Help with Following Happy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby

My daugher did that for awhile. We moved her to 1 nap, instead of 2, and that got her on track.
Try moving the morning nap later by an hour, and see if you can get something longer out of him. My DD also wakes up exactly 1 hr into her nap...every day. We typically leave her. Sometimes she settles back to sleep. Sometimes we have to go in after 10 minutes or so and give her her paci again. Then she goes back down for another hour.

For the early morning, don't get him up. Give him a paci, or something to do in his crib (we have a soother that's like a aquarium. When she wakes up, she turns it on and watches it until she falls asleep again). Lay him back down and leave. Don't interact with him. Might take awhile, but he'll follow your cues. And if he's tired during the day and shorting those naps, that does mean that he needs to sleep more at night. You just need to help him along with the idea of going back to sleep when he wakes up after 9.5 hrs.

So try 1 nap during the day, and tucking him back in in the early morning hours. After a few days, he should catch on.

You've got to get him to nap better during the day. He isn't sleeping because he is overtired. He should sleep a good 11 hours every night, and at least 2 hours during the day.

You could try to reset his naps: go in 5 minutes before he usually wakes, make enough noise to get him to roll over and reset his sleep cycle. I used this with my kids when they were under 6 months, not sure how it would work with a 10.5 month old.

If you are feeding him when he wakes, he will continue to wake. I suggest offering water instead of milk. Usually they stop waking as soon as they realize there won't be any milk or cuddling with mommy.

I second the figuring out the diaper situation.

What is going on is that your son has a habit of waking early. So you need to change the habit. The earlier bedtime helps with some kids, and it will help eventually, but right now, you need to break the waking habit, so when your baby wakes, do not cuddle, do not feed, make it clear, it is night night time, go back to bed. Be clear about it, and he will quickly learn that there is no fun to be had at 4 in the morning. Just repeat yourself. Check the diaper, tell him, "you are soaked, I will change your diaper, but then it is "night-night" time. Let him learn how to self-sooth. You are doing way too much soothing for your son. It's time to stop rocking, and to start letting him learn how to roll over and go back to sleep. Babies as young as 6 weeks can learn this, without crying, if mommy lets them.

Not everyone will agree with this, but my boys slept better when propped slightly on their sides. And I too wouldn't go to them until 6am, or would have my husband go in, change him and say it's still night time, go back to sleep. And turn down the monitor. That might help! :-)

First, I agree with what everyone has said about the diaper. Overnight diapers aren't something you can skimp on, so buy the best ones that are going to soak it up and keep the moisture away from your son.

Second, I am an avid follower of Weissbluth and it got all 3 of my kids to be great sleepers. You're not following him if you follow your child's clues instead of the clock. If you follow him (and I highly endorse that you do) this is what your schedule should look like:

6am wake-up. Don't go to him at all before 6am. If he wakes up earlier, he has to wait until 6 to get up. Otherwise, it's habit-forming for him to wake up earlier. His body needs to be trained to sleep until then.

9am & 1pm: naps. HE MUST SLEEP FOR AT LEAST AN HOUR. If he doesn't, do not go to him. He needs to cry/scream/do whatever for 1 hour before you go to him. Several times, my oldest would fall back asleep around the 50/55 minute mark, just when I thought he never would and I couldn't handle the crying any longer. Again, you're habit training him.

Bed time at his age is variable. We had a 6pm bed time, but, if our children were waking up crazy early in the morning, we would put them down later. This is the one area of Weissbluth I disagree with at the older infant stage. I did the same thing as you, and on the advice of our pediatrician (who got us into Weissbluth in the first place), I put them down later, instead of earlier. Mind you, "later" for us was 6:30 instead of 6.

Good luck! It works, if you follow it!

I agree with changing his diaper to a nightime diaper/next size up as Ena suggested. Also, do you put him in his crib and leave him alone for a while so he can learn to put himself to sleep? They really need to learn how to do this. Then they will be able to do it through the night etc. Is he eating enough solid foods throughout the day? Cereal, veggies, fruit, and snacks? Maybe increase his cereal amount.

I know every baby is different. But, both of my boys would typically sleep for at least 2/3 hours for naptime. He might be at the point where he only needs one nap. Maybe waiting until after lunch and try to cut the morning nap out. That would give him a longer nap in the afternoon. Then, he would be able to wait until 8 for bed. I am a firm believer in bath before bed too. It makes them sleepy. Good Luck!!!

I can't help with your actual question, but I would suggest going up a size in the nighttime diaper. That may help so you don't have to change him in the middle of the night.

Pampers Baby Dry get my 12 month old trhough the night. He goes to bed around 7:30/8 pm and gets up between 7/7:30 am. I put books and puzzles in the crib after he falls asleep and that keeps him entertained for a few minutes more. Mine has been down to 1 two hour nap a day since 10 months. I don't like it that way, but it seems to work for him!
Good Luck!

I would also look again at your nap times. My son would go to first nap after less than 2 hours up. My sister still has 2 naps with her 18 month old, and his first nap is after 2 hours.

I remember how hard it is, and I remember that the only thing that saved me from pre-dawn wake ups was the spring forward time change! Don't worry, you'll get through it!

I agree with Ena on a bigger diaper at night - they leak less, then you won't have to wake him and can sleep a little longer yourself. I you want him to sleep later in the morning... work his bad time back to later since you have moved it to from 8 - 6:15 try to move it back closer to the 8 - that way you can get more sleep.

As long as he isn't getting to fussy, the 10.5 hours of sleep maybe enough for him... all babies are different. Or if their is a way - try squeezing in a 3rd short nap in during the day - might help too.

Good luck!

I agree with the other moms- it's probably the diaper. When it's full, he gets wide awake, causing the early rising, and then overtiredness during the day. This is why he also sleeps a certain amount of hours- that diaper gets full to the max by then.
They make diaper doublers- little inserts that give diapers extra absorbency. Also, like one of the other mom's said- you can try going up a size. I have found that Pampers brand seems to be the most absorbent for nighttime. Hope this helps!