4Am Wake-up!

Hi D.,
She's waking up at 4:00 because you're putting her to bed at 6:00. Try keeping the 1 nap but put her down for it at 11:30 & then put her to bed for the night at 7:30.

Completely normal. You got it right with the last sentence. She is just transitioning, and its a prettybig one. Do the most you can to influence it to your schedule. Is it best for you if she sleeps from 12-2, 1-3, or 2-4? At first it will be a good 3 hours. Try to keep her up longer in the morning. Go out, do something, keep busy, wear her out. Then put her down for her morning nap closer to midday. Do the same for evening. She will probably sleep about 11 hrs in the night, so if you want her up at 7, try to get her to sleep at 8, etc. Good luck!

Hi D.,

It all usually depends on the child. It seems that your daughter probably does not need that much sleep anymore. You may want to try continuing with the one nap daily and then putting her to bed later (depending on if you have a certain time you wake up). But, if I remember right, most 15 month olds only need about 10 hours of sleep at night. Which could be why she's up at 4 :). Good luck; it sounds like you're on the right track!

Good EARLY morning!!!!!

We went through the same exact thing. I finally ended up doing the only one nap... although it was longer and moving her bedtime also to a later time. I am not sure if my daughter sleeps too much but I will not wake her up from sleep or naps unless I absolutely have to. She goes to bed at 10:30 pm (after Daddy leaves for work so his alarm does not wake her up) and sleeps until about 10 or 11am and then takes a 3-4 hour nap at around 3pm. I also bought a sound machine since she would wake up to every other noise in the house or on weekends when Daddy is home and puttering around making noise and that helped to get and keep her on a schedule! I finally have some "me time" again and my sanity back!

I did the change over a couple of day period.... not fun dealing with a cranky baby but even less fun dealing with a cranky Mommy! This was the only time I have refused a nap or kept her awake when she was crabbing! But it was a fast change and everything went right back to the new normal!

I wish you luck finding what works best for you and your daughter! Be patient finding the perfect times... it will happen- eventually!
Many blessings!

Hi D.! I'm not sure if this will help your situation or not, but usually when kids drop a nap it's the morning one that goes. There is a theory that "sleep begets sleep", meaning the more frequently and consistently a child sleeps, the more sleep they will end up getting. Keeping her up in the morning and putting her down for a nap in the afternoon will help better space out the time that she's awake during each period. This will lead to greater consistency in the timing of her sleep and may actually help her sleep better at night. But by putting her down at 10:30 in the morning, she hasn't really been awake for very long - then keeping her up all afternoon is a pretty big stretch of being awake - which is a more inconsistent pattern and may explain why she is having trouble. If kids get overtired, they don't sleep - not the other way around. It may be that keeping her up for that long of a period during the afternoon is just too much for her.

I think it is pretty common for kids at this age to go through some adjustments to their sleep schedules. This is around the time my daughter dropped her morning nap as well, and sometimes that takes a week or two for them to readjust. I'd say keep experimenting until you find the right combo!

Hope this helps! And best of luck! : )

Our daughter is 16 months old and we follow a decent nap time. She wakes up at 5:30 am (I go to work, she goes to day care) nap time is from 12-3 (give or take)and then bedtime is 7-7:30 at night. It all just depends on when she wakes up. You usually want more time awake in the morning and then a shorter time frame from end of nap to bedtime. Good luck! It won't happen overnight.

My theory is that if they are awake...fine, but they have to stay in their crib/room, and don't go to her till an acceptable wake up time. 6:30am is acceptable in our house. My son tried the same thing at around 14 months, though my son was not in a crib any longer (his doing) but couldn't open the doors yet, so he'd play on his floor till I went in. I did cut out the morning nap and now naptime starts between 12:00-1:00pm and lasts till 3:00-4:00pm. The rest of the day is on a tight schedule and he gets dinner at 6:00pm bath at 7:00 and beditme at 8:00. After a few weeks he realzed that it was easier to just go back to sleep, and now sleeps till 7 or 8am.

She may not need all these naps during the day. Unless she is so active that she is falling down in the middle of the day you may want to skip one of the naps.

S.

My daughter is 19 months old now and switched to one nap around your daughter's age. She usually goes down for her nap after lunch-around 11:30-and will sleep for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Since I don't have to get up for work, we don't put her to bed until 8:00. She often sleeps until 8:00 in the morning. I would definately try to keep her up more in the morning, get one good nap in and hopefully she won't get you up so early. It's sad to lose that second nap, but at least you will get sleep at night. Good luck! Hope this helps.

Hi D.,

I'd try moving her bedtime back a little bit later than 6pm and see if she'll sleep later in the morning. It seems a little early to be going to sleep, and she may only need 10 straight hours of night time sleep. Moving her naps around probably won't help her sleep later in the morning, and she may still need two naps per day. Also, you could check with her pediatrician for a guidance in terms of how many night time sleep hours and how many day time sleep hours are needed (approx) at her age. My pediatrician had a chart like this but unfortunately, I didn't keep a copy of it. Good luck!

6pm bed time may be too early. I would have her go to bed around 8. Maybe shorten her naps to one hour each or keep her up till closer to noon so she can have one 2- 21/2 hr nap. Also her signing in her crib at 8pm would be fine. I think children her age often do that. My little one sings to her animals for sometimes up to an hour before she finally goes to sleep.

This is the age that my first daughter starting eliminating her morning nap too. Have you tried just waking her up from her naps? Maybe try after she's been sleeping for 1.5 hours (for both morning and afternoon). Perhaps cutting out that one hour of daytime sleep will make her more tired at night. ?? Or try putting her on one nap but delay the time gradually each day. So 10:15 on day 1, 10:30 day 2, 10:45 day 3, etc. etc. Try pushing it back to at least noontime. Good luck!

My son is 15 months and he has had one nap for a while now. She might have some molars (sp?) cutting in like my guy and he was waking at 5 instead of the glorious 7am. he's back to 7, thank heavens and I see the white tooth is exposed more now. If she's not cutting a tooth, it could have been just one of those nights where she was ready for the day quite early! I don't think you should regress to 2 naps though...
good luck!

It's been awhile since my kids were so little.....but 6:00 for a final nighttime bed seems a bit early, especially since it is so light for so long now. She would need to sleep for 12 straight hours in order to get up at 6 am. She really is getting 10 hours of nighttime sleep if she gets up at 4 and goes down at 6. That doesn't seem like a bad stretch of time. Maybe the solution isn't as complicated as trying to cut her to one nap...maybe you just need to move her final bed time a bit. My youngest was and still is a sleeper. She took 2 naps a day until she was almost 3. (I figure I earned it since her older sister NEVER napped!ok--I exagerrate she took 2 20 minute naps a day.) I am a fan of "if the kid's sleepy let her sleep" way of parenting. Trying to chop off sleep during the day to a kid who wants it is counterproductive anyway---sometimes then they are SO tired and wound that they can't fall asleep. If she gets 2 naps a day, goes down at 8 and gets up at 6, she seems to be getting about the right amount of sleep for a little one her age. I always treasured my evening time with hubby so couldn't wait for bedtime---but if the trade off is a kid that wakes me up with the birds and is cranky all day....I'll take a few less minutes with my man. Good luck!!!

D., I agree with Laura. My son is 25 mos now, and he was doing pretty much the same thing. I think your daughter is ready for one nap, but it can't be at 10:15. Start moving it later each day until you reach the 12-2 window of going down for a nap - she will have a longer morning and then a similar afternoon. She may still want to sleep for the night at 6, but then she will sleep until 6am. this may take a week or so of transition - hang in there. If the 6pm bedtime is truly too early for her, then move it a little later until she is sleeping until after 6am. Her total hours of sleep at this age btwn nap and night sleep should be 12-14hours. With an early bedtime I find hanging a dark sheet or getting black out curtains for the room helps for night and morning light sneaking in her room.
Good luck with the transition - this should be the last one for a while.

Hi D.,

Both of my boys stopped taking 2 naps at 15 months. Try only giving your daughter only 1 late morning nap and then putting her down around 7:30-8pm and she will sleep later in the morning for you. Usually my boys slept till around 7 or 8am. But of course all children are different. When my boys got around 18-19 months they stopped taking naps all together unless they played to hard (they did this on their own). They just wouldnt take a nap anymore and would go down at the sametime every night. Good Luck to you.

Hi D.! Just know that almost every kid has that transition period from two naps to one where things are messed up for a bit. My suggestion would be to keep her up until after she eats lunch. It may be hard at the start but once your into the routine she will get used to it and her nights (and yours too) will be better. Plan activities so that she stays busy during those tired hours of 10-12. After you feed her lunch you can put her down. I wouldn't let her sleep more than three hours. Wake her if need be. The first few days may be hard during the day but her nights should improve right away. Thats how it was for both my girls anyhow. Best of luck!

I would try a later afternoon nap, around 12:30-1pm and then put her to bed at her normal wake up time. My sleep books says that the later bedtimes will actually cause your child to wake earlier in the morning rather than later. Hope that helps!!