What do you think is the main reason a toddler wakes early? I'm talking 4:45/5 am and thinks it's time to start the day, or hysterical at 5:15 and obviously needs more sleep, but it takes FOREVER to get him back down? I feel like we've tried everything with our 17 month old and I'm just exhausted from this...we are in the midst of the 2-1 nap transition, and some days he is up SO early, I try for 2 naps, but then he refuses to take a second one, so then he's been awake for 7 hours. Ugh! Could he be overtired??
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could definitely be over tired! maybe try doing a stroller or carseat nap for the 2nd nap if he won't do one in the crib?
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that is so tough. we experienced the early wakeups frequently from 5 months to around 1 year. i think the issue was nap deprivation (he doesn't nap well at daycare) so his little brain was in awake mode too much, and during those early morning hours he couldn't get himself back to sleep and instead woke up for the day. so maybe the transition is affecting your LO's early morning sleeping habits? i hope that once the transition is over, he goes back to a normal waking time. at the very least, i'm sure this phase won't be as long as ours was
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@Mrswonderwoman: during our transition we had to go cold turkey and make bed time wayyyy earlier or he woke up early over tired. Good luck!
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I would think the early wake ups are a result of trying for 2 naps and sticking to your regular bedtime. What does your LO's overall schedule look like?
Some kids are naturally early risers, but 4:45am is not cool!
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I agree with others- could be overtired thus waking earlier. I would really try to stick to 1 nap and go cold turkey, esp. since he's 17 months, even if he goes down on the earlier side (say 11/11:30am) if he's cranky in the AM. Then I would definately do an early bedtime- 6pm-ish.
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Well, his schedule is a MESS. A hot mess! Lol!
Days he wakes early and doesn't go back to sleep can start anywhere from 5:30-615 am. He used to sleep until 7 before molars and night weaning. On those early days, he's a crabby stink bomb by 9, so I put him down for a nap. And he just CRASHES. Like, 2-3 hrs sometimes. And the thig is, when I've pushed this later (like 12 or 1230 or even 1) he doesn't sleep nearly as long. I totally don't get it. These epic naps are obviously making up for lost sleep. But it is totally messing up the rest of the day because then he's not tired enough for an afternoon nap but can't make it to our typical bedtime (730).
On days he sleeps a little later or doesn't take an epic morning nap, he is usually fine doing two naps that total about 3 hrs. Or he can often make it on one nap if it's at least an hour.
Ideally, I'd love 730 bedtime and 630 or 7 wake up. With one nap that's maybe 2 hrs ish right after lunch. Of course, that's my perfectly ideal day that has NEVER happened, lol.
I eel like this nap transition is KILLIG us, and the molars coming in sort of just rubbed it all in to boot.
If he's a mess in the am and obviously needs that nap because he woke so freaking early, do you ladies think I should wake him after a certain time to try to preserve the afternoon nap? Or just move bedtime up to like 6??? I'm just worried he will ten be waking up at like 3 or 4 am roaring to go. The longest he's ever sttn is 10.5 hrs...but usually it's 9-10 tops.
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Sammyfab - yeah, he's never been a great sleeper, but before we pushed night weaning, he was usually awake for the day closer to 7.
Hilsy85 - he hasn't done a stroller nap in AGES. He definitely gets sleepy that way, but I'd probably have to walk for an hour or more for him to fall asleep. Car seat is somewhat similar. He really needs a boring dark place to sleep...lol! He's just a curious active little guy!
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So, when he was waking at 7 and napping at 9, was he sleeping straight through? It does sound like an extension of night sleep with the really short wake time before his morning nap. If he's getting a good chunk of consolidated sleep at night, he would hopefully last longer in the morning!
I guess you can try a couple of things:
1) Limit the morning nap to 1 hour to preserve the afternoon nap. How long after the morning nap are you putting him down in the afternoon? In the meantime, push the morning nap 15-20 minutes every few days. You want at least 4 hours between wake up and nap for one nap to be successful.
2) Go to one nap cold turkey and adopt an early bedtime. Try something like 4 hours before nap and 6 hours before bed. Add 15-20 minutes every 4-5 days.
3) Do NOT get your child up at 4:45am! Leave him and see if he will go back to sleep. If not, quiet time in the dark will make it easier to get to a later nap time.
For us, anytime night sleep was affected (mucking at bedtime, early wake ups), I knew I had to change his schedule. I would personally NOT try to preserve two naps if it meant less overnight sleep.
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@Mrswonderwoman: hmmm...in that case here's what i would do:
say he wakes up for the day at 5am-ish. I would try to put him down around 10am and HOPING he takes a long nap for 2-3 hours. It's not stretching it too too far past his usual 9am nap, but it's not pushing it way too late to the point he's overtired and naps for a short time. So, hopefully he would sleep until 12pm -1pm. Then I would absolutely have him in bed by 6pm sharp. I know it sounds totally counterintuitive and you think he will wake at 3 or 4 am ready to go, but it sounds like he really needs to catch up on his sleep debt. If he goes down at 6pm and sleeps until say- 5:30am the next day. That's close to 12 hours of sleep, which means he will feel MUCH more rested the next day, which will make pushing him until 10am even easier as he will not be overtired. I would try and stick with one consistent nap time and bedtime for right now. Then, when he gets used to napping at that time, you can gradually push the nap further out until you are in the 11/12/1 range. Once he gets caught up on sleep, then you can move bedtime back a bit to a more normal time.
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Well, today I was able to get him down for two naps after yet another early wake up and epic early nap. It was a short second nap, and we are still trying usual bed time. We'll see how long he babbles in his crib tonight...lol!
But I think you all are right in terms of options. We've definitely done a few one nap days and he usually is totally fine, even if he's awake 6 hours in the afternoon. It's really the mornings with the early wake ups that make it tough. I think if we can get him to catch up on some lost sleep and at least get him to wake at 6 am, we can make it through the day okay. I'm not opposed to shifting bed time earlier, it's just really difficult with our family schedule to do that at this point.
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@Mrswonderwoman: hope tonight goes well and he sleeps in a bit for you! as far as the early bedtime goes, you would probably only need to do it until he gets used to being on 1 nap and the longer awake times that come with it, which shouldn't take too long at 17 months. My LO was able to handle about 5.5 hours before her nap and 6 hours after her nap at that age. The early bedtime is basically just to get LO caught up on sleep to eliminate that early wakeup (if they are waking up overtired). For us right now it's near impossible to get LO down before 7pm due to our schedules, so I know how ya feel....its tough!
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Well, last night he rolled around and babbled for 20 mins then fell asleep around 8. Was up at 4:50 yet again...I went in to check on him when he started rattling the door knob (he can reach from his crib) and laid him back down and said it was time to go night night (our little saying...) and left. He was PISSED but eventually calmed down. And then eventually laid back down and went to sleep around 545. So, at least that's a slight improvement over a few days ago when it took him 90 mins! I think one issue may just be he's having a hard time sleeping past 9 hrs when he goes to bed later. So I think we may do the temporary sharing of bed time. It may take some time and tweaking a bit though.
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My child confuses me...took one nap today, nothing different from other days, and instead of his typical 2+ hr epic nap, we got 90 mins. I know that's not terrible, but I just don't get it! He'll confuse me for the rest of his life I guess.
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Well, a little update. We had one morning he slept until 630 (so 10.5 hrs of sleep) but otherwise, almost always still up at 5. I'm dieing from this...
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@Mrswonderwoman: have you tried an early bedtime for a few days in a row? I hate doing it because my husband doesn't get to see her, but sometimes when we're having sleep problems three days in a row of a 6pm or 6:30 bedtime will help her catch up on sleep debt and improve things a little bit.
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This has been us lately too! Though her wakeup is more at 5:30 AM. We're on day 4 of officially going to one nap and so far this is what we've got:
5:30 - wakeup
10:30 - start nap
11:00 - asleep (30 min- 1 hour, short naps are her thing)
5:00 - start bedtime
5:45 - asleepI'm hoping she'll catch up on sleep soon and we can shift everything back a bit
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We are having this issue too, but I don't think our issues are the same. My little guy needs 15-16 hours of sleep in 24 hours, but was waking up at 4:30 am still exhausted. For us it is teething related....we moved his bedtime an hour later, and extended his naps longer during the day, and it seems to be helping. He is at least making it until 5:30 now instead. He is 15 months and is taking 2 2-3 hour naps during the day with 10 hours at night.
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@Mrs. Lion -- Good grief, I WISH my guy slept that much! That sounds wonderful! He probably was close to that before molars and night weaning ruined everything
After a weird day, he's going to bed WAY late tonight (830) but I think @silva is probably right -- we need to move bedtime earlier if we're going to make it on one nap successfully.
At least today he fussed for a minute when he woke at 5 and fell back asleep for 35. that's an improvement! 530 is an improvement. Baby steps...
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