14m early morning wake up post 2 to 1 nap transition

[lovingdad]

hi all, my 14m old has just dropped his morning nap after we were advised by nursery he no longer needs it as it was taking too long to fall asleep in the morning and only napped 45 mins in the afternoon. He is now doing 1.5-2hrs in the afternoon, but is waking early. Current routing is:

Wake up 5/5.30
5oz Milk 6.30
Breakfast 7.30/45
Snack 10am
Nap 12.30/1 for 1.5-2 hours
Snack 3pm
Dinner 4.45pm
Snack 6pm
Bath, 8oz milk and asleep by 7pm

He self soothes and falls asleep by himself, and does this throughout the night. Ideally need him to be waking up at 6.30 as im conscious his awake time in the morning is too long and he is knackered by the time he needs his nap. Any ideas are much appreciated.

[Haribo2012]

Hi there often EW can be a sign of OT, is he at nursery every day?
My DS1 went to 1 nap at 13 months but DS2 had 30 min CN at 9.30am then long nap at 12.40pm until he was 18 months.
Personally I’d try offering a CN when you have him but if not try bringing BT 15/30 mins earlier for a few days see if he gets a longer night.

[lovingdad]

thanks for the advice. only thing we changed last night was giving him a more substantial snack at 6/6.15 and we had to wake him at 6.30am this morning after going to bet at 7pm. fingers crossed he stays like this

[Haribo2012]

Great update hope it continues

[lovingdad]

so this lasted all of 2 days, and now we are back to early morning wake ups. this week has varied from 4.45-6am, far too early. by the time i drop him to nursery he sleeps for 10-15 mins in the car. his afternoon nap is anything from 1hr15-2hrs at 12.30. really at a loose end here, this is by far the earliest he has ever got up. any ideas would be greatly appreciated

[Haribo2012]

Is prob ask same questions as before!?

[lovingdad]

he is at nursery 3 times  a week, from tues-thurs but we keep the routine the same on days he is not at nursery

[Haribo2012]

What were your thoughts on the CN mid morning or EBT?

[Katet]

The early wakings & the trips with the nap in the car are hard. MY Ds1 was an early waker & we had an hour trip each way to work/childcare & so it was really hard to work out what to do with the naps & bedtimes as he was a poor napper at daycare with the busyness of the place. I found it impossible to get a 12hour night sleep from either of my boys, so we ultimately opted for different things with both. With DS1 the early wakings resulted in me making some changes to my work hours (started earlier & finished earlier) & so he had an earlier nap at daycare & then a nap in the car on the way home & bedtime was a bit later so he got the 10.5hours night sleep that seemed to be matched to his needs. I forced him to 1 nap at 20 months when I started Maternity leave for DS2.  DS2 rarely did more than 10hours overnight (except random 14/15 hour nights when he dropped his nap at 3+yo) so 8pm to 6am was a good night for him. When he was 14mo I was working from home & so I really needed his nap to be at the same time as DS1 & that was 1.30pm... impossible from 6am, so he had a cat nap in the morning.... when DS1 dropped his nap DS2 was about 20 months & We moved his Nap earlier & he'd take a catnap in the afternoon either on a car trip or in the stroller or even occasionally on my lap at home.

What I'm trying to say is maybe the reason he early wakes is he is a child who can't do the "textbook dream" of close to 12hours overnight & is stuck in a 2 to 1 transition where 5+ hours of A time is too long, but 2 naps are really hard to balance & so there is no ideal esp when Nursery times tend to be set & 12.30 is too late so they end up overtired but a morning nap robs day sleep.

A few things you could try is
* later bedtime & maybe the 10min sleep will be on the way home & later waking might happen, but with a 12.30 nap even with a 6.30am wake up that is a LONG wait for 14mo
* Offering differently timed naps on non nursery days to see if that helped with preventing Overtired.
* Just know that "this too will pass" as he gets older & embrace the early mornings & change your day pattern to match.

[lovingdad]

@haribo2012 - tried a catnap for 20 mins at 9 and that still hasn’t helped his night time sleep

@katet - thanks. I hope it does pass. He did used to do minimum 11-11.5hrs before, it’s only since the clocks have gone back his bedtime has stayed the same but his wake up has gotten earlier and earlier. Today was 5.20, after a 20min catnap at 9am yesterday and a 1hr40 min nap at 1. Tried putting him down at 7.20 yesterday but still no joy

[lovingdad]

Yesterday we gave him 2 solid naps as he was up at 5.20, one from 9-10 whilst we were travelling and again at 1.20-2.45. Bed time at 7 and still a 5.15am wake up this morning

[Haribo2012]

Yesterday we gave him 2 solid naps as he was up at 5.20, one from 9-10 whilst we were travelling and again at 1.20-2.45. Bed time at 7 and still a 5.15am wake up this morning

To be honest with 2 naps that overall wasn’t a bad amount of sleep, if you look at over day and night...2.25 hours day sleep and 10 hours 15 at night.
My DS1 only ever really did 10.5 hours over night but needed a longer nap so we had to accept 5.30 WU and 7/7.30 BT for a good while.
You could try later BT on a good long nap day?

[Katet]

I'd agree it's a good amount of sleep over 24hours, I think the problem is he's not ready to have the A time to be on one nap & so to get 2 naps it cuts into night sleep... the unfortunate thing about babies & toddlers is what worked last month may not work this month & it keeps changing.

When things like Nursery dictate parts of the day it's lots of trial & error & often just never quite getting the ideal (why I just ended up accepting that 5.30am was the start to my Day - maybe made easier by the fact that all through my childhood that was when my parents started their day anyway.

[lovingdad]

Totally agree Katet wrt what worked last month may not work this month, constant minefield.

Yesterday he was up at 5.15am, 30 mins nap at 9 and then sleps for 1hr30 at 1.30 (up for a little bit in between) so i decided to try and put him down a little later at 7.30pm and he woke at 6.15am this morning. Hopefully this works tonight as well. Thanks for both of your help, much appreciated!

[Haribo2012]

Great stuff sounds like a better day.