Early Morning Waking - Wood Ridge,NJ

Hi D., One of my sons was also a very early riser. I thought it may have been because while I carried him I got up early to prepare for my day. He was child #4 and the others were teenagers. I went to work and prepared dinner in the morning. He did eventually start to sleep later. Can you get him out in the day for fresh air and fun? Maybe he will sleep longer. Kids are who they are and we have to go with the flow. My best, Grandma Mary

How much does he sleep in total in a 24hour period? Perhaps he is napping too much during the day, and just doesn't need anymore sleep? If he gets 12 hours in a day, that is enough. Try limiting his naps if that's the problem. Otherwise, I would actually suggest putting him down a little EARLIER - maybe at 7pm. This might actually cause him to have another REM cycle (which is about 1 1/2 hours, so that should give you an extra hour in the morning).

20 mo old need naps in the middle of the day - or two short ones. if he sleeps between 3 and 4 pm he will not be falling asleep at 730

I guess most everybody is going to tell you the same thing, to put him to bed LATER (like 8:30 or 9:30), so he wakes up later.

We are also going through this. My son (21 months) shares a room with h is 3 year old sister. What we do is set up a pac-n-play in the kitchen and move him in there when he wakes in the morning. He usually cries a little and then goes back to sleep, or at least quites down. Some mornings, like today, he didnt quiet at all so he has been up. Most mornings it buys us time until like 6:30. Not a great solution though. Wish there was a way to keep him sleeping til 6:30 or so.

What's his nap schedule like? That's where I'd look. Is his nap too late? At this age they are so busy and active, and that may make them nap too long, so if he sleeps 1-4pm, I'd move his nap to 11:30 and just give him a really early lunch and a hearty, healthy snack after the nap. I'd also avoid being out later in the afternoon if being in the car would cause him to fall asleep. When my kids were little, that was always a killer, having them fall asleep in the car at 4-5 pm
Good luck!

We're going through this right now... makes for a LONG day for Mommy and Daddy! I wish I had some advice, but I will be checking to see what others suggest.

I will say this, we tried keeping him up later, but he still woke at 5:00, but was a tired crab instead of a sweet and peppy peanut!

My daughter is 20 months and has always been a good sleeper. The key?...She still takes 2 naps a day and we keep her very active. One nap late morning and one mid-late afternoon. That way we can use the evening for dinner, bath time and some before bed play. The more active she is the more sleep she will need. Playing outdoors works great to tire them out. She goes down by 8-9 pm (on her own) and sleeps until 8:30ish. I suggest you keep her on a two nap schedule and add lots more activity.

I have an early riser also, so I made one of the best purchases ever... it's called the Good Night Light. It's a night light that lights up like a blue moon for the night time and turns into a yellow sun at the time in the morning that you set it for, letting him know it's OK to get out of bed. Start by setting it for about 5 minutes after he usually wakes up, so he knows what it will do, then slowly inch it up by maybe 5 or 10 minutes until it's at a more reasonable time for waking. When I got it for our son, I made a really big deal about it to him, and he loves it- he shows everyone who comes over! He used to be a 5 am wake-up kid, and we've slowly gotten him to 6:50. I don't know if this will work for you quite yet, as your son may still be in a crib, but I wanted to let you know about it in case you're still going through this in another 6 months or so. By the way, if you are interested in getting it, you have to order it online. Good luck!

Read what sleep experts have to say: http://bit.ly/2qtCr