Help, I am at a loss for ideas on how to get my 15 month old to sleep later in the morning. He has always been an early riser usually up around 6:30 which is fine because that is when we start getting ready for work. For the past three weeks he has been waking up between 5:15 and 5:30. We have our usual bedtime routine, of bath, story, nurse and then down between 7:15-7:30. He is put down wide awake and talks him self to sleep which takes 15-30 mins. He does occasionally awake in the night but puts himself back to sleep fine. He has a lovely which helps him fall asleep. There is no nursing in the middle of the night. When he does wake at 5:15 we don't go to him but he doesn't fall back asleep just sits and either talks which is ok but usually he screams and cries. We usually go in at 6:00 am. If we leave anything in his crib for him he throws it out other than his lovey.
We've been to the doc no ear infection, no cold, no teething.
His room isn't to hot or to cold.
We try to make sure he naps but MWF at the babysitter he only takes one nap she tries but he just won't, on TTH he naps twice with grandma at home.
My older son was an earlier riser but not this early so this is new territory for me. Any helpful ideas would be great.
What about some white noise or soft music?
There could be something (outside or inside) that's making a noise at that time & waking him up.
Have you tried darkening shades or blinds in his room, and putting him to sleep a little later at night? Is he getting plenty of physical exercise during the day? Also, at 15 months he may be past the earlier nap and just needing a 2-hour afternoon one, my kids all dropped the earlier nap by a year, typically toddlers drop it between a year and 18 months.
Yup, blackout curtains are a must with early risers. Also, the sprinkler system was a culprit for us.
I agree that darkening the shades and tryng to put him down just a little bit later may help the situation overall.
My kid was not a napper. If she napped sh'ed be up to midnight. Mine would get up with the sun. We got some really dark curtians that didnt let to much light in. That did help a bit. Then when she was toddler in a toddler bed she would come into our room when it was light out which ment it was time for a cuddle and some dvd cartoons for a bit longer sleep.
Can you try little bit later of a bedtime if he can make it.
Any way to adjust nap time? If not because he's at the sitters 3 days a week then it just may not work.
Maybe on the days he's at the sitter get him to be a little more active after you get home so he will expend some more energy?
Since you're enjoying an extended breastfeeding relationship, have you tried bringing him into your bed to nurse at 5:15? He may be hungry and when his belly is full, he may go back to sleep for an hour or more. I'm blessed with late risers (until school starts anyway haha), but on the rare mornings when my kids woke an hour or 2 too early, I would bring them into bed and nurse them. 95% of the time, they'd fall back to sleep. Something you could try :)
this is what I used to do although it may not work but I would adjust the down town. Put him down just 15 minutes later than normal and that should do the trick.
Welcome to parenthood... just when you think a pattern has been established, it can up & change at a moment's notice.
Your son sounds like my DD, she has always been an early riser (and this was with a blackout curtains AND a sound machine) & has gone through various wake times, sometimes as early as 5 am, but never any later than 6:30 am.
I don't recommend a later bedtime - that doesn't work for early risers, at least in my experience, they still wake at the same time & are crabby on top of it because you kept them up late.
How much is he napping? How many naps is he taking a day? If he's still on 2 naps, he may be ready to go down to 1, and he might sleep longer at night as a result. Just a thought.
Other than that, I'd say, this is how he is, the wake time will change, but there is not much you can do to change someone's internal clock. No amount of black curtains or white noise will change that, unfortunately.
