Do you alter nap time if child wakes earlier in the morning?

[okinawama]

My 16mo old LO has never had a consistent wake time, he wakes anywhere from 5:30-7:30. Sometimes he sleeps 10hrs, sometimes 12.5.

Since he's been on 1 nap (since 12 months old) I've tried to keep his nap time fairly consistent in hoping that the wake up's would become consistent. That hasn't happened yet. So should I stick it out and keep a noonish nap even on early waking days, or lay him down earlier? Same question for bed time, if he takes a short nap (1.20min) should I put him down earlier or stick with the 7ish bedtime?

[PMJ]

Hmm, such a struggle that I also am facing.

I think you just need to read your C's cues. If C is sleepy after 2 hrs, then put them down. If they can stay 3 hrs, then keep w/ the consistency.

Sometimes my DD is sleepy after 1.5 hrs and other times, she can be awake 4 hrs, so it's hard to have the exact same nap time, each day.

Good luck.

[MomToOne]

I read her cues and put her down appropriately. I would never try to make it earlier for fear of backfiring/huge struggle to get to sleep. I estimate it as between 5-6 hours from when she wakes up and start looking for cues then.

I also start talking to her about it a lot when the time is approaching. I just keep saying over and over 'are you ready for a nap? pretty soon we're going to have a bottle and go sleepy. It's going to be bathtime soon.' Stuff like to get her thinking about it and getting into that frame of mind.

It helps if I readjust my thinking too. If she has a long nap I start to anticipate a later bedtime and when 7:00 rolls around I'm not as anxious for bedtime to come knowing that she probably won't get sleepy until closer to 8:00

[HonoluluMom]

My DD also wakes up at various times - anywhere from 4:30 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. As far as naps, I just read her cues. As far as bedtime, I always start her bed time routine at around the same time, so she goes to bed at the same time.