Help! How will I cope when clocks change...

[MamaMia100]

... And DS goes from waking at 5:30am (if we're lucky) to 4:30??? What - if anything - can I do? It it were sImply a matter of putting him to bed an hour later we would have done that by now (he has been waking at this uncivilised hour for months and months). He is 14mo. We have been trying to prepare him and DD (3) for a couple of weeks now and are putting them to bed at 8ish, and trying to do his nap as late as pos (usually only makes it to 12 before falling asleep in his yogurt as he's up so early!). DD has adjust and wakes at 7:30 at the mo (was 6:30) but the little one is still 5:30, just not had enough sleep! We used to give him his bottles soon as we got him up (5:30) but now trying to delay it until 6:30 at earliest, so hoping that will help. Any advice greatly appreciated!!! TIA

Sounds like you're doing all the right things, just make sure you give yourself plenty of rest too. As long as your baby is getting plenty of exercise, a chance to socialise, play in different ways, and plenty to eat, the best you can do is stay calm. It will get better as he gets bigger and more active.

You will probably find the hour change will work itself out on its own, if you don't do anything different on the night it changes. Sometimes moving bedtimes and nap times around disrupts the routine and affect sleep.

As his whole day will shift when the clocks change ie routine etc, he will shift too. I promise. Does he only have one nap? Early waking can be a sign of being over tired.

As his whole day will shift when the clocks change ie routine etc, he will shift too. I promise. Does he only have one nap? Early waking can be a sign of being over tired.

Thanks both of you

Yes, he does just have one nap. If he naps in the morning he won't nap again later until too close to bedtime. Also, with DD we managed to sort out her early waking by delaying her morning nap until later, so I am reluctant to let him nap in the morning in case it just encourages the early waking.

It's all so confusing!

Has anyone found in the past that their LO hasn't adjusted to the clock change???

Well he's woken early for months you say? So something isn't working. I'd try a mini morning nap of 30 mins then a post lunch one.

Or check he's not teething/hungry etc.

I don't know anyone who hasn't adjusted (my ds was notorious for waking early and he adjusted thankfully)

Disagree that early waking is over tiredness if he's waking happy. That's usually under tiredness. How long is his nap for?

Over tiredness usually manifests itself as night wakings, partic before midnight. However if he wakes crying and can't resettle at 5.30am, then that could be overtiredness.

And re: clock changes, I usually just ignore them and stick to new times the following day, perhaps adjusting routine by half an hour that day, but nothing more than that. It's not usually a problem.

Not if it's been going on for months. Overtired babies/toddlers, if it's been going on for months, tend not to seem overtired hence being overtired as opposed to just being tired. Being upset when waking early would indicate being just tired.

My DD woke at 5.30 for 9 months and it was nothing to do with overtiredness. She was having too much sleep in the day so by 5.30am all her sleep needs had been met. That's why I asked about the waking up happy as she used to spring out of bed raring to go.

So if she did it for 9 months why not just cut her naps?

I said early can be overtiredness but isn't always BTW.

Because I didn't realise that's what was going on. She was knackered in the day from waking early so I'd keep giving her the long naps thinking that's what she needed, not realising that the daytime sleep was 'robbing' her of the need to sleep longer at night. When I cut the nap, she improved although it took about a month for her to adjust.

OP, you don't say how long his nap is?

But if she was tired in the day from waking early that sounds like overtired to me anyway, I don't know your child, you do and it worked.

I just know that with ds he was tired from waking early and needed early bedtimes plus naps being tweaked timing wise and if I managed to keep it up for a week or so he'd be ok again. But if I slipped up, especially with later bedtime he'd get overtired.

God it's so confusing isnt it? I just get in such a muddle wondering if he's had too much daytime sleep or not enough. Some sleep books say sleep begets sleep and some say the opposite!

He currently has a 2 hour nap after lunch (usually quite early, around 12). I am thinking of trying to wake him after 1.5 hrs but then he's just really grumpy! Really useful to hear what's worked for others though x

Iggly, she was in a vicious circle of waking early because she couldn't physically sleep any more at night having had a lot of sleep the day before. So she would wake happy at 5am, but by 10am shed need a nap as this was her customary pattern. To put it more simply, a child can only sleep for so many hours out of a 24 hour day and my DD was having a disproportionate number of those hours in the daytime. Once I reduced the naps, the nighttime sleep increased in tandem meaning the number of overall hours stayed the same.

If I'd given her more sleep as many people suggested, she would probably have woken even earlier.

How much daytime sleep did you have to give her to get her waking at a reasonable time? Do you think my DS is having too much?

Is he 14 months? To be honest, that doesn't sound like a lot at that age but I have heard of some at that age only having an hour. Admittedly it is pretty unusual.

I would try moving the nap later, just gradually by 15 mins at first until you get to nearer 1pm. I would also cut it back but only by 15 mins. You want to avoid a situation of OT as Iggly says.

The alternative is to rule out OT by giving him a lot more sleep and see if this helps.

By the way, don't expect instant results. It took us a month to get from a 5am to a 7am waking. You should start seeing improvement either way after a week to ten days, I reckon.

Sorry, at 14 months my DD was having one 2 hour nap at lunchtime from 1-3. Prior to that she'd been having up to 4 hours in the day!!!

How is he eating in the evening - and how late does he eat? Could he be hungry? We reintroduced a night time bottle with dd when she was about that age for the same reason.

At 14 months my DS and his peers were having two naps a day - one 30/45 min one at around 9 (usually on our way to somewhere in the buggy) then another post lunch one for 90 mins...