Can't get my 17 month old to go to bed or stop waking at between 4 & 5 for the day!

[msb1]

I'm at a loss as to what else I can do. My dd slept wonderfully until she was 6 months old (down at 7, up at 7 with two naps) then it suddenly it all went wrong! It takes over an hour every night to settle her & when she does finally fall asleep she wakes up again between 4 & 5 every morning! I've tried moving her bedtime both later & earlier, giving her more milk when she get up early, bringing her into our bed, leaving her in her cot & so many other things I can't remember but she still thinks that between 4 & 5 is when she should get up! Nothing I've tried seems to have any effect on her sleep! Any help or advice would be great!

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

What are her naps like in the day msb and what time is bedtime?

[msb1]

Now she normally has a nap between 1-2pm and she goes to bed at about 6.30. However this morning she feel asleep at about 7.30 til about 9! (i cant remember the last time she had an am nap) If I try and get her to nap in her cot, she screams until I come in and get her!

[feekerry]

i feel your pain. dd is 18m and like this.
what has worked a bit better recently is putting her to bed about 8pm then she sleeps till about 6am. if i put her to bed any earlier she is up for the day about 4/5am. i just don't think she can sleep more than 10 hours a night. i then let her nap about 11ish as she is pooped by then. she will sleep for an hour or so then that means she is suitable pooped for bed at 8pm.
if your dd goes to bed at 6.30pm then 10 hours would mean 4/5am.
i would def keep trying to persist with a later bed time!!

[nextphase]

Agree, bedtime needs to go back.
Mine have never slept (even with wakes) for more than 10-11 hrs/ night.
Your going to have to deal with shifting things at the end of the month anyway, or the clock changes will make that wake time even less appealing!

We found shifting food times by a similar amount to the desired waking time helped - so breakfast, lunch and dinner all shifted an hour later to allow a later bedtime. Shifting bed without food was a disaster.

[heidihole]

Bedtime needs to go back. DS is 16 months and will sleep 11 hours at night but no more.

Goes to bed at 8pm and awake at 7am. If he goes at 7.45pm he's awake at 6.45am.

He then sleeps 1.5-2 hours at lunch.

[feekerry]

also agree that meal times need to shift back accordingly too as do bath times etc

[msb1]

By the time she falls asleep it's probably 7.30 - 8 which was the time she was going to bed before but then she wouldn't fall asleep until 9 which is way too late for me and she was still waking between 4& 5! I moved it earlier as I thought that she was getting over tired. I didn't have this problem with my now 5 year old ds, he's always been a great sleeper& I'd really hoped she'd be the same! We've got a good routine, bath, pjs, milk& a story then bed. Once she's in her cot that's it, she doesn't come out unless she's really upset and then it's just for a cuddle to calm her. I'm going to put her to bed later tonight& see how it goes. She's been like this for nearly a year now so whatever happens its not going to be any worse, I hope!

[omama]

OP - There is a wonder week at around 17 months where things can suddenly go wonky with sleep, & then a huge developmental leap at 18 months, so if her nights have suddenly changed, it could be down to this, & it will settle down again in a few weeks.

However, I do want to ask - how long does she nap for op? it reads like she has less than an hour - is that right?

If that is the case, I'm going to disagree with the others about her needing a later bedtime. She is only 17 months old & an hour max is probably not enough. My guess is she is overtired by naptime & so only taking a shortish nap, then is absolutely pooped by bedtime, & hence why she is waking early.

She is up an awful long time from her early waking to a nap sometime between 1-2pm - so IIWY I would bring her nap a bit earlier, to between 12-12.30. See if it encourages a longer nap. If she takes a good 2hr sleep, 6.30pm bedtime would likely be too early, so I would aim for bedtime around 7.30pm. If her nap is shorter, do an earlier bedtime. So 1.5hrs - bedtime at 7pm, 1hrs or less, bed at 6.30pm. Stick with it for a week or so & see what happens.

If it helps, at that age, my DS (who up to 15 months was also an early waker) was doing the following:
Up: 7ish
Nap: 12.30-2.30
Bed: 7.30

We had a wonky stage with earlier wakeups & fighting bedtime at 19-20 months then he settled into the following routine

Up: 7ish
Nap: 1-3/3.30
Bed: 8

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Totally agree with omama . It is a very long time for her to be awake in the day and I too would move the nap forward. Also agree on wonder weeks, it might be worth getting the book from the library or checking their website. There is also a huge sleep regression about now.

I'd do all the things omama says! but also! is she very tall? My friends dd was just like this and was very tall. The HV suggested feeding her 5 or six small meals a day instead of 3 meals and 2 snacks. It took my friend a bit of getting used to but her dd loved it and started sleeping through. Could have been coincidence but she could have just been hungry.