any successful techniques for getting early wakers to resettle?

[multicolourcat]

DS goes to bed at 7.30pm (self settles) and might sleep through, or might wake once or twice in the night, but can usually settle easily enough. But morning can be anytime from 5am onwards. 'Acceptable' wakeup time has gradually crept backwards, and now is 5.30am, though have decided to try and push this to 6am. Has anyone had any success with getting their LO to resettle at this time in the morning?

Hi there, how old is he and does he still sleep in the day?

He is 1YO and has 2 naps in the day. Morning for an hour at about 9 and then one after lunch at about 1.30-3. thanks.

Hiya

Early morning waking is linked to having too long & too early a morning nap. He's also at an age now where he may be starting to make the transition towards 1 nap. Some babies do this by refusing to nap in the morning, some will go down but their naps get shorter, and some nap as they always have done but wake earlier in the morning (mine was one of these!).

I am wondering if you tried pushing out & capping the morning nap whether this may help his wakeup time. So perhaps try putting him down at 9.15am instead of 9am, but continue to wake him at 10 so he's having just 45mins instead of his usual hour. You might find he will need to take his PM nap slightly earlier eg 12.45pm. After a week, if he is still waking early, try pushing the nap out to start at 9.30am & wake him at 10am so its no longer than 30mins. His PM nap may need to come earlier still, starting at 12.30. As you cut the morning nap back to 30mins you should find he will start to sleep for longer at his PM nap, hopefully 2hrs.

The purpose of doing this is firstly to prevent him from using the AM nap as an extension of his night sleep (thus discouraging the early waking), and secondly to help him gradually get used to taking one short & one long nap, in preparation for the morning nap to be dropped. This happens for most babies between 15-18 months though some may be earlier. I would advise against jumping straight to 1 nap at this stage though as he may struggle to handle it.

HTH.x

Thanks omama - so normally i put him down at about 2 1/2 - 3 hours after he wakes, so if he wakes and won't resettle at 5.30 this can be 8.30 which is FAR too early for a morning nap and yes, i agree it is being used as an extension of the night sleep, as i really don't think he is properly refreshed at 5.30. So, my question is, should I forget about the time he wakes and keep the morning nap time at a set 9.15 (for now, move to 9.30 perhaps in a week) and wake up at a set 10am? At the moment the morning nap is flexible depending on the time he wakes. What do you think?

also, would you say to work for 2hour nap in the afternoon, but if he sleeps longer to wake him?

Thanks - really hoping this will work! :)

If he handles OT well you could push him straight to it, but if he doesn't, and he's generally napping as early as 8.30am I'd probably just push 15mins at a time - any more in one go & you are likely to find he gets quite OT. Its pretty much exactly the situation we where in when I did this. Once his nap is starting at 9am every day, then you will be able to work on cutting the nap gradually shorter.

WRT using set times versus A time (amount of time awake), I do generally prefer A time as, and you may be able to get the nap later by increasing his A time a wee bit, however, IME set naps work more effectively in dealing with this situation, as you know exactly when to put him down & it brings more consistency & structure to your day. I won't lie to you though - he will probably get OT going down this route rather than increasing his A time because you need to push him to stay awake for longer than he is used to, but it really is the best way to break the cycle.

WRT the afternoon - yes you are aiming for around 2hrs for your PM nap. You may be able to let him nap for longer, but TBh I'd be wary of it whilst he is still having a good nap in the morning of over 30mins as the early waking may continue due to too much day sleep/not enough A time to bed. When I did this I was pretty strict & did his PM nap 12.20-2.30 & always woke him if he was still asleep. If you feel he is struggling you can always bring bedtime a wee bit earlier by 15mins or so if need be.

HTH.x

I have found a total blackout quite effective, with a blind and not just curtains so that it's really really dark in there. Also agree about the nap thing, both of mine were only having one nap by 1YO. Put him to bed earlier the first few days if you need to.

thanks omama brilliant advice, it has really been working! Morning is now 6.30 which suits us all perfectly. I am finding he can stay up for 3 hours and so i'm letting him have a nap of 45mins in the morning (9.30 - 10.15) and then just 1 1/2hrs in the afternoon at the moment (1.30 - 3.00) and things are definitely better. As i reduce the morning nap i will bring the afternoon nap forward and increase the lenght of it too.

I have a little question about the morning nap timing as he is now sleeping a little later on - if he was to start waking at 7am , he would then be able to last until about 10am until he needed his morning nap, would you then give a nap of about 30mins until 10.30? I am just wondering how late the morning nap can be pushed? And then the afternoon nap would be about 1.30 - 3.30? I think sleeping until 3.30pm would be a little late for him. what would you suggest? This is such a juggling game isn't it! Thanks very much for sharing your experiences, it is really helping me :)

thank aswell apple He definitely still needs his morning nap at the moment, will look to reduce and eliminate over the next few months i think. We have full on black out blinds, i had hoped they would solve our problems, and they definitely helped with daytime naps, but don't with early waking!!

I'm glad playing with the naps has helped you. My DS is 18 months and wakes anywhere between 4 and 5.30AM. I thought once he dropped to 1 nap all our problems would be sorted, but no. Regardless of what time he has his nap (usually over lunch time starting at 12 ish) he never wakes up any later. I do think some children are just early risers, I've tried everything to get him to stay in bed later and nothing has worked yet. He usually only naps for 40 mins in the day no matter what I try, and bed time is 6.30-7 depending on how exhausted he is. I wish the cutting of the morning nap had worked for us!!

multicolourcat - pleased to see its working - hurrah!!!!

It sounds like you have the right idea about what needs to be done so that's great. WRT what to do if he starts to wake at 7am, it is tricky when you get to this stage in the transition. B/c like you say, with the later naps, he probably won't be tired enough for his usual BT. So... the options are:

1)push BT slightly later, perhaps by 30mins.
2)cap the PM nap at 1.5hrs or
3)cap the AM nap even shorter, perhaps to 20mins, which will bring the PM nap earlier still, & mean you can keep your usual BT.

IIWM I'd probably do 3) as my first choice. With 2) Its a shame to have to cap the PM nap shorter when that is the nap that you want to be long. And with 1) it depends if you want a later BT as it'll eat into your 'you' time!

Ultimately, you are gradually working your way towards 1 nap, and so by capping the AM nap really short, you can allow that lovely long nap in the PM. Once you get AM nap refusal at the 3hr mark, I would probably then try & make the jump to 1 nap.

HTH.x