15month old sleeps for 8hrs only

[BeCyanGuide]

Hello. My 15month old, who has been doing this for months, and always been a bad sleeper wakes at 4-5am every day. We have tried earlier or later bedtime still just sleeps for 8hrs regardless. His naps are 9-10am and 2-3pm bedtime is take up at 7.30 falls asleep by 8pm. He always seems tired, wakes up from naps crying but wont go back to sleep wakes from night time crying but also wont go back to sleep. Does anyone have any suggestions please? Thank you.

Personally it sounds fabulous, I'd have been happy with that.

What time does he wake for the day?? Have you tried capping first nap to 20 mins to try to extend second nap to go to bed a little later? But with the same daytime sleep

4.30am when working full time isn’t ideal

He wakes at 4.30am most mornings

He is exhausted from 4.30am and needs his morning nap at an hr to function for the day otherwise hes a gremlin 😂 cant keep him up later as hes so ready for bed at 8pm. Thank you for being helpful rather than saying oh 8hrs is great! It really isnt when u work full time and cant go to bed at 8pm yourself!

I wasn't being flippant, a straight 8 hours is something I dreamed of. Ds was an early waker until he was 3,just the way he was. Hideous when you're working but not sure what you can do apart from go to bed earlier yourself.

Ive 1.5 more years if this? 🙈😂 he doesn’t sleep through wakes up 2-3 times. They say babies/toddlers with low sleep needs are happy after naps and night time and he really isn’t.

Oh God that's awful, I thought you meant 8 full hours! You must be on your knees.

A friend had great success with a sleep consultant, is that an option?

It’s hard, i meant he is in his cot for 8hrs always manage to get him back to sleep the other times but not after 4.30am

We dropped to one nap at 13 months because we were having the same issue. Keeping her up til 12pm on that first day was horrendous I won't lie, but it worked.

May be worth a try. My little girl has a 1.5 hour nap now and sleeps 11-12 hours at night.

We dropped to 1 nap at about 12 - 13 months

DD's sleep isn't great by any means, but 2 naps would be too much for her now at 15 months

She's up between 7-7.30am
She'll usually nap from 11am-12.30pm. She's pretty sleepy by 5pm but we eek it out until a 6.30/7pm bed time

I can't imagine how exhausted you must be.

I know co-sleeping isn't for a lot of people but there's a good chance that if you brought him into bed with you they may go back off for another hour or 2? A lot of people start doing this after age 1 to avoid getting up at 4/5am! Amazing that a bit of physical comfort can do.

Sometimes when they're really overtired they actually sleep less... Have you tried moving bedtime earlier? It sounds weird but sometimes getting them to sleep before they're overtired can result in a longer sleep. You have 4 hours between the first 2 naps then 5.5 before bedtime so it could be that.

Also you could try a day where he stays awake til 11.30 and you do one nap? Do whatever is required to keep them awake (being outdoors helps - take them to a cafe / the zoo, anything they love or with friends that will distract them from how tired they are)
The 2 to 1 nap transition is really really hard and it can be a few months of going between 2 and one, but would mean you'd have more sleep pressure before bedtime.

https://huckleberrycare.com/blog/15-month-old-sleep-schedule-bedtime-and-nap-schedule#naptimescheduleeforaa15monthh_old this may have some additional tips - I used to find some of their monthly guides helpful.

Sending you hugs, I really hope you can get a bit more sleep soon. And if you have an other half, make sure you're doing 50/50 on those early starts at the very least. Unless they're an air traffic controller no job should mean you have to shoulder that level of sleep deprivation daily yourself xx

While no child sleeps like the textbooks, this from the above link is particularly helpful. It also gives example schedules to try depending on one or 2 naps and common Q&A at the bottom x

A bit from it:
Naptime schedule for a 15 month old
Those 15 month olds who have transitioned to a 1-nap schedule (huckleberrycare.com/blog/2-to-1-nap-transition) will need between 5 and 5.5 hours of awake time before their nap in order to be tired but not too tired. Most 15 month olds who are taking 2 naps per day sleep best with about 3.25 hours of awake time before the first nap and about 3.75 hours of awake time before their afternoon nap.
How long should a 15 month old nap?
At 15 months, we hope to see between 2 and 3 hours of total daytime sleep. For children who haven’t yet transitioned to 1 nap per day, it’s helpful to limit the first nap to 90 minutes.
How many naps for a 15 month old?
By 15 months of age, some children have outgrown the 2-nap schedule, leaving just 1 nap around lunchtime. Other toddlers this age still need 2 naps per day. It’s also not uncommon for the number of naps to vary from day to day at 15 months; some days will be 2-nap days, while others will be a 1-nap day.
By 18 months, your child should typically complete the transition to a 1-nap schedule, but there’s no need to rush it. Signs that your child is ready to drop a nap include taking very short naps, resisting one or both na
ps, or consistently sleeping less than 10 hours a night.

That sounds tough. Could it be hunger waking them? I say that because if it is, it’s hard to go back to sleep at that time for them sleep pressure is low. We do a dream feed at 9pm and if we ever skip it baby wakes hungry 3/4/5 am

Personally I don't think it sounds like he has enough daytime sleep. I totally go with the theory of "sleep breeds sleep". Has always worked for me. More naps in daytime gives us better nighttime sleep.

Try one long nap aiming for 12-2/2:30

We have tried that too 🙈

Oh god keeping him awake 4.30am-12? Thats nearly 8hrs! How did u manage that? He just lays on the floor and goes to sleep 😂 was it the morning after your little girl slept later? What time did u do lunch?

Its just the initial dropping to one nap as hes up at 4.30 keeping him awake for 7hrs would be impossible.

Ah thank you so much, this is so helpful. We have tried co sleeping he just stands up and tries to run off 🙈😂 the one nap i would love to do hes a nightmare though when he wants his naps he just plonks himself anywhere and goes to sleep and hes knackered by 9am. Always wondered where lunch comes into one nap? I insist on doing the 4.30am even though we both work full time he has to drive for an hr to work and i drive 10mins for the sack of safety i just do it. He does both days at the weekends normally.

Unfortunately not we have tried water/milk a snack even but no.

Ah I remember the 4.30am starts. Those were long days, especially at work. We got in the habit of going to bed when she did to maximise our sleep.

This honestly sounds like a child with low sleep needs just figuring it out. I will say, mine dropped to one nap at 1, so she'd sleep 11-1pm and then 7.30pm to 5am, which wasn't too bad. Made night time much easier.

Same. One of mine woke at 4am every day and slept for 8 hours tops with no naps in the day, the occasional 10 minutes but nothing to write home about.