19 Month old, EW's and Crying at BT

[AN190781]

So last night went well he fell asleep by 7.15 shattered. He woke at 11.30 but a quick resettle was fine, he then stirred at 5.30am, but we didnt have any crying until 6.45! so i take it he must have dozed off. We had the fan on all night which could have helped. So my plan for today is the same :
S - 12.30
Bt - 7.30
 
My only issue now is that tomorrow we want to go out for day. How do u deal with naps on days out? Any help apreciated thanks

[creations]

The 11.30pm NW sounds a bit OT, his nap was shorter than usual yesterday wasn't it?  So could have been that. Great news that he resettled at the 5.30 though!  yay!

How do u deal with naps on days out?

I don't.  Sorry can't help.  We're always home for the nap, or at least he will start it in the car on the way home and I transfer him to his bed.

[j.and.e]

I usually wing it on a day out, but will often get a short nap, e.g 45min or an hr either in the pram, train, car etc. We go out for the day about once a wk and is not a problem. E.g usual routine is wu 7, nap 1-2.30 bt 8pm. Y'day we went out all day and he did a nap 3-4pm in the buggy, then bt 8.30, wu 7.30. Today he did nap 1.30-3 and bt 7.30pm. I dont worry too much with my guy thou as he handles late nap Ok and is happy if we are out with things to do xx

[AN190781]

Yesterday went:
A - 6.45am well the time he got up not sure when he woke
s - 12.30
A - 2.30
S- 7.30
 he went to sleep brilliant. He woke at 3.30am and quickly resettled. But he woke again about 5.45am. Am i expecting too much for him to sleep in longer already? Hes looking tired today, do i still try and stretch him to 12.30?

Thanks

[AN190781]

So we managed to hold on until naptime today and he went to sleep at 12.45pm.  I went out and left DS with DH.  When I came back he had only just woke up at 3.30pm!   I wasn't really sure what time to do bt, so I went with it a bit to see how he was and he went down at 7.45pm like a breeze.  Was that monster nap OT building up because I have been stretching him to far?  My only problem now is that I expect he will wake again at 5.30am in the morning as he has caught up today.  How can I ever get a later wake up?

Thanks for any tips.

[AN190781]

Yep he woke at 5.30am
he is very tired today so now im not sure what to do. Im thinking of nap at 12.00pm until 2.00pm then bed at 7. I think he may be getting too tired. Once we get to 6.00am wake up then we can try pushing it on? Although i really think we just have an early riser!

[creations]

I think I'd more likely go for a 12.30 nap (until 2.30) and keep it consistent for a good while.  Set BT too, maybe 7.30pm.
Or nap at 12.00 and BT at 7pm.  But I'd stick with one rather than changing daily.
You can't avoid days out, winging naps, and the time it takes following to get back on track. But I really think that a consistent routine with set nap and BT would help at this point.  There are just too many variables to see a pattern emerging.

With my DS his morning WU was inconsistent (but always too early) but set naps and BT worked a treat.  Yes they didn't 'fix' his early mornings but they did keep him reasonably well rested.  A true EW is less than 10hrs sleep which we do get time to time, although more usually 10 to 10.5hr nights.

It is possible to move the day on an hour, I did it at daylight savings but I also found that things didn't go as I had expected.  It's not quite as simple as just moving it all on and the routine being the same but an hour later, it's more like move it on and see what you're left with then work with that to tweak.

What is the behaviour like at the 5.30am WU?  Playful and happy or grouchy and tired?  Is there any way of resettling?

[j.and.e]

Tbh i think u may be expecting too much sleep. My guy is low sleep so 11hr nite and 1.5nap is gd for him. If ur man does a 3hr nap and a 10hr nite thats a v respectable 13hrs. I know u think he needs a long nap due to the early start, but if u keep a long nap u need to push bt. If u want a long nite u need a shorter nap. Theres only so much sleep they can do! Xx

[AN190781]

Thanks for your help.  What you are saying totally makes sense, I think I was just looking for a quick fix!

He generally seems quite happy when he wakes, i did try him with a cup of milk at 5.45am this morning and then let him try to go back to sleep but he didn't.  He seems tired this morning but not miserable or grumpy. 

We'll try 12.30 - 2.30 again as this is the routine at nursery, 12.30 nap, so it's the easiest to stick to.  I am enjoying the later nights and our nw's have been very few.  He's been going to bed so much easier at 7.30pm and very quick.  Taking this into account he is doing 10hr nights so like you say not an EW.  I just need to make sure he wakes after 2 hours for his nap! Hopefully a later morning will follow in time.

Thanks for your help.

[AN190781]

j.and.e Yes I think it is finally clicking that I may be expecting too much!  One of my friends lo sleeps all night, but then hardly sleeps in the day, I suppose you can't have it all!  I do enjoy the break in the day for the housework!It's just the early mornings are a bit hard going.

[creations]

It's also good to keep in mind that routine changes do take time to settle in.  A shorter nap won't necessarily suddenly produce a longer night, but may over time.
As an adult looking back at my working career I would always wake at the weekend at 6am - 6.30am even though my alarm clock was not on because I had to get up then for work all week.  But then I'd go back to sleep and have a lie in...by monday morning it would be difficult to get up at 6am again just from a couple of days not getting up.  Our bodies generally like a regular sleep pattern but we personally like to switch it around by late nights, lie ins, and holidays on different time zones.  It makes sense that LOs also take time to adapt to different sleep routines.

[AN190781]

So we r still having 5.30am wakings in the morning. Yesterday we popped out in the morning he fell asleep in the car at 9.45am.  Which is very early snd went into quite a deep sleep. Luckily the journey wasnt too long so i woke him when we stopped after 15 mins. So he was fighting his nap and went at 1 for 1.5 hours then bt was 7.30.  we had a nw at 12.30 which seems to b the norm, i am wondering if this is ot and what to do now? We r have consistent 5.30am wu where as before it could wu's.  I am considering wake 2 sleep. Even though he still seems happy he does seem more tired.

Thanks for any help

[creations]

Yes, that sound OT if he was still tired and falling to sleep for a nap so early.  Are you noticing any developmental leaps, new skills, maybe language?  I think my DS's sleep is disrupted by language right now (on top of teeth, and the tail end of a virus) as he is coming out with a new word or two every day.

Is he getting his full 2hr nap?

[AN190781]

Yes he is learning more words at the moment, also it seems like his canines are still giving him trouble, he doesn't seem to like sucking his cups for his drinks at the moment.  We had a nw at 1.00 - 2.30am this morning, I had to re-settle with milk and meds.  He only a drank a little milk, then woke up at 6.30am.

Yesterday went:
A - 5.30AM
S - 11.40 could not last any longer
A- 1.30
S- 7.15 again shatttered

Thanks for your help

[creations]

S - 11.40 could not last any longer

Oh I've had similar with canines coming too.

They have such a lot to go through at this time in their lives it's amazing they get any sleep at all.  I think if you stick with the set nap and BT (but how can I say it, flexibly stick with because clearly today he couldn't make it any later which is understandable and you should respond to his needs of course) then when things settle down again there will be something of a regular routine there to see what needs tweaking.

We had less than 10 hrs sleep last night plus all day nap refusal here today. phew it's exhausting eh?