Will an earlier bedtime mean earlier waking?

[Eminybob]

DS is 15 months and has recently dropped to one lunch time nap.

This means by bedtime (7.30 bath, 8pm asleep) he's so tired he's a nightmare. He used to love his bath now he screams all the way through it, won't get into his pajamas etc. Just really over tired.

So we were planning to bring his bedtime forward by half an hour, so bath at 7, asleep by 7.30.

At the moment he wakes up at 7. Will going to bed half an hour earlier means he will wake at 6.30?

I know it's not an exact science and all babies are different but I would be interested to hear your experiences. Thanks.

Not necessarily, DS 10mo goes to bed at about 6 pm because he's shattered by then and really likes going to bed - he gets up at 6.30/7am. Any time we've had him going to bed much later than that (eg having been out for the day and not back until 7) he's woken much earlier and not slept so soundly.

So I'd give it a go - I think you need to give it a week or so.

In my experience no. Sometime if my almost 17mo goes to bed later he gets up earlier than normal and vice versa if he goes to bed early. I would go with what works for your baby and be flexible as their needs change. In this case do the early bedtime until you feel it needs changing.

I think it's more beneficial to put dc to bed when they're just tired but not shattered, dragging it longer can often backfire - I know when ds is too tired he's up again early. I'd give it a go, he might just keep the same wake up time.

Cool thanks. Was going to give it a go tonight anyway, and it's DPs turn to get up in the morning tomorrow so no loss if he gets up early

Well, he did wake at half 6

But he was just babbling to himself and we left him and I think he nodded off again for a bit (or at least went very quiet) and woke again at 6.55. So we are going to carry on and hopefully he'll eventually start waking at 7.

To be fair though 6.30 isn't the end of the world, we've had 5.30 starts in the not so distant past. And bedtime last night was a much more pleasant experience for all.