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Sleep

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Original poster

solving 5.30am waking - any success stories please

42 replies

firststeps · 21/02/2007 19:56

is it too much to expect a 14 month old to sleep 7pm - 7am, my ds has been waking at 5.30am for what feels like forever, he sleeps soundly without a peep until then, but is ready to start the day. A few months ago he would grumble for about 15 mins then go back to sleep, but now he is up and about. Has anyone successfully solved this and if so how!

OP posts:

sunnyjim · 27/02/2007 16:13

I think maybe he is having too much nap during the day.

I think about 14 hrs sleep is right for a 14 month old. That menas if they are sleeping 2 hrs in naps they may sleep 12 hrs at night.

I found DS will NOT sleep 12 hrs in one stretch no matter what I do, so I changed my expectation to 11 hrs. We aim for 7pm-6am, then 2 hrs of naps during the day (he is older now)

twinmumma, I've wondered about sleep at 1pm, but then DS goes to nursery 3 days and they sleep at 12pm.

Lazycow · 27/02/2007 16:42

Ds (2 yrs) always sleeps between 10-11 hrs at night (on a good night). No amount of tinkering with bedtimes changes this. Tbh after his first 16 months of waking regularly - 10hrs uninterrupted is bliss. He is currently sleeping until between 6-7am but we did have 18 months of early (5am or earlier) wake-ups

He might sleep longer at night if he had no (or a shorter) day nap but he would need to be in bed by 6.30/7pm at the latest and that isn't possible every day as I work so he has a nap and sleeps about 10hrs a night. His total sleep in a day is between 11-12 hrs (including naps)

twinmumma · 27/02/2007 21:54

My advice is now to never ever put a message on saying that you have had success......!!!!!
Lily woke at 5.20am after I put that message!!
This morning was 6.20am
I think the 5.20am waking was due to the fact that they were very tired going to sleep that night - so went to deep sleep straight away, and therefore woke early.
Maybe... maybe not. It is very unusual however.
Fingers crossed for another 6.20 tomorrow morning!!

I honestly do think the key is to get a balance of day and night sleep.
I have friends who give their children 2 hours still during the day - and it doesn't seem to affet their night sleep... but it does with mine.
I am sure that sleeping at 12 is fine... it just means that they are going to be really ready for bed at 7pm.

Hope that it works. Let me know! I am always working on it - as mine do seem to wake earlier than everyone elses children. They had their 1st morning at nursery today - so hoping they are worn right out and will have no problems!!

GOOD LUCK!

CanSleepWeirdShifts · 27/02/2007 21:59

Haven't read all the replies, so might be repeating, but yes, it is too much to expect all 14 month olds to sleep this long - some will, some won't. My 12 month old doesn't go to bed until 8, and is up usually between 6 and 6:30, so sleeps slightly less that your ds. She has never slept longer than this though, so if your ds used to, then it might be worth looking at reducing his daytime naps instead. My dd generally has between 1 and 2 hours in the afternoon.

TS123 · 27/02/2007 22:24

Sorry to add another non-success story but: DS is 15 months old and has woken at 5-5:30am since he was born. He is now down to one nap at 11:30am-noon and still no change. Based on my own experiences, I'm not convinced that any amount of fiddling with bedtimes or naptimes changes anything since I can honestly say that I've tried it ALL. I'm slowing resigning myself to the reality faced by all those other parents out there with early-risers you just have to wait till they outgrow it. In my case, my last hope is the clocks going forward in a couple of week I'll keep my fingers crossed for all of us!!!

TS123 · 27/02/2007 22:26

I should also add that I think for some babies (like my DS), the more you mess with their sleep schedule, the worse it gets. Others who have had success with changing naps/bedtimes etc. . perhaps have more flexible children.

Original poster

firststeps · 28/02/2007 11:56

twinmumma - after moving his sleep 12-2ish my ds woke at 6.05 the first morning and 6.15 this morning - so thanks for the tip! (obviously now I have posted he will wake up early in the morning like yours!!!)

OP posts:

Mumpbump · 28/02/2007 12:02

Mixed success. We put ds' bedtime back to 19:30 to 20:00 depending on how tired he is and he does seem to wake up later - generally between 06:00 and 06:40. He also wakes later if he only takes some of his bottle before bedtime and I then give him the rest when I am going to bed at 22:00. That said, he did wake up at 05:40 today, so, as I say, mixed success...

midnightexpress · 01/03/2007 19:45

Our 15 month-old recently took to getting up at 5 too, and changing bedtimes/naps didn't seem to make much difference. A friend who'd had a similar problem suggested that we go in and give him some milk in his cot, but not to talk to him or put lights on etc. And it does seem to work, even if it only gets us an extra half hour or so. He takes his milk and has a bit more of a snooze, usually. But not always, and I think the others who say you may just have to resign yourself to an early riser for now are probably right.

Good luck!

CorrieDale · 01/03/2007 20:08

What I found worked was ensuring that DS got loads of exercise during the day. Which might sound odd for a toddler but I really notice the difference in the quality and quantity of DS's sleep if we've just been hanging around the house rather than, say, walking to the library or going swimming.

sunnyjim · 01/03/2007 20:10

partial success!

we've just started ignoring the 5am wakeup call and it seems to be working. Our principle is, if he has woken once already and had nappy changed/drink given then he can be ignored if he wakes again before 6am.

(if he screams in pain obviuosly we go in but mah mah i'm bored gets ignored)

so far out of 3 mornings he has gone back to sleep 2 out of 3 - until 6.45am today!

OzJo · 06/03/2007 06:21

I'm reading this with envy...Ds 20 months old, woke at 0420 this morning, and was UP...He's always been around the 0530 mark, then it crept up to 0500, then 0445...this morning I could've cried......Even if he misses his midday nap he'll still wake up early... If he stays up later, he still wakes early. He must just be wired for this obscene hour. I live in hope that it's a phase....... thankfully I take it in turns with Dp to get up, so try to go to bed REALLY FUCKING EARLY when it's my turn.
0530 feels like a lie in.....plus we're in Australia, so the clocks go BACK in about 3 weeks ( soft weeping )..

katelyle · 06/03/2007 06:53

I'm not sure it's worth the effort involved in trying to adjust waking times if it's actually morning when they wake up - if it's after 5.30, say. My dd has always been an early riser - I think she's just naturally a lark. We concentrated on strategies to keep her preferably in bed so that she was resting, or at least in her room so she wasn't waking everyone else up. As soon as she was old enough we gave her a tape player and story tapes. I used to put a snack for her in her room, and I would set up some toys - maybe something she hadn't played with for a while. She is now 11, and still wakes up early - usually betreen 6 and half past. She gets her breakfast, reads, finishes her homework, does music practice (not so good) and generally potters about. She has a busy after school life, so her mornings are a peaceful bonus time for her.

staceym11 · 06/03/2007 06:55

im readign this now and thinking that my 6.30 waking 2yo isnt that bad!!! was coming on to ask for help!!!

think my problem is she used to sleep 7-9 which was lovely, then it went 7-7 which was fine (without a daytime nap, she wont take one) and now its gone to 6.30 am and i am not a morning person, but must say at least its not 4.30! hope you all have some success!

TS123 · 06/03/2007 13:20

Firststeps - I'm curious if you continue to have success with pushing the nap back to 12-2pm? Is your lo still sleeping in a bit better?

Original poster

firststeps · 06/03/2007 18:59

TS123 - seems to be but I almost don't want to say anything in case I jinx it!! It has taken about a week to settle in, but (fingers crossed) he has been sleeping til between 6am and 7am for the past 4 nights. The first 2 nights he did 6.05 and 6.15, then it was back to 5.30 for a few mornings, but he was just murmuring rather than being wide awake. I think the key has been to consistantly have him nap 12ish - 2ish rather than before if he woke up at 5.30 I was putting him down for a sleep at 10, the few mornings he woke at 5.30 last week I kept him awake til after lunch and he didn't get hysterically overtired like I thought. Now I've said that though he'll be up with the larks in the morning

OP posts:

jetjets · 08/03/2007 14:18

Message withdrawn

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