Early waking 17-month old - would it be cruel to cut nap shorter to try and get her to sleep longer at night?

[naturelover]

Right now she naps 2 hours after lunch. She goes to bed at 7/7.30pm and wakes at 5.30/6am. Her total sleep usually adds up to 12-13 hours, which is an hour or so less than the NCSS says is needed at this age.

She wakes in the morning crying hard. Until age 1 she slept 12 hours at night, and woke singing and making happy noises. So we've had 4-5 months of early wakings and unhappiness. Teething explains some of it, but now I think it's just her body clock that tells her to wake so early. Alas my own body clock is telling me 5.30 is far too early!

I was considering cutting her post-lunch nap to 1.5 hours to see if it made any difference.

The other tip from NCSS which I haven't tried yet is to make her wait 30 mins after waking for food. She is breastfed and I breastfeed her immediately upon waking. Has anyone successfully done this?

I'd really welcome any tips from parents who've had early-waking toddlers. Thank you.

One of my mindees is just starting to drop her nap (also slept for 2 hrs after lunch) and sadly for her mum she still gets up early every morning. In fact her mum says her sleep isn't as good as it used to be.

It might help but my lot were a bit older before they dropped theirs.

Mindee is 19 months btw. Not very helpful, sorry!!

What about making her post lunch nap earlier in the day but for the same length? That way she will be more tired at bed time.

Or, conversely, making it later in the day so that she goes to bed later at 8pm instead of 730pm and see whether that gets her through until nearer 7am?

I guess its trial and error?

With our DS someone recomended the following which worked for us. Get a timer that you attach to a lamp in her room - you know the ones you use to make teh lights come on when your on holiday? Set it for the time she normally wakes up and black out the room otherwise. Do this for a week. The lamp will come on and she'll wake and you'll wnat to scream! Then week two, set it for 5 minutes later every day - keep out any other light other than the light from the lamp. Her body learns to wake with the light and you will slowly reset her body clock. I think 2 hours at midday is good for her age and I wouldn't mess with this as she may just end up overtired! Anyway, it took about two-three weeks but it worked for us.
I got this advice from teh Sleepytot team after I emailed them about their comforter. I just posted in another thread to say they give out free advice and suggestions and I guess they work for some - did for us.

Trial and error is all you can do. Let us know what works for you.

Mine is 21 months and I am just cutting his 3 hour post lunch nap to 2 hours because he is waking early. He goes to bed at 7pm, wakes anytime between 5.30 and 6, then bed straight after lunch.

I would wait to feed her for at least 30 mins, make sure she has some toys in her cot too. Sadly this early waking is a phase they all go through.

Thanks for the tips.
I will start waiting 30 mins before feeding her in the morning (will be hard!)
And I will look into the timer on the light, seems like a really good idea.

Thanks

My 18mo DS is doing the same - naps 1-3pm, bed 7.30, wakes at some point between 5-6am. Driving us crazy, he used to go through to 7.30 or so but has been up with the larks for the past 10 days.

Am about to post my own thread about whether anyone's had success with wake-to-sleep for this kind of thing... might be worth a go?