EWU help!!

[jul28baby]

I know many of you struggle with EWUs and I hate to say that 6am is driving us crazy but it is.  DS is 15.5 mos old, been on one nap for about a month now and is sleeping about 11 hours per night but I would love to get a schedule where he is waking closer 7am.  Currently it looks like this:

WU 6am (leave till 6:45am, he is crying for about 20 min of that time before we get him)
Nap 12-2pm
BT 7/7:15pm (that's the time he is asleep)

How do we shift his day?  Thoughts?  Ideas?  We've tried putting him to bed closer to 7:30pm thinking he'd slowly move his WT to 6:30am (the time it was before the one nap switch but it isn't happening). 

Any advice is welcome!!!!

[~inbalance~]

Is he teething?  My DS2 is EWing right now and I'm pretty sure it's due to teeth. 

[jul28baby]

Could be...at his 15 mos. appt. they said his gums were super swollen but we have not felt like he needed Motrin since they have been telling us his gums are swollen since 12 mos.  I know my DD got her molars right around 15.5 months and DS is pretty much following that.

[~inbalance~]

I think if you are going to try to shift then give him a longer nap to start followed by a later bedtime.  He might be OT right now from the EW so a longer nap will get him caught up as you try to shift.  You will have to try it for several days to see if it helps.  Once he starts sleeping a bit later, then make his nap a bit later and keep it at 2hrs again.

So try for several days:
6am wakeup
nap 12-2:30
bed 7:30

If you can get a 6:30 or later wakeup then make his nap 12:30-2:30 and carry on.  Hope that makes sense?

[jul28baby]

When you say give him a longer nap... I'm not sure how to do that.  I don't wake him up, he just tends to nap 1.5-2.5 hours.  Do you mean wait for a day when he wakes from the nap later and then do the later BT.  
Saturday:
12-3pm Nap
 7:30pm BT,

Sunday:
6am WU
 11:45-1:45pm NAP
 7pm BT

Monday: (today)
6am WU
11:55-2:15pm Nap
7:15/7:30pm BT (at least that's what we plan on)

[~inbalance~]

Sorry, I shouldn't of assumed you wake him!  It would help if he automatically slept longer than 2hrs, lol. 

What if you set naptime at 12:30 and bedtime at 7:30 no matter what time he wakes up and try to get him sleeping later that way?  That's pretty much what I did with DS2, and he did start sleeping until 7 or later consistently.  Of course now that he is teething he is waking earlier again.    But I don't change his routine even if he EWs.  He is pretty much set to those times for naps and bed.

[jul28baby]

Worth a try!!!  We are going on a trip in 2 weeks and I was hoping to get things a little later by then since he will be sleeping in our room and we really can't have him up at 6am and leave him crying with us in the room till 6:45am.  Also, I'm always afraid it will wake my DD.  I'm also a little afraid the long AM WT will backfire and his nap will get shorter from being OT.  He really is a 11 hr (maybe a little more) night sleeper so I guess if I want him up around 6:30/7am, I do need to change his BT.

[~inbalance~]

Good luck, keep me posted. 

[jul28baby]

Had a 5:50am WU today after a 7:30pm BT last night.  We left him till 7am and he cried...

[~inbalance~]

Remember that if he is crying like he needs you, you have to go and comfort him.

I just had another thought and my apologies as it is opposite than what I have been telling you but, since he has been on one nap he has probably got OT.  I wonder if you should try an earlier bedtime, like 6:30?  With some LOs this will actually give you a later wakeup.  It is tricky since you are still getting 11hrs and he is waking at 6am, he is not technically EWing.  Just a thought though.

How long has he been waking at 6?  Does he ever sleep longer than 11hrs at night?

[babybarr]

It is tricky since you are still getting 11hrs and he is waking at 6am, he is not technically EWing.

This is what I was going to say.

I think 11hrs is pretty good at night you may just have to ride it until he can go to bed later - esp as he is still fairly young.  I would def give the idea of a 6.30pm bedtime a shot esp. as he's not a *great* napper.

[jul28baby]

When we have don't EBTs he tends to do okay for 1-2 days (by that I mean wake at the same time he usually does) but the he starts to WU earlier.  He never sleeps later.  His naps tend to be about 2 hours or 2.25hrs so I wouldn't say he is a bad napper.  Last night he was asleep by 7:20pm and up at 7:15am (so he must have had some catching up to do).  I PD for a nap at 12:45pm, he is still rolling around and talking. 

This little guy has never been one to respond well to comforting.  He doesn't like to be rocked, held, PU/PD, no paci, no drink.  The moment he sees us in the AM he wants out and that's it so I don't think going to him is the best for this little guy.  He has always been like this...a crier and not one to be comforted.  We'll see what happens today.

[~inbalance~]

Well, it sounds to me that if he is napping well, 2-2.5hrs, then sick to a later bedtime of 7:30 and let's try and get him sleeping later.  If wakeups creep earlier than 6 you can throw in an early bedtime to get caught up. 

The other thing is, as much as it sucks, it might just be his natural biorhythm to wake at 6. 

[jul28baby]

Wednesday:

Wake 7:15am
Nap 1:15-3:15pm
BT asleep by 8pm

Thursday:

Wake 6:45ish
Nap (I PD at 12:25pm) 12:40-

**I do think the key is a later nap and BT.  I agree if he wakes early (6am) then we need to do a little earlier BT to catch him up.

[~inbalance~]

I'm glad a later nap and bedtime seem to be working.