 to be honest.  If he's waking at 1 hr 15 for that AM nap I think that's a slightly UT nap in his case.  So you could try pushing him out to 3 hr 15 A to see if that helps.

How long has he been on 3 bottles?

When you go back to work is he going to daycare and what will the routine there be like? 

[DM588]

I was trying to keep to lower A time for that middle one but if i'm at home he'll fight for ages if i try too much sooner than that...I have to let him get really tired without being OT iykwim?? It's fine if we go out as he'll fall asleep in car or pushchair but then quite often wakes early and doesn't get full nap!!

Yes 7pm bed time is way too late for that early waking - he always went to bed at 6pm and straight to sleep but i'm also battling with seperation anxiety now and have lost the independant sleep so can't guarantee when he goes to sleep. Tonight I tried for sleep at 5.30pm and he went at 6.20pm - he woke at 4.20am this morning really upset and sobbing which is unheard of and he wouldn't let me leave him so came in with us and wouldn't go back to sleep until 8.30am (after brekky). So today was a bit of a mess but think that's teething!!??

I cut his 4th bottle about 7 and a half months - he kind of did it him self - he was only taking 1-2oz at 11am regardless of how little his solids were.

Day care shouldn't be much of a problem as my partner will have him most of the time as he works opposite end of the day as to what i will be - he may go into a creche for 2hrs a week.

Think as you say i need to try to push his first A time out - maybe that'll incentivize him to stay in bed later??? Such a tricky one at the moment   but really would like to get him sleeping longer in mornings!!x

[Tweakster]

Hi there, yes teething tends to shake everything up.  Really you just have to follow him most days when teething, some days he may handle his A time and other days when he's really feeling the discomfort he won't.  It is tricky to move EW if your LO is prone and it's not routine related.  But trying to tweak the routine is the first step.

[DM588]

That's what i was wandering about him just being prone to his EW? Still, I may try to adjust his day sleep this week - maybe just let him have an hour for 1st nap and 1.5-2hrs 2nd nap??? Strange thing is that when we were on vacation recently most of the days he only managed 30mins am nap and 30mins pm nap - sometimes a bit longer - but even with those short naps you'd think he'd get OT but he still slept 11hrs consistantly!! Maybe it's just more trial and error!!! x

[Tweakster]

How's it going?  It all is very trial and error from here on in.  Some like longer morning A time and shorter morning nap, some like long A time long nap, some like short A time short nap - well you get the picture.  It's about balancing what works for your house and schedule and what your LO is telling you :-)

[DM588]

Hi Wendy - well we've been battling with bad NW's the past week - not sure if teeth or just really UT!!! Yesterday i gave him a super long day with long A times and let him judge his own naps - which both were 1hr15mins and he slept all night!!

He did wake at 5.30am so still early but right now my priority has changed to get him STTN again!!! Hopefully with giving him more A time and less AM nap i might just get somewhere and eventually he may be too tired to wake so early!!! Will keep you posted Thanks for coming back to me!! x