Stuck in Too Early Sleep Pattern

5:30 is normal for normal sleeping children. My daughter at almost 6 yrs old gets up at 6am. It's great for school since her bus leaves at 7:30am sharp. At the point you are at earlier is better when school starts you would rather they get up a little early and be fine all day while at school than get up to late and you have to wake them up every morning and waking them makes the tired and cranky all day. I don't suggest moving anything.

Hi,

I would definetly only give the 18 month old only one nap. You will have to hear a bit of whining but I would make them stay in their beds to at least 7am. The 18 month old can then have a nap about 12pm. Again be prepared to hear some crankiness. I would only let him nap for 3 hours. So he should be up by 3pm from his nap. Then about 630 you should do their bedtime routine and then by 730 lights out. They should sleep in for you. Butyou must be persistent and again while going through the transition it will probadly be some crankiness. Good Luck

We usually run into the issue of needing to change our son's bedtime twice a year, for daylight savings. His pediatrician recommended we adjust his bedtime by 15 minutes each night until he's going down at the appropriate time. This way it's just a little change at a time.

I hope this helps!

Good evening. I did not use any book or anything to get my 16 month old on a sleep pattern. She goes to bed at 2100 (8 pm) and wakes up anywhere from 0630 to 0800. She just naturally falls into it because they need so much sleep. She only takes one nap at daycare from 1230-1430 and is very, very active. The one thing that I do, is give her a bath at the same time every night, do the same things to get her ready for bed and then put her in bed at roughly the same time. She became very accustomed to this fairly quickly. I do not have a problem with her doing what she is supposed to, unless we have company and she does not want to miss anything. I hope this helps. Have a blessed day

Z. - You don't mention what your approach was for moving their schedules back. While I have never had to deal with a 2 hour difference but when my daughter was off-track by 30 mins to an hour, I basically moved her bedtime 15 mins at a time over a week or so.

In your case it may take longer, here's how I would do it:

Shift their entire schedule by 15 mins starting with bedtime and throughout the day (meals, naps, etc.). Stick to that 15 min shift for a few days until it seems to have stuck. The follow the same process shifting the schedule by 15 mins each time until you are at the schedule that seems to work.

Also you mentioned that their bedrooms are darkened. Most people's level of sleepiness is sensitive to the amount of light surrounding them. Maybe you should make sure that their rooms are light enough in the evening until bedtime so that some light may help to keep them up. My daughter is sensitive to the light so in the summer she stayed up a little later than usual and now she is already on her way back to falling asleep a little earlier.

Good luck!

maybe go in 10 minute increments. tonight put them to bed 10 minutes later than normal and do that time for three days then go another 10 minutes later for three days and so on til they are where you want them.

I had a similar problem with my son (waking way too early in the morning!). We gradually started pushing his bedtime later (may 15 minutes or so every night) and it worked for us!

Hi Z.~
That's the book I used...I love it! Yes, I'd agree with the other ladies.... move the naps and everything a little later... keep them awake in the outdoors possibly, for a little later nap time. The other thing I needed to do when my guy was under a year old, was to set my alarm and go in BEFORE he woke up (4am) and make sure he was comfortable. These days (just turned 3) that means putting the cover back on so he sleeps longer. Keep trying!....and good luck.

I agree with Meera...just do it incrementally. I moved my daughters's bedtime up a bit at a time and that happened probably over a year:-) The schedules absolutely work but life happens and your needs change. The funny thing is, my daughter's up at 5 this morning, but she got to bed early last night when she was exhausted. She'll be 4 in a couple of weeks and is no longer taking naps at school, so we're adjusting to that. Good luck and take it slow. It will work out.

We have had this problem with both of my kids at various times. We have bedtimes at 7 for our 4 yo and 630 for our 2 yo--he went to bed at 615 when he was 18 mo). It is also hard when they wake each other up. For your 4 yo, get him a digital clock and put an arrow in front of the first number with the number on it that you will acccept and tell him when the clock shows that number he can get up. My daughter has music that she uses to get to sleep and she will get up and reset the music and then try to go back to bed. The other thing that has worked for us is ignoring them until an acceptable time of morning (for us, 6AM, now 630) and eventually their sleep clocks reset to that time. you can also try a sticker reward chart if they stay in their beds quietly until your assigned time then they get a reward when they get so many stickers. Good luck, I know how difficult it is to be sleep deprived.