Do I need to change DS' bedtime to 8???

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

There are loads of threads on early waking, in fact the one below this is the same, but DS is a bit older and doesn't have night feeds so I thought I'd start my own.

DS is 13 months old. He gets up between 5 & 6am, this weekend though it was 4:30 (on those occasions I gave him a bottle and ignored him until 6 - he was fine babbling in his cot). I've started using the TV to occupy him while I wake up, and being generally grumpy with him which I don't like :(

I've read that they need 11 hrs at night, so for him to wake at 7 I need bedtime to be 8pm?? That seems really late for a baby, plus I need my evenings 😭 I work in the evenings.

He naps well in the day, generally one 2 hr and one 1.5 hr nap, so should I wake him from those? I feel bad! Although he has been faffing around with his naps lately and sometimes takes one great nap at 8-10am, then ends up being up until bedtime, making it impossible to keep him up later than 6.

Any advice?

Ds is nearly 2 and goes to bed at 7.30 to avoid a ridiculous early start - normally still wide awake by 6am. He was on 2 naps for a lot longer than any of my friends dc however we cut it down to 1 when he started fighting the second nap (tried waking after an hour but didn't help) he now has 2-3h around 11.30. I get a rest middle of the day and don't mind bed time being a bit later!

Have you got rid of every bit of light from the room?

And I would be cutting one of those naps! 3.5 hours a day isn't the average!

It is still normal for baby to have two naps at that age but maybe 3 hours rather than 3.5 hours

Ok today I will readjust his blackout blind (we've got a stick-on one) and will make sure he only has 3hr nap total.
The problem is, if he's awake, he's tired. He ALWAYS has eye-bags and is whingeing, been that way for months. I find that stressful.

He is prob very tired with being awake do really, it might take 2 weeks of new changes to get him back to normal again

That should read as tired being awake so early!

Thanks Pebble :) he went down like a dreamboat at 8:30 so I'm poised to wake him at 10 :)

My fella is 11 months this week, we went to sleep consultant and this is our routine. 6.30 - 7 am awake. 1 hour 45 mins after I pick him up he goes back down for 1.5 hour nap (wake up if it goes on longer). 2 hours 45 mins later back down for second nap and sleeps for 1-1.5 hours. Dinner at 5.15 and breastfeed at 6.15 and bedtime routine starts at 6.45 where we read stories. This could last 5 mins or 15 mins but first yawn or eye rub we put him in to the cot with 2 old town shirt of mine and he goes off to sleep within a few mins no crying or anything and sleeps right through

Pebble that's fab!

Our day sounds like yours so it's good to know that's similar to what sleep consultants say! It was same pattern as usual just different timings and I woke him up from both naps after 1.5 hrs. Managed to stretch him out so he was in bed at 6:50 so hopefully that will help him wake up later :)

Up 5:15am
(Bottle, breakfast, play)
Nap 8:30
Up 10:00
(Crèche, lunch)
Nap 1:15
Up 3:15
(errands, park)
Dinner 5:30
(Play, bath)
Bed 6:50

The 2-3-4 routine worked well for us for months but now it looks like he's able to go longer in the morning before first nap, so I think he's gradually working towards one midday nap :)

Just wondering what time he'll wake up in the morning, eek!

*Nap 1:45!

The sleep consultant told us that it's very rare to have a child before 15-18 months going to one nap. The 4 hours between the 2 naps might also be part of the problem, do you find baby is very tired in between?

When he wakes up early in the morning is he looking for you or is happy to stay there on his own? There was a few days that our fella would wake at 5.30 and I found giving him a rice cracker about 6pm before I breastfed him helped and he started sleeping until 7 am. Could be a coincidence though!

Yeah I do think it will be a very gradual move to 1 nap over the next few months :)

It's 3 hours between naps generally :) he actually usually seems OK before the 2nd nap and I often feel like I'm putting him down too early, but he usually goes straight to sleep anyway.

Yes he's fine in the mornings when he wakes up early. Sometimes fling a bottle at him and go back to bed, then he either plays in his cot or goes back to sleep until 6ish, don't know. I was thinking of giving some banana or something before bed, good idea with the rice cake!

Up at 4:45 today, wide awake. Gave him a bottle and heard him on and off until I got up at 6:15, so he was either dozing on and off or awake the whole time. He's tired now! He seemed very hungry at 4:45 so definitely going to try a snack right before brushing teeth, last night dinner was 5:30 and bed at 7 (usually it would be dinner at 5:30 and bed at 6).

Ya he could be waking from hunger, if you left him there without bottle what would be do

Oops MC fail! That's OP ^^

Hi, i haven't seen the message that you removed. Have you noticed any improvement?

I don't think it's that rare to have one nap by their first birthday. All of dd's peers have done it. Not saying it's 'right' but certainly not rare or unheard of. One nap tied in with dd sleeping much better (7-8 most days) whereas before she was a grumpy whatnot getting less than 10 hours

So last night we did banana with his milk, he still woke up at 4:30 :( so I gave him a bottle and he must have fallen asleep eventually as we got up at 7:45.

So that was good, but we were out all day so he only slept 40 mins all day, in the car.

He went to sleep at about 6:40 today, but DH couldn't get him to eat any food for dinner or before bed as he was so tired. I'm hoping he'll catch up on the day's sleep tonight but he might be too hungry!

Thanks for all the input btw :)

It does take time to get routine, if you didn't give him any milk at 4.30 do you think he would have gone back to sleep? Could be be waking out of habit now? I remember when I weaned my little fella I would feed him before he woke himself up and brought it forward every night by 15 mins until I got from 1.30 am until 9 pm and then didn't wake at all and he started sleeping through