How much sleep does your 16 month old have?

[Elf]

DS, 16 months, is waking too early and we've suffered long enough! I thought by this age it would be better. Any ideas as to where we might be going wrong gratefully received. This is his routine:

Morning nap 9am ish - 30 mins after which I wake him up.

Lunchtime nap 12.30pm about 1 and a half hours - I let him wake up when he wants.

Night time bed at 7pm awake at 5.45am usually.

He used to wake at 4.30 but since the clock change we have had a slight improvement. I just feel that maybe at the moment he is getting too much daytime sleep perhaps. But when he wakes so early he gets tired - Catch 22! Anyway, I won't go on. In anticipation..........

Sounds like he's getting almost 13 hours in total then which is just about right for that age I think.

My dd's 2 1/2 now and at around 15 months we dropped her morning nap. It was tough for a few days as she was exhausted but I gave her a very early lunch, 11am-ish and put her down for 12pm and let her sleep for as long as she wanted to which was usually about 2 1/2 hours. After a couple of weeks she managed the morning well and I could make lunch later although even now she needs to nap not much later than 1.30pm.

I don't know if there's a real 'cure' for early mornings but the only success story I've come accross is from Richard Ferber's book. He recommends making the morning nap later and later each day by about 15 minutes as he believes an early nap is more a childs way of 'finishing their night sleep' when they wake too early. Maybe worth a go?

DS a month older than your DS and his waking is a little irregular...currently 0545 but it has been known to be as late as 0730. His room is pitch black (which helps a lot) but I reckon it's because he's hungry....we try to fill him up before bed but 10-12 hours is a long time to go without food or drink. If he wakes on or after 0700 he does't have a nap...always restrict a morning nap to 20 mins so the lunchtime nap is still nice an long 1230 for max 2 hours.
To survive I've made myself a nice bedtime routine...bath, cocoa, TV in bed, magazine and asleep by 1030pm. This gives me enough sleep regardless of what time DS wakes.
I also tell myself that lots of people wake at 0530 to do their jobs and that DS just can't wait to see his mummy and daddy. Now I can tell myself that Elf is awake too!

Thanks you two. Yes Mummylonglegs, this is the kind of thing I have been thinking of doing, it is good to hear someone else got through that initial week or two. Mmm, early lunch, early nap, I shall try and sort that one out.

Robin3, yes, I'll think of you too! Yes we go to bed pretty early too but I still think it is a shame, because I am sure he could do with a lovely 12 hour session and I know I could. Good luck to you too.