Early Wake-Up Call

Hi- I have the same problem. It would be nice if they could just sleep that extra time and then be up. I have tried letting mine cry it out. If I do he is usually back asleep in less than a minute, but not always. Also if I give him a bottle he will drink some and fall back asleep. Though I know that is not really recomended since it can rot their teeth. I think a lot of it is habit. When he first started doing this we would pick him up and sit in the recliner with him while he had a bottle. Then me or my husband would often fall asleep with him. (Though it was kind of nice to have that quiet time together!) But I think he got used to waking up, having a bottle then going back to sleep. Maybe try picking something for a week. If it doesn't work try something else for a week. Hopefully you can change this habit. Probably wasn't much help but just wanted to give you my experience.
Good luck!!

We spent nearly 8 months trying to figure out how to get our oldest daughter to sleep when she was born. When we finally figured out what was wrong after reading many books and dr visits on the subject, we realized she was sleep deprived.

The book that saved us was 'Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child'. The Dr. who wrote it has over 30 years experience with children's sleep issues, and although a lot of it was hard medicine to take, everything he recommended was right on.

The solution to this problem is the exact opposite of what most parents would think: the baby is not getting to bed early enough. When there is an early waking, put the child to sleep 30 minutes earlier until they sleep until at least 6:00 am. I would move bedtime up by 30 minutes for 3 days, and if that doesn't fix it continue moving his bedtime earlier by 30 minutes, then try again for 3 days....

The book is a life saver, highly recommended. Relived me from walking zombie duty: my first daughter took 3 naps for 20 minutes a day and then slept from midnight to 5 am, waking every hour and half during the fitful nighttime sleep for the first year. After we implemented the author's solutions on teaching our child to fall asleep on her own and a naptime/bedtime schedule, she started sleeping 14 hours at night at 6 hours during the day after just 2 days of implementing his suggestions. Thank God!

Hope it helps!

S..

I would suggest maybe making the bedtime a little later in the evening, maybe an hour later around 8:30. That might help him to sleep in a little longer. Good luck.

less naps during the day

Your son will probably go to one nap in the afternoon if he has not yet. Encourage him to drop his am nap and only sleep 1-3 in the afternoon. this will help him get a longer sleep at night. also, I did a reverse "cry it out." I wouldn't go get him for 15 minutes in the am. In about a week, we were able to move it to 6:30 and now he sleeps unitl 7 or even 7:30 often. Bed time is 7:30 now mine is 2. He still takes a two hour nap most days and sleeps about 12-14 hours a day.

Kids will change their sleep patterns of getting up a million times in the first five years, believe me. Is he in his own room? That will help wonders if he is not in the same room with you.
Make sure his room is dark as the sun rising at around 5am tends to let kids think it is time to get up. Let him sit in his crib for that extra hour, ignore him and more then likely he will fall back to sleep on his own. Unless he is hysterical, just ignore him and go back to sleep yourself. I actually put those soft books in my sons bed and he would play with them for a bit really early like 4am, then go back to sleep when nobody came to get him then wake back up in a few hours.
The big issue I think right now is the sun coming up so early, black out shades are awesome. I know my son who is four this morning got up at 5:30am to pee, he came into my room and I told him to lay back down, he stared at the ceiling for a bit but fell back to sleep until 7:00! Thank goodness! :) Don't nurse him though as he will use that as a pacifier type thing and you will have to continue to get up. He will be fine another hour without food on his stomach, promise.

What time is his nap? Sometimes if you push their naps back a little, make it a little later, they sleep a little later in the morning. Good luck!

I have not read the other responses, but I have a couple suggestions that have worked for our 15mo old. He now goes to bed around 9:30pm and I do not get him out of bed until 9am. First try and put him to bed earlier. If you and your family is up mine as well have him up too. Maybe going to bed later means that he will sleep in longer. Also once he is asleep put some books or toys in his crib to keep him busy when he wakes up early in the morning. I am sure my son wakes up earlier but he keeps himself entertained in his crib while I am getting up and getting ready. Hope these 2 suggestions help! Good Luck!

Don't put him to bed until 8:30-9:00

Hi. We had this problem, too. My sleep book "Healthy sleep habits, happy child" says that if you have this problem, to put them to bed earlier. Start with 20 minutes earlier for 4 nights, etc. until they sleep in later. The explanation is that they will be better rested at the start of the sleep, then will sleep in later. Doesn't make logical sense, but it works! Good luck!

cut back to just one nap a day. and you might try putting him to bed a little later 8:30.

How about letting him just sit and entertain himself in bed until everyone else wakes up? I don't know that he necessarily needs to sleep or eat. He might just be awake.

You could also adjust his nap and bedtime schedule. You could put him to bed an hour later, or move his afternoon nap a little later in the day? This would buy you an extra hour in the morning!

Actually though, I trained my kids EARLY on that if they woke up early, they should play in the crib until it was time to get up. I made sure there were toys and a mirror and wind up stuffed animal, etc... They'd sit in there and doodle around, sing or talk to themselves, etc... They never expected me to come in, so they weren't upset when I wasn't in there that early.

Worked great!

Please don't put him to bed so early. I promise you this is the problem. The later they go to bed, the later they sleep in AND with the bright summer mornings you could cover his window with a blanket so the room is darker. This, plus putting him to bed later has helped my little one tremendously. It works. Rose :o)

I had a similar experience with my daughter at that age. I read healthy sleep habits happy child. It talks about sleep begetting sleep. My suggestion would be to try an even earlier bedtime: 6:30-7:00. When I changed to a 6:30 bedtime my daughter started sleeping 12 hours and took better naps in the daytime--as crazy as it sounds. I did have a few days where she had to whine herself back to sleep at 5ish, so you may need to leave your son in his crib a little longer. Good Luck!

"The No Cry Sleep Solution" suggests you wake them up a little just before they would wake up themselves, and let them go back to sleep, thus putting them into another sleep cycle. You would have to get up to do this, but maybe you would get to go back to sleep.