hand holding for early wake ups needed!

[tiredybear]

4.30am. again.
feed and cuddle in bed. used to be able to put him back in his cot and he'd go back to sleep for an hour or two. Just lately, he's up for the day instead. ugh.
He's just turning 15 months, never been a great sleeper. had dropped to one night feed, now back up to 2/3. Just discovered the joy of tantrums too (thought that wasn't until 2yrs!!?!)
Yes, it's summer and the birds are singing and it's daylight, so I suppose I can't blame him. but it's just SO early! I know it's a phase but...ugh.

anyone else?

[tiredybear]

Splendide - the shushing/hand through the bars used to work but now he just screams with rage. He is SO loud now, and SO wilful - have no idea where he gets his stubborn streak from (ahem!)
Need to brace myself to try and drop the morning nap maybe....

polka 4.20 - ouch! sending coffee your way!

[tiredybear]

love my sleep, hate night waking/feeding but my LO has other ideas. tried to drop nightfeeds at the start of the year, managed to drop all but one. Now he's not eating much again, he's gone back to 2.
I long ago had to accept that my LO would take longer than others to sleep/drop feeds.

Thanks TheEagle for your advice/support.

[hmmmum]

I haven't read all the replies but our DS (nearly 2) has always been an early riser. It was 5am and for the last few weeks it's been 4am. We paid for a sleep consultant (over the phone one) and she's really helped us out with a detailed plan as to how to re-set his body clock, as he was just so used to waking early.
He used to have one long nap in the morning, but now we have moved his nap to 1pm instead (we let him have a cat-nap for 15minutes in the morning if he's really tired, then wake him up). He sleeps for about an hour. So his only nap is one hour each day (plus the 15 minute one sometimes).
This has massively helped - he still wakes at 4am but he settles back to sleep and sleeps until 6am. It's still early days so I'm hoping as time goes on he'll adjust more and more and not wake up at 4 anymore, just sleep through.
I think a lot of early waking is about naps - either letting them nap too much, or at the wrong time.
BUT every baby is totally different - I'm not saying this works for everyone. Just wanted to say in case it helps anyone, that sometimes changing their naps can help them to sleep later.

[hmmmum]

For anyone who's trying to move their child's nap from morning to the afternoon, the morning cat-nap REALLY helps. Just that little 15 minutes keeps them going. Just want to emphasise that, because we were trying to move my DS's nap and it was really hard, he was just too exhausted. but the little nap keeps him going.
good luck to everyone - the early rises are brutal.

[tiredybear]

hmmmum thanks so much for your reply. Think i might try the 15 min cat nap - so obvious but had never thought of it before!

[splendide]

Oh yes I sort of did that accidentally. For a while he had 30 mins in the morning in his cot at about 8.30/9 then for a while he would nod off in his buggy when we were out in the morning but because he is and has always been shit at sleeping anywhere except in his cot or with me it would end up being 10-20 mins or something.

[FifiFerusha]

Yes right there with you.

Long days are just adding to the routine of. EW, someone told me, so I am going with this routine and an early BT.
WU 5.30
MN 9.30 until 10, I am capping it under someone's advice to ensure a long afternoon nap.
AN 1/1.30 until 3.
BT 6.30

I did this yesterday and he woke at 6 am this morning, so there is some improvement. Will probably last, oh, a day :) good luck.

[tiredybear]

5.45am. yes! NEVER thought that would feel like a lie in!!

hmmmum only let him have a short afternoon nap and it seems to have helped a bit. He's sleeping now, but am going to only let him have 30mins for his morning nap...thinking of gradually bringing it down.

Also discovered he's in 'leap 9' which is why he's off food, tantrumming at everything, and only going max 4 hours at night.

Anyone else have a better night?