12mo early wakings - spring/drop nap/suck it up? Help!

[Littlef00t]

So dd has gone from waking at 7 like clockwork to waking anytime between 5:30 and 6:30.

She's up and standing at the end of the cot bawling in seconds (like she does for naps!) and nothing I do can persuade her it's still night, she's ready for the day.

Other times in the night she might briefly cry out but doesn't need resettling.

I put her to bed between 6:45-7:15pm.

Any chance the clocks changing might sort this out?
Do I need to drop the morning nap? She seems to need it but manages without the 3 days she's at the childminder.
I put up a blackout blind last night, no effect.

I know there are lots of threads on this, I can't handle early mornings for years!

I won't try anything radical until the clocks change, but wanted to garner views and what's worked for you.

Sounds like ds. At this age we went for 8-6. Otherwise ruthlessly keep him up all morning to an early lunch (11:30) then allow only 1.5 hours. You might get a longer sleep.

With ds it was all about the naps. If he was waking early we'd push the nap back an hour and he'd start getting up at 7 again.

That or teeth in our case

I'm going to be ruthless then. TBH the sleep is important (I'm pregnant so perpetually knackered) but it also makes for such a bloody loooonng day when it begins at 5.30. Dp is going to be off over Easter so we might try a permanent switch to 1 nap whilst he's here to help keep him amused.

How's everyone getting on? I've concluded the length she sleeps is more to do with how active she's been in the day, as her wakings on holiday were generally a lot later, with several nearly 8am wakings after busy days.

She's walking now, so I try to encourage this as its gotta be tiring right?

cant decide between having to deal with baby waking early and baby needing non-lazy parenting during the day to tire her out.

DS is doing at least his usual 11 hours overnight, and has pulled the odd 12 hour sleep when he's been super knackered. It's one nap per day probably 5 days out of 7 now and sometimes a slightly earlier bedtime as required. All seems to have worked out fine after a little tweak to his routine.

I'm doing a week of logging activity, naps and sleep to see if there is any correlation whilst erring towards high activity days and limiting naps.

Manic day today and only 1 proper nap, let's see...

It's so hard to get mine down for 2 naps now - he's been a bit poorly so he has had a handful but really, one nap is best for him now. He's absolutely shattered at the end of the day but sleeping past 7am is great!!

Well despite lots of yawning wouldn't sleep this morning so ended up with only a cat nap in the pushchair then nap refusal this afternoon too.

I want to bottle sea air as despite loads of activities she's still 'only' sleeping 11 hours, it was 12.5-13 on holiday with a decent 2hrs nap every day!

I've come to terms with it and trying to put her down nearer 7:30 so she's not awake quite as early.

I'm a fix it kinda gal usually but I'm channeling baby zen.

11 hours night sleep totally cool by me as his bed is 8pm usually. If he decides to sleep longer, then 8-8 would be marvellous

Ooh got 11.5 hours last night and 12 the night before. Think busier days definitely help.

So I think I've figured it out. It was a learning to walk thing. Now that she's confidently toddling, she's stopped leaping up and wailing the instant she's vaguely awake. This means she's more relaxed and willing to doze off for a bit longer.

Perhaps anyway...

Night wakings and early morning shenanigans back here! Has just cracked walking too so hoping he goes back to sleeping through again soon!!

I'm going through this mess right now with 12.5mo. He has been walking for 2 months now so I know that isn't a factor. Basically, he has started getting up around 5.45am but isn't going to sleep until 8pm and also wakes a couple of times a night (never STTN......!) I'm wondering if we need to address the nap thing. Currently napping 10am until 11.30 then 3.15pm until 4. I think the later nap means he won't sleep until 8pm at bedtime. My problem is that when I have given him only 1 nap he will only sleep for 1.5hr Max so is awake by 12.30pm. That is a looooong time to wait until bedtime. My eldest was easy to transition, this little guy, not so!

Needsweets, could you move the morning nap later by having really busy exciting mornings? I do this with dd sometimes and she'll sleep about 12 which is fine for a tired baby at bedtime, but not massively overtired.

Also, if you have a good morning nap, maybe just a short stroll in the pushchair for a relax rather than full nap, to keep going to bedtime.

I hate it when my childminder decides dd needs a morning nap, as she often doesn't get an afternoon one and is in meltdown by 6pm necessitating an early bedtime and early wake.

We're getting a mix of mostly 11 hours, with some glorious 12 hours like today as a bonus. I've come to terms with earlier mornings and I'm just going with it. She does often sleep longer when she needs to.

8-8 last night haha - absolutely no rhyme or reason!

I second the suggestion to action pack your mornings to get your little one through to about 12 or 12:30 before you put them down for a nap. Worked for us and now it's second nature.