Getting DS to sleep past 5am

[LittleMilla]

I have been hanging out in sleep for ages on this, but thought I'd try here for any inspiration from those that have gone through this. We're desperate.

My DS is 14 months and almost consistently (bar a two week blissful break) has woken up at about 5am since he was 9 mo.

We have tried to jiggle his daytime naps - he's much happier having a long sleep in the morning and then 40 mins in the afternoon - usually totally about 2 hours. We've moved bedtime earlier, later etc. But NOTHING seems to make a difference. When he goes down later he'll still wake up at the same time, but then just sleep longer for his nap.

DH has said we ought to try getting him on one nap a day and we've just packed DS off to nursery asking them to give it a whirl today.

Will this be the 'magic bullet' and how long should we wait before expecting to see any results??

I really feel your pain, but I'm afraid I don't have a solution. It's 5.30am in this house most days (DS is 15 months) but we had a lie-in today, he slept until 6.10am :o

Nothing we try seems to make any difference, so to be honest I just got used to the idea that he's an early bird. Most days now he only has one nap around lunchtime (although when he wakes really early I have to put him down for a morning nap as well as he is very,very difficult when tired). But having only one nap doesn't seem to make any difference. As you say, he wakes up at the same time, even if we move bedtime.

He goes to a CM Mon-Thu and although she is very good and is trying to go with the one nap a day around lunchtime routine, there are days when his sleep pattern is a bit different and I can't argue too much about it.

Anyway, sorry I can't be much help, I just wanted to say that you are not alone. The only way I can function is going to bed early most nights and taking turns with my DH in the mornings and at the week-end. I hope the one nap a day thing works for you though, I've heard it does for many children.

I have to say that the most soul destroying thing is that I am yet to find someone who has come through this. Which is why I thought I'd change tack and post on here instead of sleep . Hoped to find some success stories!

Anyone?

Do you have a black out blind? I feel your pain my ds woke at 3am this morning but its 5.30 the rest of the time. Just waiting for my dad to put the blinds up.

If I think of anything else I'll reply.

Does he sleep through the night?

mine changed his 5am wake up call to 7am when we went to one nap a day about 15m, havent looked back. he's slept 7-7.30 since (he's 2 and a half now) :) blackout blinds also helped somewhat I think, but mostly it was that he was properly tired from only having an mid-morning or lunchtime nap and then he dropped that nap about 22m so no no naps at all and a full-on nights sleep, no waking (unless he's ill obviously, which is rare) . for example he went to bed last night gleefully ("my bed! my bed! ni-ni" at 6.55 and was fully asleep after stories about 7.15 and didn't stir till 8am this morning..... things can change, as all of his first year or so, till about 15m as I said, he woke up with the sun like clockwork (I think it was 5.07am every day!!!!) which was incredibly difficult for me at the time.

I hate to say this, but my DS2 has only just started sleeping longer (sometimes till 6.30) He's 2.5. He has one nap a day still (1pm for an hour) Bedtime starts around 6.45 with a bath and can go on for up to an hour depending on whatever palaver is happening (mummy I need a wee/poo/milk/teddy etc)

He has a completely dark bedroom, and I make sure all the windows are shut by morning because the birds are flipping noisy.

Wake to sleep can work (you go in early morning, say 2 or 3 am, jiggle them half awake, and hopefully reset their body clock - do this for a few nights and hopefully they start waking later automatically - didnt work for us though LOL)

I've been loathe to go down the blackout blind route. One because the house we're renting has got MAHOOSIVE windows that the gro ones don't fill. And two because we're away a fair amount and don't want the faff. Also, his sleep is no different at my mum's and she's got almost full blackout in the room he sleeps in.

We're moving in to our own home in a couple of weeks though with smaller windows, so probably worth another shot on the Gro blind-thingy.

I'll cling to Brighton's success. Lynniep the thought of another year makes me feel a bit sick TBH! But at least it's possible. Stupid thing is that I am postponing trying for DC2 as I want at least a few months of reasonable sleep!

Off to pick him up from nursery shortly, so it'll be interesting to hear how the first day of one nap went .

many kids don't need 2 naps by this age - fingers crossed for you! :)

Well he didn't manage just the one nap today - fell asleep during his morning bottle but only for 40 mins, so they let him have another short nap this PM (woke up at 2:50pm).

DH just giving him milk and he seems full of beans, but having only had an hour and a bits sleep, I'd expect him to be shattered. Ho-hum, it's less sleep than normal so we'll see if it makes a difference.

A real catch 22 - getting up at 5am makes it tough to make it past 10am! But how on earth do we move on from this sitch!?!?!

Argh.

Thanks for encouraging words Brighton

Possibly not very comforting, but my ds1 has been waking between 5 and 530 every morning of his life afair. We tried everything, less nap ,more nap, later bed, more food, blpackouts etc and in the end accepted it is him and that was when my day was going to start. He's 6 now and still does it.
When he was about 18m we got a light on a timer and told him it was night time until the light came on ,so he had to stay in cot(later bed) until then. Didn't stop him singing to himself tho'!
Teaching him to read was the breakthrough. He now switches on the ligth when he wakes (as long as it's after 5am) and reads until the household stirs (6am in the week).
So there is an end....

I feel your pain. Ds2 is nearly 5 and has always done this :(

Our end was slightly less acceptable. We've trained him to switch the tv on otherwise he wakes his big brother

What worked for us was once there was only one nap after lunch (when ds was about 13 months).

I started by making the morning nap shorter til it was only about 20 minutes. Then just kept him up til lunchtime. Now he wakes around 6.30-7am.

LittleMilla, I found that in the past few months DS' sleep patterns have changed a lot. I find it impossible not to put him down for a nap in the morning when he wakes up very early, he is crying and clinging onto me, putting his head on my shoulder and starting to doze in my arms, so there is nothing else I can do.

Today he woke up at 6.10am, had a nap between 9 - 10.30am and wouldn't nap in the afternoon, so I thought he'd be very cranky before bed, but no, he was obviously tired but in a great mood, "singing" to us and giving us bug cuddles, so sweet!

I'm glad you said you are unsure about a second DC at the moment
(although, of course, not glad about the feeling as such if this makes sense). I've been feeling like this for a while and was wondering if this is normal. I just feel so tired and I don't know how I would cope the second time round. I know it gets better (for what it's worth DS' sleep is not that bad and it's much better than a few months ago), but I've never had a day when I haven't felt tired since he was born. How can I find the energy for another DC?

Anyway, that's a whole other subject, and I don't want to hog your thread, sorry. I think if you can persevere with the one nap a day strategy, you might see some results. Fingers crossed.

dare we ask what time this morning???

PS dark lined curtains will probably have the same effect as blackout blinds with the bonus of being less expensive and more likely to fit your windows... we had chocolate brown ones that went nicely with yellow walls :)

Yes LittlaMilla, what time this morning?

5.15am for us and DS had a cot party last night between 2.20-4am...

We had early starts for a while and it did eventually calm down. I think blackouts make a big difference because when we go away from home where there are silly light curtains, that's when the problems start. You don't have to get the Gro ones with suckers as that's a complete faff. Once you move house, go for these www.easyblindsonline.co.uk/?gclid=CIjos-3hyLACFQ8htAod1RUNWQ
Secondly, try shortening the first nap if you think he still needs to have one. When my DS was starting to drop his morning nap, I used to go out in the pram. Sometimes he'd nod off at about 1030 but only ever for a few minutes, Easier to wake him up from there than the cot. It also meant that he slept longer in the afternoon and wasn't shattered by bedtime. I've read that long morning naps happen when babies' night-time sleep isn't long enough for them so they make up for it by having a too-long morning nap.

Sorry posting again as I forgot to convert the hyperlink
We had early starts for a while and it did eventually calm down. I think blackouts make a big difference because when we go away from home where there are silly light curtains, that's when the problems start. You don't have to get the Gro ones with suckers as that's a complete faff. Once you move house, go for these www.easyblindsonline.co.uk/?gclid=CIjos-3hyLACFQ8htAod1RUNWQ
Secondly, try shortening the first nap if you think he still needs to have one. When my DS was starting to drop his morning nap, I used to go out in the pram. Sometimes he'd nod off at about 1030 but only ever for a few minutes, Easier to wake him up from there than the cot. It also meant that he slept longer in the afternoon and wasn't shattered by bedtime. I've read that long morning naps happen when babies' night-time sleep isn't long enough for them so they make up for it by having a too-long morning nap.

Thanks all.

He went down like a dream last night after I posted and didn't stir until 5:50am. DH very sweetly got up with him and so I got a sleep until 7:15am, woohoo!

DS at nursery again today and we've asked them to give him a short morning nap and not let him sleep past 3pm this afternoon. I have a feeling that the reason he went down so well yesterday PM was because he'd had long enough, but not too long awake IYSWIM. So wasn't ovetired by bedtime.

Looking to complete on new house 21st June, so not long before I can start blackout curtain shopping! Strange that it just doesn't seem to be getting dark at the moment?

Tootired that is rank, you poor thing. I must remember that I'm lucky he doesn't wake up in the night as that would be a different world of pain. I am just utterly shite with

Hi Littlemilla

no advice from me sorry but had exactly the same thing with my ds1, woke at 5 apart from brief respites until he was 22 months. just suddenly started sleeping till 7! thankfully it happened then as i just got pregnant with ds2. one thought, ds 1 did sleep in his own room from about 10 months and we always felt he was too awake to go back to sleep by the time we got in to him. we are co sleeping with ds2 (mainly due to lack of space) and can grab him out of the cot if he wakes and bring him into bed where he usually goes back till 6.30 or later. having said that he is a different child and may well go back anyway if he was in his own room so im not even sure that this is the reason. it does pass but i feel for you as it is AWFUL. and parents who have not had this problem often make you feel like you you're doing something wrong! i second what some of the other posters have said here- go to bed really early as its the only way to survive it and do every second day with your partner if possible. i know it probably feels like you have no life but it does pass. and this early rising is more common than you think. my sister in laws useless advice at the time was 'give him a bottle and let him go back to sleep'. (he was breastfed and also would have screamed the place down should we have dared to suggest that he 'go back to sleep'). of course the really annoying thing was that he was upset every morning because he was so underslept. im just not sure there was anything else we could have done- he was just himself. All better now.Good luck. :)

5.50 is slightly better tho, maybe if you keep on cutting back the naps (and I definately would never let mine sleep after 3, always difficult for him to get to sleep at bedtime then; if we ever have to travel somewhere in a car with him after 3 my heart sinks as he will nearly always fall asleep in a carseat and then still be merrily wide awake and shouting at 8pm, 9pm...)

sods law mine woke up for an hour 11pm last night for no apparent reason, I had to hold him on my lap as if he was a baby again and he went back off (I probably brought it on myself by being smug and saying that he never wakes in the night, the fates don't like that kind of smugness do they?!?!), I can't even remember last time he did that grrr

Today seems to have been a good day - he only had one kip for 1hr 20 mins around midday. Was on fine form when I picked him up and has just gone down without any fuss or shouting.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring? If he's able to start shifting to just one nap I'm going to have to chnage his swimming and gymboree. Hassle, but sure it'll be worth it should he sleep a teensy bit longer in the morning!!

Don't want to be a bore-off, but will let you know what happens tomorrow am.

LittleMilla, I too have in the last few days dropped 15 month old ds's naps from 2 to 1 (he was consistently waking up at 5.30-5.45). He's doing better-what I found also helps is a good run round in the park/garden an hour before bedtime (which is 7-7.30). It really tires him out (must be all the fresh air!)..

Do let us know how it's going x

4.45am. What the actual f*ck????

Have swimming at 11.30am so one nap is looking unlikely. Plus, I need some sleep too.

Thoughts??

Facejacker- what time do you put your lo down for sleep out if interest?

Thanks