Anyone tried shifting an early sleep phase to combat early waking?

[Cnix]

I've read about this in both Ferber and millpond and am starting to try it today. My 11 mo wakes at 5 am chirping away and raring to start the day but she goes to sleep each night at 6:15. Everything about her routine just seems to happen an hour too early as I believe she is actually getting enough sleep.

I'm hoping a later first nap will also make a difference. Going to put her down at 9:30 this am.

Would love to hear success stories...

Yes I can vouch that it really does work. However I would highly recommend going very slowly. Don't suddenly keep your dc up an hour later or you will end up with an overtired miserable child on your hands. The best way I found to shift things is to start with the morning nap & move it 5-10mins later every 3-5 days. Do the same with the afternoon nap & also with bedtime. So for eg if your dc wakes at 5am, naps at 8am for 1hr then again at 12 for 2hrs & bedtime is 6pm, you would do
Nap 8.10am, 12.10pm & bedtime 6.10pm for 3days
Nap 8.20am, 12.20pm & bedtime 6.20pm & so on.
Eventually you will have
Nap 9am, 1pm & bedtime 7pm, which should lead to an improvement in wakeup time.

It may take several weeks but your child will cope with the change better, especially if they are very young. Hth.x

God I hope so because it is really becoming unbearable. She is 11 months old. Thanks for the advice.

Well I know nothing of ferber & millpond but I have just done this with my 19mo. She was waking at 5.20, asleep by 7pm. Now she is asleep 8pm, waking 6.30-7am, much better!

It's probably been easier for us to push bedtime later as she's a little older but I'd say gfi. I feel so much more energetic now I'm not up at 5am ish.

6.15 does sound quite early for bedtime

Seems a lot of folk are suffering the EWs. Good to know I'm not alone as all dd's friends sleep til 7

I shouldn't have posted, dd was up at 5.30 today. A bit chilly I think.

How's your plan going op?

Hope you got more of a lie in today pebblepots?

How long did it take you to notice an improvement in the wake up time? Been doing it since Tuesday and wake up time is the same or earlier...

Hi, I am on my second early waker. Complete de ja vue! Seem to recall nothing worked last time apart from the passing of time! Am interested to know,...how do you all manage to control lo's sleep so precisely to be able to move nap times 5-10mins at a time?! For example, mine typically goes back down about 2hours after waking, she's only 6.5months, but today she would not sleep. She does this occassionally. Not particularly grumpy (although probably will be when she wakes & is still tired!). She's been awake an hour longer than normal so DH as taken her out in pushchair. Sometimes she settles within 5mins, sometimes 15mins & sonetimes falls asleep feeding. How are yours all so predictable?!

Cnix, no I didn't and sorry to hear you didn't either!

4.45 today, she went back to sleep on me in the chair but when I tried to put her back in cot at 5.40 woke up. She was tired & grumpy this morn so I put her back to bed at 9.30.

Well when I first changed her bedtime, the results were immediate, but seems we are having a hiccup now! I'm going to put white noise on tonight as the first week where she slept longer she had the air conditioner going in her room.

Lazzaroo, with regards to changing nap times, I put dd in her cot for a nap at 12.45, it's up to her then how long she chats & fidgits for before she goes to sleep. It I wanted to change this, I would just put her in her cot 5 or 10 mins later, again up to her to sort out when she actually goes to sleep.

Lazzaro my Lo is 11 months and at 6.5 would not have been predictable at all. I rock her to sleep for her first nap which normally only takes a few mins so I can control that easily. Because we have a good routine as soon as I lift her and tell her it's sleepy time and start going upstairs she knows its nap time and starts yawning. Usually asleep in five mins or so. At 6.5 months naps were a total nightmare.

I agree!

I have an 18 mo who had always been an ew, roughly 5 am. It doesn't matter what changes - nap time, bedtime anything, he still wakes early. I can count on one hand the number of times he's woken after 6.30am.

If i put him down later he may gets less sleep.

Sorry to kill your hope and optimism but it doesn't always work. I wish that it did because these early mornings are killing me

I have an early waker too. Crap, isn't it. She is driving us nuts. 16mo and wakes any time between 4.30 and 5. She only seems to want 11hrs at night so I've tried a later (6.30-7) bedtime but no succes. And she's waking every 2hrs. It's stressing us all out and I'm permanently sleep deprived and cant function properly.

Surely there is an answer?! When do they grow out of it?

If the room is getting really light by 5am it might be worth trying a blackout blind. I just bought the travel blackout blind by Gro which seems to have done the trick so far....

My friend just did this very successfully with a 14 mo. changed things by 10 mins every three days like omama did. Good luck!

Lo woke 5:10 crying. I went in and said 'go back to sleep its sleepy time ' she did almost immediately and slept until 6:15- a new record!!! Yay!!

Wow, amazing!

Mine still waking early despite later bedtime, what now?!

That's what happened with us with dd1. Didn't matter what we did...more naps, less naps, blackout blind, White noise, later bed, earlier bed etc etc, she woke at 5.15am for ages. We could have set a clock by it. I don't remember how r when it changed, but it did. She's never been a 7-7 kind of kid. It's more like 8-6ish now (she's 3.5). Ad if she has a late night it doesn't translate into a lie in! So, I'm afraid I'm with cakes. Still, Now I find myself in exact same situation and will still try everything I can!

Tonight we went back to an earlier bedtime, she was tired & it seemed pointless keeping her awake if it doesn't result in a lie in. Hurumph.

I should be going to sleep now ready for my early start ;)

Let us know how you get on in the morning cnix!

She slept until...drum roll please... 6:30am!!! Still can't believe it! This may just be working...:-)))

No point keeping them up when they are clearly tired pebblepots. At least you get an evening.

Wow, that's good.

I hardly dare say it but we've had a couple of good mornings too. We're resigned to just going with the it & accepting things the way they are.

I had this with my one year old. I resolutely refused to put him down for an early nap if he woke early which I think kept the early wakings to the exception rather than the rule.

However he's switched to a one nap routine now and that seems to suit him better

She was up chirping before 6 this morning. Hopefully just a blip. Held out until 10 for nap so hope that sorts her out! Wish I could accept things like you pebblepots, but I am quite clearly obsessed about getting this baby to sleep!!! ;-)

Well I don't blame you, I lost my nerve!

However... we had a 7am wake up today, wowzers!

She's going to sleep by 7.30, so just 30 mins later than before & she's having dinner with us, so later than beforw, so full tummy if that matters at all!

I've also given her a quilt instead of a growbag so she can cover up if cold or push it off if hot.

It's so hard to know what makes a difference.