Getting Son to Sleep Longer in the Morning or Play in His Crib

He's probably not getting enough sleep, especially if he's missing a nap, so he's getting up earlier...with kids, the rule is "Sleep begets sleep". I read a book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Weissbluth, which has helped me and several of my friends tremendously. Until you are able to get the book, I would really emphasize that afternoon nap, and put him to bed a little earlier--try pushing back the bedtime by 30 minutes--8:00 for a few nights, and maybe even 7:30.

Sleep is so important for babies. Most one year olds take 2 naps a day and sleep 12 hours at night. However, that does not just happen without some work on your part getting him into a routine. Before each nap and before bedtime there should be a wind-down period of time leading up to putting him in his crib (e.g. storytime, music, bath, rocking). If you can't get him to take naps because he's in daycare, then he should be going to bed a lot earlier. Don't asume that the earlier he goes to bed, the earlier he'll wake up. Sleep begets sleep. Try taking him up to his room at 6:30pm every night with a goal of 7pm lights out. Do this for a week before you draw any conclusions. I bet he'll sleep later in the morning. The less over-tired they are, the more they'll sleep as much as they should for their age.

Good luck!
C.

My youngest goes through phases where he gets up earlier than necessary and is still tired. For a while, he was down to one nap and still getting up early! He just started 2 naps again this week and is sleeping better at night. Sometimes, he just goes back to sleep on his own, but he's in a big boy bed and has no problem getting out of his room. Some things that have helped are to feed him again right before bed (we give our son oatmeal to keep him full), change his diaper before YOU go to bed, (my little guy hates having a soggy diaper and will wake up because of it), and if he wakes up way too early (I'm talking anytime before 6 am- he's gotten up at 4:30 before) I give him a sippy with milk, change his diaper, and put him to bed. It usually works. My kids love books, so sometimes I have to read him a short bedtime story while he lies down to get him back in the mood to sleep.
You can also try pushing his morning nap to a later time so the sleep is more spread out. I've also had to put my son down for a late afternoon nap (around 4 pm) just to get through the day.
Good luck! This is never a fun thing.

I agree with the Previous posters. Put him to bed earlier. Overtired ness can lead to bad sleep, it may also be why he's not taking his afternoon naps.

I too read the "healthy sleep habits, happy child book" with my oldest when he was about 4 months old and it did help me very much!

My boys are 3 and 16 months and they are in bed between 7 and 7:30. if they're crabby, they got to bed by 6:30 sometimes.

If you can, I'd try to get the afternoon nap as a regular thing too. my 16 month old is still on a 2 nap a day schedule (mornign and noon) and my l3 year old still takes and very much needs afternoon naps.

Hi J.,

My suggestion would be to start giving him an afternoon nap, and you will probably find that he will then sleep better at night, too. I have 7 & 8 year olds that take naps at my house during the summer...some adults need naps. Is there a reason he doesn't take a nap? Most of my children have taken 2 naps until they are around 16 to 18 mos. old. Sleeping is a habit...the more you sleep, the more you want to sleep....it also works the other way...the less you sleep, the less you want to sleep. Try to make it a happy, good habit. I always make sure I am giving them happy thoughts when I put them down for a nap. It may take awhile to get them to this point, but if you are consistent and follow through it will happen a lot quicker than you ever thought.

Good Luck!

C.

This could be a "phase" due to development at this age. But one thing that worked for me when my son was younger...like 1-2 years, was to put him to sleep earler. We went from an 8-8:30 bedtime to a 7-7:30 bedtime and after a week plus of this he did end up sleeping longer in the AM. It was not an immediate magic trick...his body seemed to need time to adjust. Of course now that my son is 3 this trick is not working. It seems like when his body first tells him he does not need as much sleep, he's tired for a while until he gets used to it. You'd think all this would flow smoother, but for some reason it's not always so with all kids. And I always dread Daylight Saving Time because this messes us all up. You may want to wait until the transition time to adjust anything...or start at 15 minute increments around that time. good luck!

he needs a good long nap during the day. kids that are too tired actually DONT sleep better at night - they sleep worse because they are so tired! seems backward, but its true. if the schedule is not routine, if they dont get enough sleep when they need it - it will cause problems.
i wouldnt worry about getting the afternoon nap in. however, i would make sure that appropriate persons who watch your son make sure that he gets an after lunch nap - and a good one.
white noise may work. my son (not to mention my husband) is addicted to the vacuum cd.

however, it is also entirely possible that he is no longer tired!
i dont know what to tell you about how to get him to sleep in this case. routine, books in bed, a drink perhaps... i dont know.... you might just be stuck with an early riser...
molars coming in? teething?

Have you tried putting him to bed earlier? I'm a big fan of Baby 411 by Dr. Ari Brown and she says that the earlier to bed the later to rise. You could try moving his bedtime routine up by 15 min each night until he gets used to the earlier time. It seems counter-intuitive to me, but Dr. Brown says that when babies are over-tired they actually sleep less. Your little guy could just be too tired from not napping. I hope this helps and good luck!

While it may seem contradictory, try putting your son to bed earlier (sleep begets sleep). We used early bedtimes (6:30PM) when our girls were younger after battling for months, and they were much happier, well rested, and would sleep until 7AM. They are now 5 & 3, and we still aim for 7PM bedtime. There is a book about this, but I don't recall the title at the moment. Good luck!

I guess I would try my best to keep him up later at night in hopes that he would sleep in a little longer. It's only going to be worse with Daylight Savings coming up, because then it will be 5am instead of 6am! Or, if you gave him some juice or milk in the morning would he go back to sleep? We take our 2 yr old son into our bed in the morning when he wakes up and he sometimes goes back to sleep, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Good luck!

Do a google search on sleep for 1 year old. The info. I found was a 1 year old needs between 10-13 hours of sleep per day (this includes their nap). If he is already sleeping 9.5 hours at night, he made just need the lower end of the sleep hours. I used to sleep until 8:00, but now that I have kids, I am up at 5:30. Another thing to consider, he may be growing and is very hungry early. Feed him breakfast and try putting back down. Good luck

I definitely agree with the "Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child" suggestion. Sounds to me like he is going to bed too late. I went through this with my 1 year old. He was going to bed at 7:00 some nights and was waking at 5:30 or 6:00. I put him to bed at 6:00 and he slept until 7:45 the next morning. It is so true that overtired kids don't sleep as well. Best of luck.

I just read a section from "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Weissbluth, that addresses the baby who starts waking up unusually early.

Like other posters said, a 1-year old needs the nap still, and an earlier bedtime should help too. But also, you can start giving your baby an indicator of when he is allowed to get up, such as a night light on a timer to go off at 7:00am, or an analog clock with a drawing of the clock showing 7:00. Tell him that when the clock looks like the drawing then it's time to get up... This seems a little advanced for a 1-year old (I can't imagine my 14 m.o. understanding it), but it's worth establishing now so that you can continue getting the sleep YOU need for the next few years.

Get that book and read it, it is really very helpful! Good luck.

I agree that he should be going to bed earlier. Especially with no afternoon nap. 6:30 - 7pm is a good bedtime for one year olds. He will get much more sleep and may even sleep later for you and nap better. Over tired kids tend to fight sleep and not sleep as well. A book I really found helpful was "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth. It talks about sleep schedules and how much sleep a child needs at different ages. It's broken down by age in each chapter so you don't need to read the whole book at once.

He is definitely over tired. The earlier you put them to sleep, the longer they will sleep.

I have an 18 month old; at 7:00 we start the bath, 7:20 we read a book in her room in the rocking chair with only a dim lamp on, then we rock and cuddle, sometimes softly sing lullaby songs for 5 minutes then she goes in the crib and is asleep by 7:45. On no-bath nights she's asleep by 7:30.

Every morning she wakes up between 7:30 and 8:00. Before I go get her I let her play in her crib for 10 minutes.

Every afternoon I put her to sleep at 1:00 and she wakes up between 2:30 and 3:30. When she wakes up I again let her play alone in the crib for 10 minutes or so before I go get her.

This is every single day. Prior to 12 months she took 2 naps a day, but we have been on the schedule I described, every day, since she turned 1. It works great for us!

I used to just go in with a sippy cup of milk and quietly rub mine's head and say "it's still night time" and just give them the cup of milk and walk back out. Most of the time they would fall back asleep. I think they woke up because the bathroom is right next to their room and they would hear us wake up to use it and then not know what to do. My four year old will still wake up when my husband takes a shower, but will come up to our room and fall back asleep by me for another hour.

I would say if you want to sleep, bring him in your bed. What is wrong with having cuddle time in the morning.

IF you don't want to sleep, get up with him an take a nap with him in the afternoon. Being 1 is to young to not have a nap.