Just here to rant

[MumLife90]

I'm tired, I'm emotional, I'm angry, I feel guilty and I'm so done with being a mum today!

I'm also grateful, bless and in love with my son but these 5am starts for the past 3 months are getting to me.

I've tried most things to get him to sleep later - wart bedtimes, later bedtimes, always make sure he doesn't over nap or under nap (as much as it's in my power to do so) and that he doesn't go to sleep overtired (once again nursery can impact this) so WHY DOES HE WAKE AT 5AM?!

We leave him in the hopes he goes back to sleep and 1 in 10 times he does and other he cries after 20 mins.

I'm beginning to think it's not a phase anymore and this is now is habit! He's 1 so could be going through a regression as well but it's since we were on holiday with a 2 hour time difference that he's started to do this!

Any advice, tips or tricks are much needed!

What's Los routine?
And when you changed routine how long did you do it for? A day? A week?

Wakes between 5 and 5:15am. Milks to try to get him back to sleep (never/ rarely works)

7:30am breakfast

8:30am - nap (sometimes later when at
nursery)

Snack

11:15am - lunch

2pm - nap (when at nursery this is usually more like 12:30)

Snack

4:40-5pm - dinner

6:30pm - milk

7pm - latest bed!

We've tried rejigging to do later and early bed times but nothing is working!

I feel so awful for getting so annoyed when he wakes in the morning

When you put lo to bed later how long have you tried? A day ? Week or month?

Is room dark? Is lo cold? Have you tried adding a supper??

How long is afternoon nap?

This is super common but I would guess that giving him milk only reinforces the wake. Try to leave him as long as possible.

In my experience it’s the two naps, specifically the morning nap. Having a regular nap in the morning, even if short, causes an early wake. It’s a really tricky time because one nap isn’t enough but two is too many so you are somewhat stuck, until they can handle the wake time required for 1 nap per day. I’d say one in four threads on the sleep board are parents of DC aged 10-15 months suffering 5am starts so it’s really common.

My advice would be make the morning nap really, really short (like 15 mins) and bring the second nap forward to more like 12:30 or 1. Basically mimicking what it’ll be like with one nap but with a tiny little cat nap to see her through.

If by 1 though, you mean she is more like 15 months plus, I’d drop to one nap. I bet you’d see an improvement after a few weeks.

Also, one nap isn’t going to be a magic bullet without a later bedtime. Average overnight sleep for a one year old is 10-11h. If your DC is average, you need to be looking at a bedtime more like 8pm for a 6:30 or 7am start.

I would say dinner at 4.40 and then just milk before bed is too long to go until breakfast. I would either make dinner later (6pm or so) or introduce a snack like weetbix/toast/porridge just before bed. I wouldn't be giving milk in the morning as knowing he will get that may be stopping him going back to sleep. I would also cut the first nap to 20 mins or so.

Scrap that morning nap. Try a schedule like this (it will be gruelling while he adjusts to keep the nap away.

Dressed and breakfast as soon as he wakes. Keep feeding him to keep him awake (snacks).

Nap at 11 am (10:30 earliest. These naps may be long at that age my sons were 2.5-3 hours as you're essentially stealing some night sleep).

Bed 7 or 8. Probably 7 to begin with.

It's a phase when they're a year old. There's a post like this on MN all of the time

The best thing you can do is get yourself to bed earlier so you can get a decent 8 hours sleep a night.

A 1 YO also only needs one nap a day. Don't put them down for their nap until 11am. Literally wait until they're falling asleep on their feet.

Thanks so much everyone for the tips and tricks!

I think we're going to try the 15 min cat nap starting tomorrow and see how we get on and we'll stop the milk and intro a snack before bed/ push back dinner time too!

Honestly thanks so much. Wouldn't have even thought of these!

Hi!

Sorry, I've just seen this! Yes! It's worked a treat. We're still up between 6 and 6:30 but it's a world away from 5am! We now put him down at 9:30 for 20 mins and he's doing a long 2hr nap in the afternoon around 12:30ish. I've told nursery to wake him after 20 mins as well if he falls asleep but he's started to refuse the first nap some days so I think it was that he was ready to start transitioning to 1 nap a day!

Just the bloody heat that's waking him at the moment. Bring on the rain!

Good luck mumma!

Hahaha exactly! We could have had so many more "lay ins"!

Glad it worked for you too hun x