1 year old early wakings

[Ilijansmum]

Hello everyone, I was wondering if you could help me with my LO's early wakings. He has always been an early riser - before 7, but now he sometimes wakes up at 5am and wont go back to sleep and it's been a long while since he hasn't woken up after 6. I tried all the tips and tricks from the book, but he just stands up in the crib and cries until we go in his room. Otherwise he falls asleep on his own but with me in sight and sleeps thru most of the nights. We recently finished the 2-1 transition, so he has 1 2-hour nap between 11/12 and 13/14, depending on when he wakes up. He goes to bed at 7:30 and I'm afraid he's not getting enough sleep because his days are 14 hours and he seems to get tired and sleepy really quickly after waking up. I tried to maintain the 2 naps, but the days seemed to be even longer and bedtime later and more difficult. Thank you in advance!

[creations]

Hi there
Sorry to see you didn't get a reply yet.

If your LO is close to his birthday then some of the sleep disturbance may be developmental, nights can be shorter even though LO is tired through the developmental leap.  Eventually the sleep extends again.

If he has recently dropped to 1 nap he could be a bit OT.  You could bring BT earlier to try to avoid too long an A time before BT. It looks like he's getting 5.5 - 6.5hr awake before BT which could be too long.  Maybe try to aim for 5hr instead.  It can take a while to settle into the 1 nap routine so he could still be trying to work all that out.  Offering earlier BT can help even though you might fear and even earlier WU.  If he is OT before BT this can cause the EW.  And based on the fact he is tired it does sound like he could do with a bit more sleep.

The other thing you can do is switch to a set nap and set BT.  At around 1yo and when on 1nap we usually advise set times instead of A times.  This gives LO some additional consistency and the ability to regulate their own sleep.
Instead of offering the nap between 11am and 12pm based on what time he woke up you would "set" the nap time and put him down at that time every day regardless of when he woke.  Same at BT although it looks like you already have a "set" BT if it is 7.30pm daily, but you might move this set time to 7pm.
By "set" this doesn't mean that you never ever change it but rather you first off guess what might be the most suitable time,stick to it for a while and see what happens, then if it looks like it's not quite right you shift it and make the new time "set".  With age and changing needs as months go by you might change it again to a new "set" time.  Also if LO had a particularly stimulating day or was poorly or teething you would judge on the day if something needed to move, but the general routine is "set".  Hope that makes sense.

Hope that helps.

[Ilijansmum]

Hello! Thank you so much for your advice. We've moved BT to 7pm for the past 4 days, he falls asleep easily, but not much changed so far in the mornings. The first day he slept till 5am, but I managed to extend till 6. He had a 2h20 nap at 11.30, then I woke him up because I was afraid that if he sleeps past 2pm he wont be able to fall asleep at 7. Maybe I was wrong to do it? The night he woke up at 1am crying, asked to hold my hand and took him 30 min.to go back to sleep. He woke up at 5.10am and didn't go back to sleep, was very cranky so we put him down at 8-9:20am and again 13:15-14pm. The night he slept from 7pm-5.15am, then it took me 45 min.but I managed to get additional 20 min.from 6-6:20. He had 1 nap 11.10-12.35pm. The night he woke up at 9, then at 4, then at 5.15. He'll probably need 2 naps today again. Does it look like OT to you? I cant seem to establish a proper routine with either 1 or 2 naps in order to introduce a set time and from previous experience, having 1 or 2 naps doesnt seem to change much in the mornings. Should I try W2S? Or just make sure he sleeps as much as he wants in case he's OT? How much day sleep is too much? I dont have the impression that having 1 or 2 naps changes anything in the mornings, we've had good and bad situations with both. Thank you for your help!!!

[creations]

Being able to extend the night to 6 or 6.20am is good.  It might not feel so great because you have had to get up and spend time resettling LO but really it is a big improvement from waking at 5am and not going back to sleep.

I would let him sleep as long as he likes for the one nap.  Tracy Hogg described LOs on 1 nap having a 3hr nap (few of us get to enjoy that though I must admit!) so don't worry about it being longer than 2 hrs.
I think, looking at what has happened I would go for 11.30 set nap time. He did a good nap on the day he woke (after resettle) at 6am but you put him down earlier the day he woke at 6.20 (after longer NW) and didn't nap as long.  I'm going to guess that 11.30 would be a time to try and it is quite a common time for 1 nap to start on too.  If WU moves later you may need to move the nap later but for now I'd stick to 11.30, part of the reason is to encourage him to stay asleep longer at night, part is so that there is not too long a time before BT.

You can also try 6.30pm BT if he is tired, you might have more luck resettling the NW and avoiding OT.
hope this helps