How to Get Baby to Sleep Later than 5 Am?

Updated on May 21, 2007
M.A. asks from Milwaukee, WI
17 answers

Ihave a 10 month old son who is wonderful, healthy, and a good sleeper. We have agreat bedtime routine, and I just put him in his crib and he goes to sleep by himself every night around 7:30 or 8 pm (sometimes he crys for a minute or two, but never longer). He sleeps all through the night, which is great, as we had alot of problems with sleeping for the first eight months. The only problem is that he will wake up around 5 am, and we are not going to bed until 11 pm or 12 am, which still makes kind of a short night for us. I don't really want to go to bed much earlier as I really enjoy being able to watch a movie, make dinner, hang out, ect. and starting August, I will need to study as I am taking graduate classes. However, I don't know if we can put him to bed much later, even at 7 pm he is rubbing his eyes and getting cranky and tired. He takes two naps during the day, around 45 min-1 hr 15 min, and he is in daycare so I don't know if he could take more/longer naps than he already is. Does anyone know of a good way to get him to sleep a little later?

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B.H.

answers from Minneapolis on

Ok he's probaly almost ready to get rid of his morning nap. I'd talk to daycare. At around one year in age at daycares they typically lose their morning naps.

Then they have their afternoon nap from 1-3 and with that he should last longer than 7pm which will get him sleeping in longer in the morning.

It takes a bit of adjustment but if you do this he should sleep longer for you.

If you need help or suggestions on getting rid of the morning nap just message me.

I've NEVER ever put my daughter to bed at 7pm it's always been 8 or 9 pm ish... sometimes later. If she happens to fall asleep at 7pm(long day or something) she wakes up at midnight as if she's done sleeping and wide awake or she's up at the crack of dawn. I can't deal with that, I need my sleep too.

That's what I did with my daughter and she has NEVER woken up before 7am if she hasn't had to. She has always slept in 8/9/10am it's great. She's been like that her whole life, she's 5 now and I haven't ever had to wake up early because my daughter was awake and ready to go so early. I guess I lucked out or my schedule works great.

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M.K.

answers from Minneapolis on

Just wanted to tell you, I sympathsize. We're having the same problem with my 10 month old. Really sucks!

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M.B.

answers from Milwaukee on

How about trying to get him to take only one nap during the day. My son takes one 2-3hr nap and goes to bed around 7:30-8:00. Also, is there any light or noise around that time? My husband usually gets up around 5:30...and once in a while, if he makes too much noise, our son gets up as he leaves for work. We also have a window in the hallway just outside his room and I noticed with the sun coming up earlier, it shines right into our son's room on his bed. Since my husband usually gets enough sleep (he's in bed at 9:30 while I am usually up until 12:00), he has started closing my son's door in the morning when he gets up and it has made a world of difference. Now I can sleep until at least 6:30-7:30 (whenever the little guy decides to get up). Hope this helps!!

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L.R.

answers from Appleton on

Strangely enough, babies tend to sleep better when they are put to bed earlier. I don't think getting rid of one of the naps would be beneficial at this age. I would make bedtime at 7 and see what happens. DD went to bed at 7 for months and months and just in the last couple weeks has started going to bed at 7:30 or 8 and she's almost 20 months.

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A.P.

answers from Minneapolis on

My son will be two in September and has always gone to bed at about 8:30-9pm and then sleeps till 8:30-9am the next morning. Is your son waking up hungry or is he just waking up and staying up. Have you tried ignoring him for 5 -10 min to see if he will fall back asleep? I would definitly get rid of the morning nap that will help alot. I would also try putting him to bed one night when he actually starts to get tired, around 7 pm and see how late he sleeps. He may be getting over tired and then not sleeping well and then waking early. Good Luck

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S.H.

answers from Wausau on

All I can say is hang in there. In my expierience (not all cases) most babies take take a short nap every hour-2hrs or so for 20-30 min. As they get closer to 1yr some go down to 2 naps that last longer, usually a morning and a afternoon. As they get to be 18 months-2yrs they may drop down to 1 nap that lasts around 2-2.5 some kids 3 or more if you let them. As they work up to less naps then they may sleep longer at night if you can keep the nap as short as they are comfy with. Also as short as your daycare is comfy with. Some providers will not wake a child and certain ages they are not allowed to wake. A room full of children need to be well rested anyway or its a recipe for disaster. If you try and shorten it too much your child will be miserable. Until then, it sounds like your baby is right on schedule. Unfortunatley when it comes to babies they do run us to a point. Count your blessings your child goes to sleep so easily on his own. A nice warm bath right before bed may relax him a little more and possibly buy youa few extra minutes. Hang in there and you and hubby switch off getting up early and staying up late is my best advice. Good luck on your doctorate!!

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K.B.

answers from Minneapolis on

Is you son's room extra dark? We had this problem with our son for a while--until we figured out the sun was waking him up! We put blankets over the curtains and blinds (heh) and that solved the problem.

Do you have a neighbor who is noisy at that time of the day? Maybe outside noise is waking him up. You could get him a white noise machine or a fan to cover up some of those outside noises.

Is he a long napper? Have you tried shortening his naps during the day (that sounds horrible, I know!)?

The bad news is, he could just be an early riser. One of my sisters always was no matter what my parents tried. Luckily she was easy and would play by herself or watch tv till everyone else got up.

Good luck! Getting good sleep for you and your kids is tougher than I was prepared for, too!

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J.R.

answers from Minneapolis on

I always fed my babies a good dish of cereal and a full bottle at 8 pm and then off to bed and they would sleep until 7 am. Make sure that belly is full.
Best Wishes,
J.

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R.H.

answers from Minneapolis on

I agree with the last response. Actually try putting him to bed earlier. I know it seems weird but if he's rubbing his eyes and getting cranky by 7 then he's past his bedtime. Try putting him down at 6:40 for 4 days keeping the rest of his schedule the same. Get the Weisbluth book, it's a lifesaver. Our daughter went to be at 6:30 pm up at 7:30 and took 2 naps until she was about 15 months old. Now at 20 months she's asleep by 7pm up around 7 or 7:30 and takes 1 nap which is 2 or 3 hours long.
Also-when he wakes up at 5, does he cry? Are you going right to him? Have you tried letting him stay in his crib for a while in the AM? Sometimes if my daughter happens to wake up early and just babbles we ignore her and she goes right back to sleep. Good luck, and get the book!

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T.R.

answers from Minneapolis on

The only thing I can suggest is feeding your child some baby food cereal before bed, I know it is not a good habit, but usually your child at that age wakes up because they are hungry.

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R.W.

answers from St. Cloud on

If you are putting your 10 month old to bed between 7:30 and 8 p.m. I think it is crazy to expect him to sleep past 5 a.m., esp. if that is when he naturally wakes up. My 8 month old goes to bed at 8:30 p.m. and wakes around 6:00 a.m. I did notice with my twins who are 4 1/2 that the older they got the longer they slept at night. When they were 2 they slept 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. My sisters had the same experience. Your baby probably is getting enough sleep, but as he gets older he may sleep longer at night (but nap less during the day).

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R.

answers from Minneapolis on

Put him to bed earlier! I know that it sounds crazy, but the more they sleep, the more they want to sleep. It has worked with both of my girls, with them sleeping for about 11-12 hours each night (7PM-6 or 7AM). Good luck!

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A.K.

answers from Madison on

All I know it that somewhere between 10 and 12 months my daughter transitioned herself to 1 nap which is much longer than her two naps were (2.5-3.5 hours). She sleeps about 12 hours at night.
Every baby's different... They have a way of keeping us guessing :)

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K.B.

answers from Minneapolis on

I don't have any advice except to ignore those who say that you are "crazy" to think he should sleep past 5 if you put him to bed at 7!
Our 11 month old started getting up at 5:00 at around 10 months too, and keeping him up later or eliminating naps has not made any difference.I'm hoping it's just a stage! Good luck to you, and let me know if something works--I'd love some sleep in time!

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A.P.

answers from Minneapolis on

It has been said already but he needs more sleep not less. He is still just a little guy!

With the light change we started putting our daughter to bed later and she was getting up earlier. I realized what we were doing and got her back to going to bed earlier and she slept later. It seems crazy i know but it really does work. When my Daughter was 10 months old she went to bet at 7-8pm and woke around 9am and also took two 2 hr naps during the day.

Not all children are the same though so just keep trying different things until you figure out what is right for your family!

Good luck!
~A.

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J.F.

answers from Minneapolis on

I agree with one of the posts that you should read "Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child" . This is an amazing book and has helped me immensely with my two kids. If you are putting your son down between 7:30 and 8:00, try putting him down 15 minutes earlier each night and see what happens. The Sleep habits book suggests that putting a child down earlier actually can help in moving the wake up time later even though it doesn't seem entirely logical. It has to do with the child being overtired. My son is almost 15 mo and is exhausted at 7:30. He goes down like your son around 7:30-8 but wakes up between 6:30 - 7:15. He is also on two naps: 1 very short one in the am and a longer one in the afternoon 1 1/2 - 2 hrs. Good luck !

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E.

answers from Minneapolis on

I would disagree about losing his morning nap--he's too young. I think it's the opposite; he's not getting enough sleep. Buy & read "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Weissbluth. My son is 17 months and we also struggled with a too early wake-up time. But, that's because he was going to bed at 6pm, so when he eventually started waking up too early, we did move his bedtime later. But, until then, he went to bed at 6-7pm until well after he was a year old. Good luck!

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