Early waking and time zone change

[t2009]

Hi there. I guess I have two questions rolled into one.

Part 1:
DS wakes up pretty early no matter what time he goes to sleep the night before. This morning it was 4:45... This is getting tiring, even though he sleeps well otherwise -- DS & I have no time in the evening to get anything done if we want to get some sleep... We have to go to bed after we put him down, which happens 7:30 - 8:00.

Any suggestions on how to work on getting him to wake later? I'd say it's just his wake-up time but he's not getting enough sleep (only 9ish hours, sometimes only 8... it's really all over the place) and he wakes up crying (in the past he's woken up happy & babbled/played by himself for a long while). I'm wondering if we could be in the transition from 2 naps to 1 (DS is 13 mos)?

Part 2:
We are going on a long trip in a new time zone. It only one hour difference but if he keeps waking at 5, then he'll be waking at 4 there. How do you go about switching time zones with your LO? We'll be there long enough that we definitely need to get on the new time. Should we start trying to switch now, which might help artificially with the early waking, too?

Any suggestions appreciated!

[newbiemama09]

sad news is that some kiddos are just early risers. my nephew, for one. i read an article in Parenting magazine (normally i hate that mag, i only read it because i'm still getting it for free) gave tips about how you CAN sleep in with a LO. they suggested different ways of allowing your child to play quietly by themselves in the morning so you can catch some extra Zzzz's. what my sister did was bring a laptop into their room and let DS watch movies in bed with them while they caught a little more sleep. the article suggested having quiet toys in the room, ready for them to play with in the morning. do any of those sound like a possibility?

as far as time zones, i read it takes kids 3-4 days to fit into a new sleep schedule, so if you're changing time zones, prepare yourself for a few early mornings in the beginning of the trip, plus some needed nap times!

best of luck! HTH!

[t2009]

Thanks K! I think we will try to move back his bedtime in 15-minute increments ahead of our trip so that we can have the 3-4 days of adjustment at home (which will hopefully allow us to sleep a little later for a few days!).

I will also definitely try to leave a few toys in his crib to see if that help (though he tends to roll all over so I'm worried he'll wake himself up by bumping into his toys! LOL ... we'll just but some stuffed animals in for now...).

Anyone have ideas about moving from 2 naps to 1? I don't want to jump the gun, but I'm thinking he might just be getting too much sleep during the day (sometimes as many as 5 hours!).