Sleep Problem

Hi Jen,
You should definitely cut out that morning nap. It's about the right time for him to transition to one nap a day. Just start by stalling his nap as long as possible and feeding him his lunch early- say 11:00 am. Then gradually move it back as he adjusts. Pretty soon he should be taking one good nap from about 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm everyday. It's great to have the mornings free for activities once he stops napping then!
You'll need to move his bedtime up a bit too. Maybe even to 6:30 or so until he adjusts.
Good luck!
-S.

Dear J.,

My son gets up with the sun unless his room is pitch black. We also took away any night lights so he doesn't get distracted if he wakes partially.
I got black out fabric at Joann's Fabric and it makes the room very dark. It's about $8 a yard.
I also give him a good 15 to 20 minutes before I go in to see if he will fall asleep again.

I hope this helps,
A.

Hi J........it's so tough when either way you have a child like yours or one who won't ____@____.com sounds like 3 of my grand children who require a lot of sleep. I would eliminate the morning nap if you could and just let him nap 1-2:200 or 2:30 @ the latest. It's also tough when they go to school the first couple of months but they usually do ajust.
Blessings to you dear, P.

I would suggest trying to push his bed time back a little, try doing it 15-30 minutes at a time. My daughter who is now 3 has pretty much been on the same schedule she is today but we have had to adjust the times when needed. There was a period of time when she went to be at 7:30, but now it is 8:30 so she sleeps a little later. Also, I would bet the when your son goes to school there will be nap times. You may want to check in to that, I would be a little concerned if there are no naps allowed at that age. I am sending my daughter to catholic school in September and even they have nap times. Good luck!

it will be tough but youll have to keep him busy. one afternoon nap from like 1130 to 200 ish should be good for him. for the next three days bring him outside at 930/ ten keep him busy, come home, play some more, feed him lunch, by then hell be ready to knock out... youll just have to stick it out through the crying and tantrums! good luck!

Hi Jen
Try putting him 2 bed at a later time.
Hes already getting approx 9 hours sleep from 7:45-5am.
I dont anyone who can sleep more than that at one time. You can do the same with your 13 month old. If hes waking up in the middle of the nite, Wake him up 2 hours before u retire.He mite sleep later in the am too. C.

Hi J.,

My son had issues waking up at 5 am when he was about 11 months. We started putting him to bed later - 8 pm rather than 7:15 pm. We also made his pm nap earlier - made sure he was always up by 3 pm at the latest. It has worked wonders! He nows sleeps from 8 am to 6-6:30 pm every night.

Good luck!

I would try keeping him up later at night. My 15 month-old goes to bed around 8:30 and usually sleeps past 7:30. When he goes to bed earlier, he gets up earlier. I don't recommend sending him to a school program without naps on the schedule. Naps are much needed for children. Most kindergartens even schedule in up to 30 minutes for resting. He won't even be 2 in September, so he'll absolutely still need at least 1 nap. When my oldest was in preschool, they had an hour set aside for naps in the afternoon even for the 4-5 year-olds. You better look into that a little better.

HI J., I too am the lucky Mom of an early bird! I heartily agree with Colleen F's suggestion (and others) about Dr. Weissbluth's book. It is really good and immediately useful-and supports a very loviong approach.

Regarding your plans for the Fall, many toddler programs in MA allow for one nap time, so phasing out the morning nap over the summer might be a good idea, but ALL licensed child care and family child care programs in MA are required to offer a rest period. Young children need rest adn naps times for healthy development. Dr. Weissbluth talks about children needing a total of 14 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period, so a nap is a must.

Good luck!

C.

hi my advice to you is. do not give hima nap in they afternoon. dry to keep him up till bed time .he has to get ready for school next jear. no mathe how tired he is dont let him take that afternoon nap . tire him out during the day. that will make him sleep longer in the morning.
B.

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news.... I have 4 kids. They are ALL early morning risers! 5:00 AM is very typical for us! We have tried many things... Changing bedtimes, darkening the room, eliminating naps...The best thing we did was just to Accept that we have early risers! Once we just accepted it and began our day at that time, we got used to it, and are all in a great routine. It was more difficult trying to get the kids to lie down longer in the morning, than it was to just get up, shower, eat breakfast, and start the day. I never thought I could be an early riser, but after 7 years of it, I can't sleep past 6:30, even when the kids aren't home!

I would deal with one issue at a time. Start with te morning waking. Try and move his bedtime maybe a little later...more towards 8 or so. I added a fleece blanket to my sons window at night becasue he was waking up so early a few weeks ago, he usually goes to sleep for 8 and is up at 7. I think that is about the normal 11 hours of sleep at your sons age. Then I would try and move his morning nap later and later until he is going down around 11/1130 and sleeping for a long nap. The thing is.....usually these changes take time. As far as the Fall, I have never heard of a 16 month old not needng a nap. Will he be out of preschool early enough to get an afternoon nap...I hope so. Anyways try and make these changes by 10 minutes every day until you are on track. Good luck!

I am surprised to hear that there is no nap time alloted in your school for a toddler. Most schools that I know of have some period of "down time" for the children. My son even had to bring a pillow to his kindergarten class, which was at parochial school, so they could lay their heads down for a period of time each afternoon.

As far as the napping, I used to limit the amount of nap time to say 1hour or 75 min.each nap until his morning hours stretched a little more. I cut the morning one back first until he adjusted.

definately time to drop the morning nap - i'd try to push it to 1 hour later (like 10 am) - you will have to do alot of entertainment to get him through that extra hour. give him a snack before bed - full bellies always sleep better and longer.

he may need a second power nap in the late afternoon for a few weeks (30-45 min). but that should go away too. he should be down to 1 nap a day for 1.5 - 2 hours.

My daughter has been down to 1 nap since about 10 mos - she's now 20mos. she's in her crib at 8 (she may play in there for anywhere from 15 minutes to a solid hour) but she's just babbling away and eventually falls asleep.

we wake her up at 7 during the week for work/daycare etc. and on the weekend it's 8-8:30ish before we hear a peep from her. she goes down for a nap anywhere between 12:30 - 1 and is usually about 1.5 hours (sometimes 2, but we can't let her go beyond that or it effects her night sleept). tub around 7ish, then we're on the couch at 7:30 with blankie/puppy/Bink watching the good night show on sprout - and at 8 she's in the crib.

when he gets up at 5AM - is he crying/calling for you - or do you just hear him babbling/talking. unless he's crying for you - i'd leave him in there - he's occupying himself and probably would fall back asleep.

Hi J.,
Do yourself a BIG favor, and get the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child," by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. I'm a mom of 6, and I've used it more times than I can tell you. It's a sanity saver. Believe it or not, the answer to awakening too early in the morning is actually an earlier bedtime. Try making it earlier by 20 minute increments until you achieve a later wake-up time. Also, at 13 months, some kids still need two naps, and some are ready to go to one. I would start with the nighttime, and if he wakes up later, say 6 or 7, try a nap around 10am, and another around 2 or 2:30. Don't start one later than 3, as it will interfere with bedtime. I think you'll find that once he's sleeping better at night, he'll surprise you with also sleeping longer at naptimes.

On another note, I would seriously question a school that does not have a nap time for a 2 or even 3 y.o. My kids all napped until at least three, and most til 4 or 5. Even their kindergarten had naptime.

Anyway, good luck with your sleep scheduling. Definitely get that book -- it's worth way more than the purchase price.

J.-

If you can I would try to keep him up through his am nap, it will be tough at first if your little one is cranky when he is tired. But hopefully it will go smoothly. But he may be one of those kids who wakes up earlt and will still need his am nap for awhile.

But as for going to school with no naps, he still needs at least 1 nap a day. He is too young to be taken off naps all together. Hopefully he is only in school in the morning and will still get his PM nap.

When my daughter was his age, she would be up around 6am. I would give her lunch at 10:45am, then nap at 11:15ish, I would let her sleep as long as she would, even up to 2hrs. Then we would be going towards bed by 7pm.

I dont think a child over 1 needs 2 naps. But I can see what you mean if he is up at 5am, he is ready for a morning nap, then how would he last til bed time. But maybe if you can try and get that morning nap as late as you can, closer to 11am, and work lunch in some how, maybe he can get use to the one nap, and not wake so early in the morning.

On the other hand, my daughter is now 22mo old, she naps, 11:45am to 1:30pm, and she sleep at night 7:15pm to 5am-6am. My husband hates that she wakes so early, but I'd much rather get up at 5am, than have her up and down all night long!!!!

Best of Luck

your son is probably ready for just one nap. My son is one and wakes up early too usually between 5-5:30 but he takes a nice long nap from 11-1 and it seems to be working for him. some kids just like to wake up early

crazy as it sounds, it's said that if you put them down earlier, they sleep later. try a 7pm bedtime out. it worked for us. good luck!

Well, the advice you've been already given has some very opposite opinions, but I'm chiming in to advocate for the type of advice Colleen F and others gave. Skipping naps and pushing back sleep times can make things much worse. The more sleep the better! Check out "The No Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley for solid advice and a good understanding of babies' sleep needs.

I consider a 5 AM waking not a "real" waking. I do go in after a few minutes of hearing fussing and crying, and I seriously dedicate at least 20-30 minutes to nursing/rocking/quiet singing back to sleep. (Try offering water too.) No, I don't want to be up either, but our 16 mo old will go back to sleep again, usually for another hour or two but needs help at 5 AM. So my 5 AM time is well rewarded too.

And find a "school" that has naps - that just won't do at all!

I guess my only advice would be to push back the nap/bed times if possible. I know it can be hard to do but if he is waking too early and seems to be on a consistent sleep schedule - then I think its your best option.

I think it is common at that age to wake around that time.

My daughter always had a conistent sleep schedule.
Nap at 9 am, Nap at 130 pm and bed at 7, wake for the day at 6 am. (it doesnt bother me because I have to wake that early for work anyways) but since she was born always up by 5 am or 6 am. She was a great night time sleeper so it never bothereed me and I almost always took an afternoon nap with her.

Now she goes to bed at 8 pm-ish and I have to constatnly wake her in the morning b/c we have to get ready and go.

Now at 15 mos my LO goes to bed at 8 pm -I wake her at 6:15 am and she naps from 11:30 - 2:30 pm at the latest.

Is he easily distracted - can you bring him to a playgroup that is at 10 am? Or something to keep him occupied until an approriate time for him to nap? My dd goes to daycare all day and she is so busy playing with other kids she refuses to nap sometimes.

But I agree with Colleen - I would take a closer look at a school that doesnt give a child under the age of 4 a rest time or a nap!

Hi J.,

I can totally relate to the early morning awakenings .. LOL. My kids are now 2 and 3, and my 2 year old will not sleep past 6:30, and that's very rare. She is normally up by 6:00 at the latest. However, both my kids go to bed early( 7:00 for the 2 yr old and 7:30is for the 3 yr old) so my husband and I can spend the evening just relaxing, watching TV, whatever. So, you have to take the pro's with the cons. I agree with the other moms who suggest trying to put him down for his morning nap as late as you can. This will most likely turn into just one nap a day, and will "hopefullY' get him to sleep later. The one concern I have though is that the school (daycare?) he is going to does not have nap time? I believe any accredited child care provider is required to at least have "quite time". You should look into that.

Could you try giving him a bottle? My 10 month old son wakes up at 5AM too. We give him a bottle and he falls back asleep until about 6:30AM. Of course, I'd love it if he eliminated that 5AM feeding, but I am happy he'll fall back asleep afterwards....

Hi J.,

One of the things I absolutely love about being a stay at home mom is that we can live our lives according to my children's natural schedules. However, I can see why getting up so early is really no fun at all! Try not to eliminate the first nap all together for a little while; just begin to push it a bit later if you can. There is nothing wrong with a child of 13 months taking 2 naps per day. Our 14 month old gets 1-2 naps per day, but generally on the one nap side. The pedi said that by 18 months we would see that transition pretty much completed. She goes to bed between 7-7:30 and normally wakes around 7--sometimes a little earlier, sometimes a little later. She usually takes her nap around 11:30 or 12, and it can last 2-3 hours (again, sometimes less, sometimes more). If she wakes earlier than I think she should for when she will go to bed, I put her in her crib around 5 or so and let her have some "quiet" alone time until I get her for dinner around 6. She occasionally spends the time crying, but most of the time she gets in a quick nap and has the energy to get through the last chunk of the day.

That addresses your main question about altering the sleep schedule. However, I think that you should seriously reconsider sending him to a school (pre-school already????) that would not give naps to children that young. My 4 year old does not usually take a nap, but it has been known to happen. She did take a regular nap at 1 PM every single day until she was 3 1/2, and then suddenly it stopped. Children your son's age need sleep during the day to allow their brains to develop--that is the optimal time for brain growth.

Would it be possible to put him to bed a little later at night? That way maybe he'll sleep a bit later in the morning. Also, I would question a day care not having a nap time for a toddler. There should be a nap time in the afternoon after lunch???