My 1 Year Old Is a Night Owl

I have had this problem with my son that is now 2. Try getting him to skip his nap and get him up earlier

get him up really earlier, don't let him take a long nap and do that for a couple of days and that should start making it a habit, but you have to reinforce the badtime and getting up, just went thru this with my children, i have a 5 yr old ( just turned 6) in kindergarten and we have been battling the nights for a while, but now that he gets up early he is ready for bed about 9-10pm. He tells us he is ready and goes to bed, good luck

Hello!
I think you did the right thing by trying to wake your son up in the morning. I know you said it didn't work but I would keep giving it a try. It wont change/work after one night but after an entire week of doing it your son will adapt. Adults and kids are alike on this... when a kid is on summer break and then goes back to school those first few weeks are an adjustment on sleep schedule, and if an adult change my sleep schedule it can take a week or two to adjust.
It's hard to give more advice without knowing your sons nap times/length but I would continue trying to wake your son up earlier in the morning so that he will go to bed by at least 9/10 pm

Hi E.!

I am certainly no expert, but I can share with you the schedule that my one year old son is on. He goes to bed at 8pm and wakes at 7am. The latest I will let him sleep is 7:30am. He goes down for a nap at 12:30 and usually wakes up around 2:15. My thinking is that if you choose a reasonable schedule and just bite the bullet and put him on it, it will eventually work. It may be a bumpy ride at first, but I think if you and your husband stick it out it will pay off. There might be some crying when you don't go get him out of bed at night after he wakes, but I think he will get the hang of it. Having a blanket or a stuffed animal might help keep him company until he goes back to sleep.
I think the key is consistancy during the transition to the new schedule. I have been a bit of a stickler with my sons schedule. My friends have even made fun of me, but I'm glad I was because my sons day is now very predictable which in turn makes my life a little easier. Let me know how it goes!

I am a stay at home mom with a 17 month old son.

C.

Well a few mom's gave me suggestions like, a nice warm bath and then massage his feet. They alsp recommended a little chamomile tea, but you must read the package sine he is under 1. My grandson is 2 and it is really helping. Also an activity mid day willuse up some of his energy. Good luck.

This is tough--my kids had a lot of trouble with sleeping through the night too. My sense is that the baby should be going down for the evening by 9 p.m. and you should be waking him by 7 a.m. The 9 a.m. is too late and you are prolonging the pain of when he has to get up and BE somewhere like preschool or school at that time.

You may also want to pay attention to what he is eating during the day. Is he eating something caffienated like chocolate or pop in the afternoon (or if he is still breastfeeding, are you drinking coffee or pop after 10 am?) that is keeping him wired, then exhausted for the next day? Another possibility is when he eats dinner in relation to his bedtime.

Good luck!

I had the same problem with my daughter who is now 4.She just recently started sleeping more normally.Still to this day if she goes to bed before 10pm she usually wakes up after a couple hours ready to go until 3 or 4 also.We have to get up around 6am which seems to help,but now she's fighting her naps and usually gets so tired around 7 or 8 and wants to go to bed. That's a problem usually because i know she won't stay asleep.If you figure something out let me know.Good luck!

hello,
I think you should try having your son wake up earlier than 9 am...thats a little late. And could be why he doesnt want to go to bed earlier....my son is 22 months now but ever since he was 1 or 2 months I have had him in bed by 7:30pm sometimes 8:00pm(but no later) and he wakes up at around 6:00am to 7:00am. His nap time is 1:00 to 3:00pm so he does really good for me on this schedule. If you are not an early riser it may be hard to adjust to waking that early...but for your and your sons sake its worth it. I would try this gradually, so it doesnt seem so much. Also when you go to lay him down make sure its a relaxed enviroment...dark and with no stimulation(i.e. tv). make it as comfortable for him as possible. my daughter is 3 and her sleep patterns were a whole different matter. She was like your son and didnt want to go to sleep and slept in late. At night when I wanted her to go to bed we would turn the tv off and pretend we were going to bed also...so she would have nothing to be awake for. this helped alot...I also didnt expect her to go to sleep real early that first nite but we got her asleep by 10:30pm which is an improvement to 12 or 1 am. I know your son is still kinda young, but for the most part I try to cut my 3yr olds naps. she only takes them while at daycare. But the days she doesnt have one she goes to bed at the same time as her brother. Well i hope all this helped. Good Luck and remember be PATIENT!

Keep waking him up at a reasonable time in the morning (8 or 9), having him take a nap after lunch so he isn't sleeping too close to bedtime, and put him to bed by 8:30 at night. Use a bedtime routine that signals that it is bedtime (drink, brush teeth, book, snuggle for a few minutes) and then put him in his crib before he is asleep. If he wakes up in the middle of the night, go check his diaper (with as little light as possible), and as long as he is dry, not in pain, and not hungry/thirsty, put him back to bed. Use soft lullaby music to help signal to him that it is bedtime. My daughter has gone through this stage- it usually happens when she is teething. She didn't really need anything, she would just wake up. Sometimes she needs tylenol or some love because of pain, so I take care of that before I put her back down. Other times she wakes up for apparently no reason at all. I wouldn't even go into the room unless he is really unhappy, because any stimulation (lights, you being there, being taken out of the room, etc.) will wake him up even more. Teething help- cold water in a sippy cup or bottle, pacifier if you use one, tylenol, and teethers.

Hello. I too have gone through a similar experience as yours. Only for me, 5 years later it hasnt changed. During my pregnancy it seemed like my daughter never slept. She was constantly kicking, moving, stretching... I used to say, I swear this baby never rests. Well, I was right, from the time she was a new born, she was alert and aware to her surroundings. She would sleep 2 hours and be up 8, thank goodness she was my first ! No matter what I tried, nothing seemed to work, trying a schedule, no naps, nothing, she still could sleep 4 hours and be up 15 hours straight. I had never seen a child who could be awake that many hours and still function. I took her to a pediatrician, they tested her for allergies, she had none.. I asked if there was anything i could do for a one year old insomniac, she said nope.. some people just dont need alot of sleep. I have found some things that work and she is 5 now.. Johnsons & Johnsons has a lavendar & chammomile bedtime bath ( it is in a light purple bottle), that works to knock her out, and it work everytime !!
I eliminated all naps !! It got so bad at one point that she would get out of bed (at about 2 or 3), while I was asleep and go down stairs, she would creep so quiet past my room i never heard her, I put a gate on her room, she figured out how to take the gate down quietly, then i tied little bells onto the gate with twist ties, she would hold the bell so it didnt make noise, and untie it before she took the gate down. At one point i considered sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag outside her bedroom door. I keep her up until 9 or 10 at night, so that she sleeps til 6. Other wise she is awake at 4 in the morning (wide awake) Some children just require little sleep, and im sure as an adult she will be the same way ( we are working on 5 years), my son on the other hand is a 12 or 14 hour child. If he doesnt get 12 to 14 hours during the night and at least a 2 hour nap, he is a very unhappy little boy (hes 3), and he has been that way since he has been born. Everyone has given alot of helpful tips for you, and my advice would be to try them all, through trial and error you will find what works best. But dont be surprised if your baby is just one that wont sleep much, another suggestion might be to have your child sleep with you. I did, so that I knew when my daughter was awake. Good luck to you.

Try moving his bed time back by only half an hour or so rather then so drastically and his nap time up by half an hour. You'd have to do this over a period of time so he can get used to the new bed/nap time. So maybe one week he can go to bed half an hour earlier then normal, then the next week move it back another half hour. My son went through the same thing, but I did this and it helped him get back to where he was going to bed no later then 10 pm. Still late (he's 2 1/2 now) but it's alot better then being up until the wee hours of the morning. Hope all goes well with it. Be patient, it WILL happen, it just takes some time.

Definitely get him up before 9am. Try 8am. It won't be easy the first few times, but I am sure he will adapt eventually. Also, make sure he goes to bed before 9pm. I read that the earlier they go to bed, the longer they will actually sleep. I didn't think it was possible, but if my daughter is in bed by 7:45-8PM she sleeps until 8:30AM. If she goes down around 9pm, she wakes up at 7am. So, make sure he gets up earlier and, depending on nap time, make sure he doesn't sleep past 4 or 5pm, then he should be able to be in bed by 8 or 8:30PM. My daughter sleeps from about 8pm to 8 or 8:30am, takes an hour nap around 10:30am, then another late afternoon nap around 2 or 2:30 and sleeps for about 2 hours. Consistency is key, so try a bedtime ritual like a bath or something. I give my daugher one and within a half an hour she is asleep. Just stick with a schedule, even though it may be rough the first few days/nights. Also, monitor what he is eating, like making sure nothing sugary in the late afternoon.