21 Month Old Wide awake early hours - Help

[AN190781]

Hi,

I have posted on here many times for help, mainly because my DS is a very early riser.  However we are now having nw's mainly around 3.30 - 4.30, with no crying, just wide awake and chatting!
I have had many problems, with trying to get him to sleep longer, we tend to go in many ot/ut cycles, and I'm not sure if we are there again.  Here is the last couple of days routine:

A - 5.30/6.00am
S - 11.45
A - 2.00
S - 7.00

Today he woke early again, this is not uncommon, I have tried before at pushing everything back, but then we have a very long day, which I'm worried will cause OT.  He's at nursery 4 days a week, it's hit and miss how long he will sleep there for, sometimes 2 hours, other could be an hour.  If he only sleeps an hour should I put him to bed early, or is he old enough to cope better now?  I'm so paranoid of him getting OT, as he has bad SA when OT. He has been an awful sleeper since 5 months, and I'm feeling very tired and drained by the whole sleep issues we have.  Should we establish a routine and stick to it consistently, no matter how long he naps? Should I try cutting his naps?  I feel I try to compensate at home for his short naps at nursery, but I'm not sure if this is causing ut?

Any advice welcome. 

Thanks

[clairebear79]

Hiya

I too had an early waker & the one & only thing I have ever found that helps is to do a later nap, which will enable you to also have a later bedtime.  The combination of the 2 will result in a later wakeup for sure.  Your DS's naptime is pretty early really, at that age my DS was doing (& still is doing):

Up:       7am
Nap:     1-3pm (sometimes even 3.30pm)
BT:        7.50pm (aiming for 8pm asleep)
Asleep: 8-8.30 (depending on length of nap)

A lot of people groan at having to have a later bedtime but the reality is this: your DS is still having a decent length nap of 2h 15mins, so the most you can really expect him to sleep at night on a regular basis (at this age) is 10.5-11hrs.  So if you keep a 7pm bedtime then his wakeup will likely stay early.  Add to that if you keep his nap early, as his need for extra A time in the morning grows, he will start to wake earlier and earlier.

You could consider cutting the nap a bit shorter (in order to encourage a longer night).  I did try this initially, before settling on the above routine, because I didn't fancy the thought of an 8pm BT, but I have to say I found my DS just got very very overtired & his nights got even shorter.  We had to accept he still needs a decent nap in the day in order to be well rested & happy, and sleep well at night.  IIWY I would first of all try doing a later nap.  If, after several weeks, the short nights continue, you could then start to cut the nap back a bit.

Now the question of how you get the nap later without him getting OT: if I'm totally honest it is very difficult to achieve.  The way I did it was to push the nap later by 15mins per week, so for 1 week do nap at 12pm and BT at 7pm, for the next week do nap 12.15, bedtime 7.15 and so on.  Unfortunately, he will likely get overtired, because you are pushing him from an early wakeup to a later naptime.  Its quite likely that he may do some short naps, on these days do an earlier bedtime but no matter when he wakes the next day, keep him up to the new set naptime.  It will take a few weeks for his bodyclock to adjust to the new regime, but if you stick with it, the later wakeup time will follow.

HTH.x

[AN190781]

Thank you!  Sometimes I feel lost with it, so it is good to hear form someone who has already been there!

So yesterday went:

A - 5.30
S - 12.15
A - 1.55
S - 7.30

We had a really good solid night he woke just after 5.30am this morning, he was in bed earlier than 7.30 last night, but was sick after having one of the biggest tantrums before bed that I have ever seen.  He's not ill, I think he was a little piggy yesterday, then had a big tantrum and meltdown and made himself sick!  But it was a better night.  So tonight I will aim for the 7.15pm bed if he has had a good nap.

Your advice has really made sense, I think my problem is that on days when he has been at home, I have put him down for his nap earlier thinking that he was tired.  When he could have lasted a bit longer really.  I really don't mind the later nights, as you say he is having a good length nap, this will mean on nursery days, we will see him for longer which is what I've been wanting for a long time.  I now know how to try and get there.


Thanks so much for your help x