advice on nap with 4:30 rise!

[babyrose]

we usually do 5.5hrs in the morning and then nap and then 5hrs 45 then to bed. but today lo was up at 4:30 tis morning and im worried that if i put him to bed for his nap too early then he will be up early tom! DS is 20 months. any thoughts?

5 and a half hour naps? Really? Or is that a mis-type. At that age, I would think a 2-3 hour nap would be a long one.

Not sure I've read your post right?

sorry i meant he stays up 5.5 hrs then nap usually 2hrs then 5hrs 45 then bed. i was worried if he naps too early this morning then he would be up at some ridiculous time again tom.

My DD is 22mos and her day is usually this:

Up - between 6.30 & 7 - to get out for DSs school run.
Nap - between 10.30 and 1 (if she's not down by 12 no sleep in the day! or she won't sleep at night)
Up - from between 12 and 1 through to bedtime
Bedtime - usually 6.30-7. She doesn't sleep through- very disturbed but not actually up at night.

Perhaps you could string out the afternoon awake period for your son - what time is bedtime usually? Possibly push it back slightly? May not work tho - didn't with my DS1 he was always up about 5am regardless of when he went to bed - so he used to go to bed at 5/5.30pm. Was only a phase though and awful as it is it does (usually!) pass.

the last few wks he has been getting up 6:30 going for a nap around 11ish for 2hrs. i dont give him more than 2hrs as he as long NW's. maybe he had slightly longer than 2 yesterday.

probably me being thick and not understanding!

DS1 was a 5am waker from birth until a few weeks ago (he is 4.3) With hindsight, I think i should have tried shortening his afternoon nap - he used to have one afternoon nap from about 1pm to about 4pm. He always went to sleep at 7pm with no trouble, but was an early waker.

I think his biorythms got set at that early wake time, and even after he'd given up his nap, it was 'set'. We finally unset it this year after the clocks changed. Now it's 6am - 6.30 which is much better.

Good luck!

With us, if DS (18 months) naps for more than 1.5 hours he either wakes very early (between 4 and 5) or has a long (up to 2 hours!) night waking when he just wants to play. This is a fairly recent thing...he used to be ok with naps of 2 hours (sometimes more!) during the day, but seems to need much less sleep this past month. It means he gets a bit less sleep than some of the experts say he needs, but he seems happier with the longer nights and shorter naps. If we stick to a nap of no more than 1.5 hours he'll generally make it to 6:30ish. We are not great at sticking to the shorter nap though, as I work during his nap time and he will genearlly sleep on if I don't wake him, so this morning he was up at 4 - urgh!