13 months wakes very early--only takes one nap.

[AGS Mom]

We were previously having problems with night wakings, but now have a son who wakes at 5:30 AM every morning!!  It doesn't matter if he goes to bed at 7 or 9 PM he still gets up at 5:30 ( we tried pushing back bedtime to see if he would get up later--it didn't matter.)  He switched from 2 naps to one about 6 weeks ago (I've been told that he is too young for only one nap (1-2 hours usually 1 1/2 hours)).  I was under the impression that he should sleep 10-11 hours at night and 2 hours for naps at this age.  He is most definitely not getting enough sleep, but I don't know what to do.  Should we try to go back to 2 naps?  He was really fighting the PM nap and it kept getting later and later.
Please help.

[Carys' mom]

Hi,

We're having a similar problem with our dd who is almost 13 months. She dropped down to one nap several weeks ago too, and usually will only sleep between an hour to an hour and a half. The other day she only napped 40 minutes the entire day!  Plus, she wakes up early (around 5-ish) and has a very tough time getting back to sleep. I think it may be teething (molars) causing the problem. It just seems to be neverending. 

Sorry I haven't been of much help here - I hope we both find help!

Thanks...

[zelkad]

Hi


If the nap is occuring in the morning, then that is the problem.  Early wakeups are often reinforced by early morning naps. Baby keeps waking up early because he knows that he'll be allowed to fall back asleep in a few hours anyway.  (We got over this a while ago)  Our lo is only 12 1/2 months and he is only on one nap a day too and he's just fine.  Yes, this normally does occur later though.  What I would suggest is that you slowly push back his morning nap by 15  minutes or so everyday until he is napping after lunch.  When we did this we had three weeks of crabbiness, overtired baby and mom, and 45 minute naps. ....it does get better.  If you just stick to a later nap (in increments so you don't shock the poor guy of course, he should adjust, just be consistent.)

Our sleep scehdule now is 7 - 7 (sometimes 6:45 am) with an afternoon nap from 12:30 to 2:30.  If we did it, anyone can!

Good luck
I'd love to hear what happens
Zelka

[Luisasmum]

Don't know what I can do to help but my dd also self weaned onto one nap at about 13 months. Thankfully though, she has a 2.5/3 hour nap in the arvo so I can't complain. When she was weaning herself onto the one nap she was clearly not coping well but now she has adjusted to the one nap. She is 15 months. I hope you lo works it all out soon too! With the morning wakings, maybe you could try wake to sleep???