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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

17 month old waking too early - any tips on encouraging a bit later wake up?

8 replies

belinda31 · 22/04/2010 11:32

Hello,
Our 17 Month old has started waking really early (between about 5.20 and 5.40) and I am finding it exhausting... I know some children just do, but he used to wake up more like 6.45... Is there anything I can do to encourage him to sleep longer? He has 9oz of milk (half formula half cow's for some long-forgotten reason) before bed, and has one sleep during the day, normally between 12.30 and 2ish. His bedroom is pretty dark, there's not much noise (especially when there were no planes this week...) and he seems to wake up WIDE awake. He goes to bed at about half seven, exhausted.

I know it's not that bad, he sleeps through the night most nights (actually, that's a lie, he normally cries once, I put the lullabies on via the baby monitor and he falls asleep again on his own). When he does wake, he wakes up chatting, and chats for about 5 mins before ramping up to a yell. If I leave him too long yelling, he is super clingy for the first few hours of the day which is even more tiring...

Are there any other tips anyone has? He has done this before, and it was a short-ish phase, which changed when something else changed (like we went away for a weekend or something) but this phase is now a month long and doesn't seem to be be waning. Maybe it's the lighter mornings?

Any tips gratefully received. Am so tired! (and I go to bed REALLY early too, in anticipation, which is quite boring, husband-wise)...

Thanks!

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

tablefor3 · 22/04/2010 11:56

Could you put the lullabies on again and pretend as it is still nighttime?

Lots of sympathy

Orissiah · 22/04/2010 13:36

Same problem here even with blackout blind. I'm thinking of a later bedtime - moving from 7pm to 7.30pm...

Orissiah · 22/04/2010 13:38

Or the reverse, put him to bed much earlier so he doesn't go into a deep sleep so soon - so 6.30 or 6.45pm? Gina Ford explained that too deep a sleep to immediately after bedtime could lead to early waking so recommends putting to bed earlier...

StarExpat · 22/04/2010 14:46

Orissiah - interesting you say that. We recently moved ds bedtime to 7.30 from 7 because it was just to frantic getting him in bed by 7 some nights... he is totally worn out by 7 not to mention 7.30, but we had extra time to read books...etc... and we've noticed him sleeping worse and getting up earlier with the later bedtime.

josiemacy · 22/04/2010 15:59

We tried that with our DD when she was about 1yr old - we moved bedtime from 6.30pm to an earlier 6pm & it worked a treat!
Thinking of doing the same again (shes 2& a half now) as she has started waking at 5-5.30AM. Her bedtime is now 7-7.15. Cunning plan is to Sky+ her fave after-dinner-before-bedtime programmes, & then play them 30-45mins earlier the following few nights so that she doesnt realise that we are shifting her routine slightly. I hope that it works with an older child - otherwise we are at a loss!
Orissiah & Belinda31- it is definately worth a try for the littl'uns!!

Original poster

belinda31 · 05/05/2010 17:49

Quick update - thanks for all your good ideas. We tried earlier bed and it has worked, just slightly but enough. He's now fully in bed by 7 (we can't seem to do it before then, but will keep trying) and is waking up more like 6.15ish. One morning it was 6.45! It felt like the most decadent lie in ever...

One more question, the day he slept really late, he'd slept from 3pm-5pm in the car (having not had the lunchtime sleep, but a cat nap at 11am for 20mins). What does this mean? should he still be on two sleeps. I realise it's not an exact science, but I'm getting obsessed...

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Original poster

belinda31 · 05/05/2010 17:52

Perhaps, and I'm loathe to admit it, Gina Ford might be right!

One more question, the day he slept really late, he'd slept from 3pm-5pm in the car (having not had the lunchtime sleep, but a cat nap at 11am for 20mins). What does this mean? should he still be on two sleeps I wonder? Perhaps I'm going to have to read ol' Gina.

And I realise it's not an exact science, so my questions are unanswerable, but I'm getting obsessed...

OP posts:

Hannah17 · 05/05/2010 19:28

Hi, I too am obsessed with my 15 month DD sleep as we have had months of 5am - 5.30am wake ups. We would struggle to do earlier bedtimes as most nights she is in bed for between 6pm and 6.30pm (which is prob why she wakes up early) and so we have been trying to push this back to 7pm (also I am now back at work and a 6pm bedtime just isn't going to be feasible!). I am also not sure whether she needs 1 nap or 2 so am taking each day as it comes. If she wakes up early (i.e.5amish) then she tends to have 2 but if by some miracle she sleeps past 6am then she seems to be okay with just one after lunch. To be honest, as long as she gets at least 1.5 hours sleep in the day then it doesn't seem to impact the waking hour. I know that typically this is the age (15 - 18 months) when they start to move to 1 sleep so maybe it is the transition that is impacting their wake up times.
Anyway, good luck and here's to 6am lie ins!!

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