Yes, Another Sleep Problem!!!

Both of my children are early risers. They always have been. By ten months, most children are ready to move to one nap per day. My children use to rise between 5:30 and 6 every morning -- my son has just started sleeping later (he's almost five and giving up naps altogether in favor of a rest time). We would leave them in their cribs to amuse themselves until it was time to wake up. They napped (and still do) starting at noon until they wake up on their own. Sometimes two hours ... sometimes 3 - 3.5 ... whatever they need. Bedtime is 7:30 (8:30 during the summer) ... any earlier and I think you are encouraging an early wake-up time in the morning. This is just my 2 cents, though. :) Each child is so very, very different.

He might need to go to one nap a day. Teething could be a possiblitiy why he is waking early? By 10 months, my boys were on one 3 hour nap from 12:30-3:30. Then to bed at 9:00. That is just me though.

maybe he is ready to transition to one nap. if you start it right after lunch, this may help the am situation. is his room dark enough? does he get really wet at night? nightime diapers may help if that is the problem. good luck that is tough.

I've used Weissbluth's techniques (tweaked to fit our baby's needs) since 6 months. The periodic early morning waking seems normal. Does he *need* anything at that time? What do you do when he wakes? Unless there is hysterical screaming or inconsolable crying (indicating a need), we don't go in to get our baby until it is time to get up. Our baby started doing the 5:45 wake up, then 5:30, then 5:15, then 4:45...he didn't *need* anything; he *wanted* to play with us. As a result, it was completely disruptive to his daily sleep schedule (the sleep he needs, not what we as parents wanted). We quit going in when he woke. Sometimes he'd sit there and babble to himself, other times he'd push the button on his crib aquarium, but he'd always lay down and go back to sleep until he woke up on his own or we woke him around his usual wake-up time.

We basically stay on the schedule, respecting his cues and needs. For us, this means a bedtime of 6:30 and a wake time of 7:00. When he was on two naps, they were always at 9:00 and 1:00 and for about the same duration. Now, at nearly 17 months he still goes down at night without a fuss, sleeps nearly 13 hours, and takes one 3-hour nap in the afternoon. On the days your baby has his class, you may wish to tweak the nap pattern somewhat so you are not 'waking' him to go to it. This could mean a later nap in the morning followed by a later nap in the afternoon perhaps?

Although I know it doesn't work for everyone, I'm a huge fan (and I bet my son is too!) of Weissbluth. Feel free to PM me with questions or ideas. Our whole family has been sleeping happily and healthily for several months now!

At 10 mos old you should eliminate the morning nap, move the afternoon nap up to about 1:oopm at the latest. Also make sure the room is dark as possible. With the sun rising so early kids wake up early. Time changes are so hard on little ones! Good luck.

A

Hi Lara,

I have a son who is now almost four years old and was an early riser. The same thing- tried putting him down early or late- he always woke at 5:30 a.m. I tried to stretch him out to take a nap at 9 am and then at 1 pm. He always went to bed at 7 pm. When he turned one he started taking long naps, which helped quite a bit. One thing we never tried, but might help is maybe trying to give him a third nap at 4:00 and seeing if giving him more sleep during the day helps him sleep later in the morning. My son now sleeps until about 6:45 and has been doing that since he was two! It will get better. We have an eight month old who is just like him so hopefully we will both survive these early risers!