Inconsistent WU times

[jul28baby]

Anyone else's LO wake at totally inconsistant times?  My 17 mos old wakes anywhere from 5:45am ( this AM, not typical though) to 7:30am.  Drives me crazy...I feel like I can't stay up late any night cause I never know what I might get the next day.  We do naps and BT BTC....12:30pm nap and 7:30pm BT.  Usually get 13 hours of total sleep.  Any thoughts/reasons for this?

[sianie]

Hi there..

How long does your LO nap for? Do you adjust nap & BT depending on WU?

Is your LO teething at all? Are you getting any NW's?

[jul28baby]

My LO naps for about 2 hours, some days it is 2.5 and about once a week it is 3 hours.  I try not to adjust naps and BT depending on WU.  If he has an earlyish WU then I do nap at 12:15pm otherwise it is 12:30pm.  BT is about 7:30pm, he's usually asleep by 7:45pm.  He still needs his bottom molars and canines so I know that is around the corner.  No, we are not getting any NWs.  He usually clocks about 13 hours of total sleep but today will be about 12.  Today was a crap day:

Wake 5:45am
Nap 12:55-2:15pm (I PD at 12:25pm)
BT 7pm...asleep (this was the first time in a long time I PD for bed earlier than 7:30pm but I was hoping he'd catch up on some sleep)

[sianie]

I think the problem is if he wakes early his nap is too late & he's probably getting OT i.e. his A-time yesterday after he woke at 5.45am was over 7hrs which is really long for him to handle at his age. My DS is 19 mths & can handle around 5.5hrs A-time max before he gets OT.

If he wakes around 5.45am/6am I would aim to have him down for his nap by midday.

If he already has his top molars then his bottom ones won't be far behind so these could also be causing the variation in WU's. Have you been giving meds before sleeps? We also did a meds dream feed in the early hours when DS's molars were coming through & this helped.

[Roseii]

Hi hun my 13mo has very inconsistent WU times but I have yet to pluck up the courage to wake her, at say 7am, to see if I can get her more consistent She varies from 6am to 8.30am, no kidding!!
And ITA with Sianie about that first A time making him OT.
x

[jul28baby]

I agree it was a long WT yesterday but we had a playgroup for my DD at 10am.  We left at 11:30 so I could get him down as early as possible.  It is tough juggling two schedules...the playgroup went until 2pm so I felt bad leaving early but knew we had to try and get DS down.  His WT is usually about 5.5hrs so yes 7 was long.  He did sleep 7-7am so that is good.

[sianie]

The only thing that I have found with both my LO's in terms of getting more consistent WU times were to do set nap times & also to do the same BT (I also woke my LO's at 7am if they weren't already up). My DS is only a little bit older than your LO but he pretty much does:

WU: Around 6.30am
Nap: 12pm-2pm
BT: 7pm

Is there anything else like teething going on that could be effecting WU? My DS is especially prone to EW's when he's teething.

[jul28baby]

Teething could be a factor...also he has numerous bug bites on his face (one close to his eye) that are swollen and we are dong Benedryl for that.  Usually our schedule looks similar to yours but like this:

WU: 6:30/6:45am
Nap: asleep by 12:30/12:45-2:30/2:45ish
BT 7:30pm

**He's kind of a 11.25hr per night kid so we try to NOT do too much juggling with his schedule and like you SET the times for naps and BT.  I'm afraid an earlier BT will result with early WUs (which tends to happen).

Today has gone like this:

WU 7am
Nap asleep by 12:30-

**he went right to sleep so must have been tired (or the Benedryl

[sianie]

It could well be the teeth or bites that are causing the issues. If it's teeth then all you can really do is medicate & ride it out the best you can.

Sticking to your set sleep times as much as possible will help to keep days more predictable & consistent.

[jul28baby]

Yesterday:

WU 7am
Nap 12:30-3pm
BT 7:45-6:30ish

I agree we just have to ride this out and see what happens.

[sianie]

That looks like a pretty good day!