15 month old's shape to the day - need help please!

[plumcake]

Please could you share your 15 month old's routine with me? We seem to be caught in an early waking rut - ds has always been an early riser, it did get better for a while but now we're bang on 5am if not 4.50am every morning! I think the shape to our day is reinforcing it, but can't see clearly what the best thing to try could be.

DS wakes up very early, so is ready for breakfast at 6.30am then a nap at 10.30-11, generally sleeps for 1.5 - 2 hours, then has lunch at 12.30-1pm, tea at 5.30 and is asleep by 7pm. I've tried putting him to bed a bit later and that doesn't work, earlier - 6.30ish - and he still wakes at 5am! I don't want to moan too much because I feel so lucky that he now sleeps through, eats happily etc., but any wisdom shared would be great - especially from smug graduates of the 'competitive early waking' thread!

Thank you!

I haven't had a baby that age for a while so may be way off the mark but I would consider trying to move his nap to the afternoon.

I agree with Skegness - move his nap to the afternoon and see what happens (it make take a few days to make a difference so whatever you try persevere for a while).

I was going to post that ours sounds very similar and DS is a 5.30 waker, so slightly better. But then I also spotted you are on one nap only, aren't you? Would def try and make it a bit later, DS is just starting to switch from 2 to 1 I think so am going to try and push his a little bit later every day.

Thanks for the replies! OK, so the consensus is a later nap. What is the kind of optimum time do you think? 12 ish? I think I might have to give ds his lunch at 11am for a while, or else he'll be too exhausted to eat anything? FernieB, I'm rubbish at persisting with things, but I'll def try it for a week or so. 5.30am sounds great (I can't believe 5.30-6am were the good old days!)

DD is a bit older but her routine has always been a nap after early lunch between 11:30 and 12, definitely give it a try, when my DD started having one nap a day and it being after lunch she began to sleep until 7/7:30.

Ewe that sounds amazing! Was it instant success or a slow thing? DS has had a later nap on the odd occasion - due to being on a train or something - but didn't make an instant difference. Will have to persist....

Being very un-British here, but I have had all 3 of my DC abroad and on this issue I am sure the Brits have it all wrong with the 7pm curfew for babies and toddlers.

Plenty of children don't need 12 hours sleep at night. Instead of dragging yourself up before 5am, your DS should be going to bed later. It makes logical sense that later bedtime will in the end = later mornings.

It won't happen overnight, or even in a week. But his routine needs shifting so that he is starting his nap at 1pm (if you're lucky he he might be tired enough to sleep for longer than he does now), then a mid-afternoon snack, more playtime, then dinner at 6 or 6.30. Put him to bed no earlier than 8.

And see how you get on for a fortnight...

Personally I've had enough of my two by 7!! DS2 who's 16 months has lunch at 12, nap between 1 and 3pm and then bed at 6.45. He's usually awake at 7.30ish, but he does wake at around 5.30am and I give him some milk and put him back down(you could try that). You could also up the amount of excersise he's getting. DS1 was a really early waker and in the end we had a TV put in our room and he'd sit and watch DVD's whilst we slept!!

I'm not surprised if they've been up since 5.30

Good point castille, I do live 'on the continent' and ALL my mum friends think I'm crazy to put ds to bed at 7pm, apart from my one English friend! Basically, I'm not asking for miracles, just a 6am-ish start. But on the other hand by 7pm I'm really ready for some time to myself, and given the choice I'd suppose I'd always prefer an 5 am start to an 8pm finish... Am also scared that if I move bedtime back I'll end up with a later bedtime and STILL have the early starts. (he used to go to bed at just after 6pm and wake at 5ish, and when I moved it back it did improve for a but, then we all just lost an hour) I'm going to try moving the nap, then maybe resign myself to early starts.