when did you start to push back bedtime?

[GirlWiththeMouseyHair]

DS is 15mo and has always woken on his own (we follow his routine rather than a proscribed one but he's pretty much done what all other babies seem to do whether on routines or not), he normally wakes any time between 7 and 8:30am but always goes to bed at 7pm. He has (usually) a 2-2.5 hour nap around midday.

The last two weeks he's woken at 6-6:30am, I can't hack the early mornings. At what age did you start pushing your baby's bedtime back and will it make a difference?

In all honesty there doesn't seem to be a difference when he only gets say 40mins or 1hour at naptime rather than 2hours

[GirlWiththeMouseyHair]

I'm managing to ignore it's happening - moving in 2 days and grand total of 2 boxes packed...ooops!

[lukewarmcupoftea]

Blimey, I'm sure you will! Good luck with the move. Hope you're not offline for too long

[GirlWiththeMouseyHair]

Thanks - I thought it was probably the light to be honest. His room isn't blacked out but we're moving this weekend so will see if that makes a difference (ie blacking out his new room, I'm sure we'll have a bit of sleep disruption before then).

[lukewarmcupoftea]

I really would look at the daytime nap length before messing around with bedtime (as a later bedtime might mean that he gets more tired, so sleep gets worse, plus you lose some of your evening!). It can take a few days (possibly a week) of consistently shorter naps before you see the difference in the wake up time in the morning - I would try limiting it to 1h30 or 1h45 for at least 3 days and see how that goes.

However - it sounds like your DS is a bit like our DD1 in that he likes a lot of sleep and naps. We occasionally have problems with DD1 waking early (which for her is 6.30 or 7 - she is usually a 7pm-8am er (before anyone else gets too green, DD2 is a horrific sleeper!)), and it always seems to coincide with a molar coming through, or perhaps a cold. After a couple of weeks, back to being shattered even on 15 hours sleep a day (and she's 2.5!). Could the early waking be for some other reason?

Another thought is that it is starting to get lighter in the mornings now - is his room blacked out?

[GirlWiththeMouseyHair]

bump

[GirlWiththeMouseyHair]

god don't worry, we've had our share of night time and daytime sleeping trauma - it was the refusal to nap more than half an hour for the 1st 4 months, waking several times a night for an hour or more at 5-6months and 12-14months, early waking (5amish) 7-8months that's made me just let him get on with it and do what he wants now.

BUT I have been spoilt with a decent wake up time for the last 6months or so!