Need advice - 18 month old early riser

So my DS has never been the greatest sleeper but the last few weeks he's been a lot more difficult to put down at night where previously he would get himself to sleep with no fussing at all after putting him in his crib. I know there is an 18 month sleep regression so I'm sure that's probably what we are dealing with but worse than the challenge at bedtime seems to be the fact that he's waking up earlier and earlier!

He usually goes to bed at 7-730 and then gets up between 545 and 630. Lately he has been getting up at 530 and last night he was up crying for us before 5! We end up bringing him into our bed for another hour or so because when he wakes up this early it's obvious he's still tired and needs a little more sleep.

Any advice on how to get him to sleep a bit later? We have tried to let him self soothe and cry a bit but at that point in the morning it just doesn't do anything besides wake him up more and get him extremely upset for no reason. Is this just a phase? I'm beginning to feel like his sleep is never going to even out.

Thanks in advance from this tired first time mom

Re: Need advice - 18 month old early riser

Is he taking one or two naps during the day? If he is taking two I would cut it down to one. If he's already on one maybe try moving his bedtime a little earlier to 7? I know it's counterintuitive but I know it's worked for a lot of people.

Need advice - 18 month old early riser

I was gonna ask u about naps too. Try to not let him sleep to close from his bedtime, I know this is def a problem for me, but if DS1 is very tired and desperately needs a nap, I'd let him have a catnap so he doesn't give me a hard time during bedtime

Need advice - 18 month old early riser

My DS is a night waker/early riser. I used to nurse him when he woke, but he's 23 months old now and I needed to break that habit. About 6 weeks ago, I started a new routine. If he wakes, I let him fuss for 5 minutes (I always did this) and sometimes he settles himself. If he doesn't, I go into his room and tell him that it's still sleepy time and he needs to go back to sleep. I turn on his lullaby music and leave his room. I do not pick him up or really engage him at all. Usually, he settles back down quickly and falls back to sleep. I never in a million years thought this would work and one day I tried it and it did.

Re: Need advice - 18 month old early riser

Honestly, the only thing that worked for us is this clock:

Teach Me Time

This clock turns green at the "ok" time to wake up. My DD would stand in her crib and SCREAM at us to get her as early as 430am some days. We tried to make bedtime later, move/reduce naps - it didn't matter. She's always been a terrible sleeper, I swear, this kid would stay awake 24 hrs if she could. It took a couple of weeks, but she learned that she can only call us when her clock turns green and now, we can get her to stay in her room until at least 7am. I think we started using it when she was closer to 2 (and she's almost 3.5 now), but it's worth a shot even at 18mo!

Re: Need advice - 18 month old early riser

Re: Need advice - 18 month old early riser

I'd try pushing bedtime back.

For many toddlers, 10 hours is enough overnight sleep, especially if he's still napping during the day (which most 18 month olds need). So maybe he just has had enough sleep after 10 hours. Try a later bedtime and see if that helps. It may take a few weeks to adjust.

Message edited 4/11/2016 12:37:05 PM.

Re: Need advice - 18 month old early riser

He could also be teething, maybe try a little advil before bed?

I agree with PP about trying a later bed time.

Need advice - 18 month old early riser

He could just be an early riser. My DS is almost 3 1/2 and it doesn't matter what time he goes to bed at night, if he naps or doesn't nap, he will always wake up between 5-530 am. It totally sucks. Lol. He has learned to wait for me to get up out of bed and no longer cries.

Re: Need advice - 18 month old early riser

We started by setting the clock just a few minutes after she would wake. We told her that she could wake up when it turned green and that's when mommy and daddy would come for her. We tried a bunch of different ways to get her comfortable with it, ferberizing, ignoring, laying on her floor until it turned green, but I think the one that worked the best for us was to talk to her over the monitor without going into her room. We would just reassure her we would be in when the clock would be green and that's when she could wake up. She'd normally flip for a few minutes and then quiet down. Then we'd gradually moved the clock later and later. As with anything, she regresses from time to time, but it really has been a life saver for us!

Re: Need advice - 18 month old early riser

We went through this too, DD started calling for us earlier and earlier. We used this bunny clock. You set it for when you want the child to wake. For us, DD's normal wake time is 7 am. So I set it for 7. When it's that time, the half of the clock that looks like the bunny walking to school with the sun in the background lights up. When it's bedtime, the bunny sleeping in bed lights up. At bedtime, I say to DD, "When the sun's awake and the bunny is awake, M can be awake." And that was that, she literally stopped calling for me early the next morning because she was waiting to see the bunny with the sun light up. Even now, almost 1 year later, she still waits to see the bunny. Sometimes she won't even let me take her out early because the bunny isn't awake yet! Bunny clock