26.5 month old's early wakening and weird nap

[Mystic]

  My son is 26.5 months old and this is what our schedule looks likes everyother day:

5:00am awake
6:00am milk
6:30am breakfast
9:30am snack
10:00am nap until 12:00pm
12:30pm lunch
2:30pm snack
4:30pm milk
5:00pm dinner
6:30pm in bed
7:00pm asleep

  Then on the next day he will not go to sleep until 10:30am and only sleeps for 45 mins to an hour.  On those days I put him down at 6:00pm but he still does not go to sleep until 7:00pm.  Then he wakes up at 4:30am.  He is waking up way to early.  He does seem to be in a good mood on the days he gets his two hour nap.  Use to he would sleep til 6:00 am and go down for a nap at 11:00 but one day he started waking up at 5:00 and I have not been able to get him to sleep in since.  His nap at 11:00 was only an hour.  It was not until I moved him to a 10:00 nap time that he started sleeping 2 hours.  He was always tired at 10:00 no matter what time he woke up and if he went to sleep at any other time he would only sleep an hour, I have tried moving his nap time.  I guess the hard time I am having is not only the 5:00 or 4:30 getting up but also the days that he only sleeps 45 min to an hour.  Any suggestions on what may be going on.

Thanks,
Christi

[Florencia]

The days he gets a 45 min nap will wake at 430 am in the next morning... that's pretty indicative he's overtired and then is waking super early. By all means try to extend the nap when he does this (that is, waking before 1 hour of nap). You may use any of the methods describe in this forum like wake to sleep (you go in the room at the 30 min mark, rub his back and jiggle him a little to make him half-concious and then pat him to go back to sleep, that way, you start a new sleep cycle and break the habit of waking at the 45 min mark) or wi/wo, the minute he wakes if he's crying you go to him, lay him down, rub his back/forehead and tell him is time to sleep and walk out. Only walk in if he's crying for you after counting to 10. if he's happy and playing let him be, he'll settle himself and to your surprise, he might goback to sleep. Do this wi/wo until he settles or until the "desired" nap time is over. It might take a few days, but eventually he'll learn to sleep through his nap.

Along this, i would implement a 6 pm bedtime, even if he goes down until 7, he needs an earlier bedtime since he's waking from his nap super early. WIth an early bedtime you might prevent overtiredness and hence, an early waking next day.

HTH and keep us posted!

[imsmum]

There are a bunch of us who have been posting recently on the shortened night sleep, crazy napping around age 2 with night sleep of less than 10 hours but still nappinganywhere from 1 to 2 hours on a bit of an eratic basis.  I don't think we've come up with an explanation/solution other than possibly teething and/or that it's developmental. It's almost like they're in that stage of 1 nap is still needed but it has the effect of interfering with night sleep.  I think the only thing you can do is maybe shift the nap and sleep times forward in 15 minute increments until a tolerable wakeup time and to try to ride out the occasional 1 hour nap by trying an earlier betime (rarely works for my lo ) but she'll usually have a slightly longer nap the next day to make up for it.

[Mystic]

Things have gotten worse here.  He is still waking up anywhere from 4:00am to 5:00am but today we slept until 6:00am.  The only problem is that even though he slept in he is more tired and cranky.  He was tired at 9:00am this morning but I put off going down for a nap until 10:00 and he was asleep by 10:30am.  He woke at 11:30am and when we went to go eat he was so tired he just stared off into space and would not eat.  He has been screaming at me since.  Since my post he has not taken a two hour nap.  They have all been 1 hour but it just does not seem to be enough and there is way to much time between nap and bedtime.  I have been putting him down at 6:00pm lately but he is over tired and still not going to sleep until 7:00pm sometimes 7:30pm.  I have no idea what to do.  Should I keep trying to get him to go to sleep at 6:00pm?  Will wake to sleep extended a one hour nap?  It seems that he needs more then just an hour for his nap.  If wake to sleep will work do I go into kinda wake him at the 55 min mark or early?  Thank you so much for the help.

Thanks,
Christi

[Florencia]

IT really dpendes on what you feel suits your household better. My first take would be trying to extend the nap without the wake to sleep, say the minute he wakes if he's crying, you go to him and settle him, with some pat/sh or pd and try to get him to sleep again, even if that means you have to stay in the room for a while or for the desired nap lenght. You should be able to slowly remove yourself from the room if he settles with you there. If he's not crying, don't get him till he does... some lo's just talk to themselves during the nap and then go back to sleep. Some other moms do some reassurance from the door (it's still nap time, etc)... if by 1 week of trying this, you're still having trouble to extend the nap, then you should go for wake to sleep. If the nap is lasting 1 hour consistantly and he's still tired, then you go in the 45 min mark and gently rub his back or something to not wake him fully, just kind of "resetting" him, and he should be able to start another sleep cycle for another hour or so.

During this process and if the nap is still short, keep trying the early bedtime so he can make up for the lost sleep and preventing overtiredness that can shoot another sleep issues when it shows up.

I hope i made some sense here, keep us posted if you need anything else.

[Mystic]

I will try what you said and see how it goes.  Thank you for your advice.