Sleeping Changes

Dear K.,
You are so lucky to have a good sleeper. And so lucky that you have time to adjust his schedule. Just start now.
You're going to have to get him up early and put him to bed early. He won't like it or understand it at first, but you have to do it. My kids always looked forward to summer vacations because they could sleep in, but when I had to work, they still had to go to the babysitter. (They could go back to sleep once they got there if they wanted, my summer babysitter is a teacher and her kids slept in). Be aware that the time changes in and of themselves will make a difference too. Daylight Savings. It was always hard for my kids to go to bed when it was still light outside. On the other hand, when it's dark at 4:30pm in the winter, they are ready for bed by 5:30. My kids were never really day nappers but always slept all night. So....you just have to adjust his little body clock a bit and I think you will be fine. Just start doing it now. Maybe cut out his nap and put him to bed earlier. Try it. Once he's used to going to bed early and getting up early, you can resume the nap thing once he gets used to it.

Best wishes!

Set his sleeping schedule back every week about 15 minutes until you get to the time you desire him to go to sleep. That's what I do when daylight savings times arrives only I step it up to every two days I put them to bed earlier about 15 minutes each time. Then the transition is gradual and they hardly notice.

I would start moving his bedtime up by half an hour once a week, and get him up half an hour earlier until you are at the desired time. As far as the nap; will he be napping at school? If so just also slowly transition him to the appropriate nap time the same way. If he will not be napping at school you need to start preparing him to go the whole day without a nap. In this case I would first change his night time sleep schedule, keeping a daytime nap. When that is done you can start getting him used to not napping, in which case you make need to put him to bed pretty early at first. When my son quit napping he was going to bed at 6:30. After about a month we slowly moved him to 7:00 and then to 7:30.
Good luck!

Just start now and do it gradually. Move bedtime back by about 20 minutes each week and he should be going to bed around 8pm easily by the time you go back to work.

Blessings
B.

Someone once recommended adjusting bedtime by 15 minutes or so every day or 2 so it is a gradual change and there is not much struggle. Also, because it's summer, try putting covers over blinds to darken the room which will help with falling asleep earlier. Star charts are really helpful with my daughter, like when we needed to change her sleeping through the night without getting out of bed, or when she was potty training. Maybe do one star for each night he goes tp bed earlier and when he's in bed at the time you target he can gat a really great prize. Have fun with it.
Good luck back at work!
A.

start waking up sooner both of you it will be easyer on you when you go back but start by waking him at 8 he should then take his nap sooner but still the same langth in time but watch the time when he is napping so is to not make up for lost time that night then it would make it easyer for you to get him down for bed sooner too soon as you both got this one donw good change it to waking at 7 and so on till you have the right time for getting up for work also remember that you might want to be up befor him to get yourself ready for work before getting him ready for school hope this is helpful its what i did with my son but not so gradual and good luck

Consider moving back your son's bedtime by 15 minutes each week. Have a very consistent bedtime routine, including brushing teeth and using the potty, reading a book, rocking in a rocking chair (if you have one), darkening the bedroom, etc. Similarly, move back his wake-up time by 15 minutes/week. You can start making noises near his bedroom at the time you'd like him to wake up, if he doesn't wake up on his own. Best wishes!

I think I would start out by readjusting his bed time. Start putting him to bed say 1/2 hour earlier for about a week and then wake him up 1/2 hour ealier than he normally gets up. Then, the following week a 1/2 hour earlier than the week before and so on until you get him adjusted. Also, I would check with the daycare you're going to use and find out what time they schedule nap time or quiet time and I would put him on that schedule now so that he will be able to sleep/rest at the proper time at the daycare/preschool. Good luck!

HI K.!
We have the same situation with sleep...we were not forced to have a "real" schedule until last year. I found that starting by waking my daughter(almost three) up early vs putting her down early was a lot easier way to re-set her time clock. If you wake you child up early - get them out of the house - take them somewhere - go get coffee - whatever. This will help them learn the morning "drill". They should be tired earlier for nap and then ready for bed earlier. Since our activities are done for the summer...we have slipped back into old habits (it is so nice to have my mornings to myself!)so we will be starting our early wake-up routine soon too! Good luck - you are wise to be thinking about this now - it sometimes takes time! M.:)

hi K.
Its great that you have lots of time to work on this.
It is best to wotk on changing sleep patterns over time, the body doesn't recognize changing sleep time of 15 minutes or less.
So tonight put him down 15 minutes earlier. Use this time for four or five days (up to a week) he should have adjusted to this new time easliy. Then put him to bed 15 minutes earlier again repeat the process until he is going to bed when you want him to. Good Luck
J.

I would move his bed and wake-up times back by 15 mintues every 3-4 days until he is going to bed and waking on the new schedule. He may not notice too much and if he does, let him know that you are changing your sleep schedule too.

Really emphasize how fun school will be for him and how going to school and work means going to bed earlier and getting up earlier for both of you.

I "second" the effort at putting him to bed at least 15-20 minutes earlier at a time. Since he's going to bed so late (most kids, according to the "sleep books" under the age of 4 or 5 need to be in bed between 6 & 8 PM), I'd start with a 1/2 hr chunk at a time for a few nights. Once he's been down at 9PM for a week or so, then start with the 15 minute increments. My son (turns 2 next mth) is down by 7:30 at the latest & is up between 5:30 & 6:00 most mornings (trust me, I've tried a later bedtime, he's just always been an early riser - you're lucky!!)

The key to changing anything like sleep patterns is consistency. It won't go perfectly & there may be some struggle on his end of it, but the bigger picture is that it's better in the long run (once he starts school) to be on an earlier bedtime. So the more consistent you are, the quicker & easier the change will happen. Good luck!

Start backing up his bed time 15 minutes every couple of nights until he's going to bed at about 8-8:30. Then start waking him up 15 minutes earlier every few days and you should get to an 8 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. routine pretty easily.