Can l do anything to change this early waking?

[Rara27]

Morning!

My DS, aged 18 months, has been waking up at about 5am for the past 6 weeks, if not longer!, but it can vary between 4.30 and 6am.

l would like some help and advice on how to remedy this if possible please.

If he wakes at 4.30 l can get him to go back to sleep on me, in my bed (not something l want to continue long term even if it is nice) but after 5am he is ready to start his day, which l am not as three nights a week l do late shifts so don't get to bed until 12.30.

Our easy is something like this

WU - 4.30 - 6am
Nap - 5 hours after waking - this can be between 1.5 & 3 hours long
lunch - this can be before or after depending on the time he naps.
dinner - 4.30/5pm
Bed - 6/6.30

A couple of questions

Should he be on a 12 hour day? 5am WU 5pm BT?
l read that he should nap 5 hours after waking - is this true?
l think this started of as sleep regression and a wonder week leap? But now lm wondering if its just a habit that needs breaking. l have thought about doing the W2S but l'm just too tired & too scared to do this incase he starts his day even earlier!

l hope l've posted this in the right area.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

If his naps can be up to 3 hours I wonder if he is just ut? Normally yes you would try for a 12 hour day but depends on the lo - lower sleep needs might need a longer day and vice versa for high sleep needs. We have never had longer than 11 hr nights on average with DD3 so our days were 13 + hours (when she napped it was usually 1.5 hrs until I had to cap it, but she is very low sleep needs).

[jessmum46]

I'm also wondering if a set nap time would help - a long nap too early in the day can perpetuate your early starts.  Perhaps you need to pick a day where he wakes closer to the 6am, set your nap at 11am and stick to it regardless, and then aim to push that slowly forwards to more like 12pm which is a more typical nap time?

[Rara27]

Thank you so much!

l had forgotten that he was low sleep needs - having dropped his cat nap at 4 months and down to 1 nap before his 1st birthday l assume he is LSN?

So, on the basis that he maybe could do a 13 hour day, some bedtimes he really fights it and its gone 7.30 before he's asleep, he could do 6.30/7 WU and 7.30 BT?

l need to get in the habit of doing a diary of his day again but lm so tired that it's slipped abit, that way l can keep a track on what times he is starting his day.

Thank you both, l will start this today. l'm assuming it won't miraculously change over night but fingers crossed it doesn't take too long.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

How has it been going? He sounds similar to my lsn DD3 tbh!   We had a 7:00 ish wake time and an 8:00 pm bedtime at this age. Her nap was pretty short though, we were down to 45 min and stopped naps at 22 months.

[Rara27]

Please don't tell me naps will disappear altogether soon  not sure l could cope with that 

I can't remember what time he got up Friday morning but the days since then look like this

Fri
Nap - 1.15-12.30
BT - 6.45

Sat
WU - 5.15
Nap - not sure but he was awake by midday when l finished work
BT - 7.20

Sun
WU - 4.10 & 5.15- I managed to get him back to sleep again both times, woke again at 7.05
Nap - 12 - 1.25

Obviuosly happy with him waking at 7 this morning. Does this look right to you?

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

They may not disappear so soon for you! Hopefully anyways. We did do quiet playtime in the crib so I cluld have a break and now she will happily have quiet time on the couch with a show if we need.

I would say to watch the nap isn't too long and maybe consider doing set naps and bed - that often works better than A times by this age. This is also prime time for a sleep regression too so it also can just be a phase.

[Rara27]

Today's bedtime was at 7:10.

Do you think that 1.5 hours nap time could be too long then?

Think l'm aiming for 12-1.30 for nap time and bedtime nearer to 7.30 but obviously don't want to push him to that straight away. We had lots of whining between 6.30 and 7 this evening.

I did Google and find the sleep regression for his age but itfeels like its been going on for so long now that wasn't sure if it had passed and now it was a habit.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

I would try a 1.5 hour nap for a good week or two before deciding to chop it more. My DD3 is a pretty unusual example even for low sleep needs!

[Rara27]

This is our EASY from Monday

MONDAY
WU - 6:50
NAP - 12.25-1.25 went out in pushchair, took longer to get him to sleep than l expected
BT - 7 ish!

TUES
WU - 6:.15 resettled up at 7
NAP - 12.10-1.40
BT - 7.20

WED
WU - 5.41 5.56 6.08 resettled then got up at 6.43
NAP - 12.27 - 2.10
BT - 7.15

THURS
WU - 6.06 6.21 resettled then into my bed at 6.36 pretty much up then

Looking at that l'm assuming l need to reduce his nap time a little bit more?
He seems really tired and grumpy in the mornings and after nap time - is this something he just has to get used to?

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

He might just be one of those people who isn't a happy waker (lol I am one and two ofy kids are - at least I can drink coffee )  I would give it a few more days before cutting the nap - are there nw's? Or solid sleep?

[Rara27]

He must take after me then, I'm grumpy when after a sleep!

He sleeps through, no wakings. I'll keep up with the diary and give you another update soon. Thanks, Heidi.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

You're welcome! 10.5/11 hour nights were the norm here until the nap was totally gone unfortunately!

[Rara27]

Hi Heidi

We were doing so well but it seems to have gone so wrong again and so quickly.

Yesterday l spent 75 minutes trying to get him to nap  he eventually fell asleep and had 90 minutes. Bedtime was also a battle but l don't know for how long as l wasn't home and then he woke at 4am! He's been doing this since the weekend or thereabouts!

Do you think it's time to drop the nap all together? 

Is there anything else it could be?

Many thanks as always.

[Scottishmummy]

How old is he now & what time would his nap normally start?

Could he need the start of the nap pushing later if he's taking a long time to settle the waking early in the morning too?

My DS gradually pushed his nap later and later (& therefore shorter as I still woke around same time) as part of the 1-0. I would try a later shorter nap before cutting it completely, if possible.