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Hi Christine,
I’m glad you have found the course helpful! Hopefully, it is helping make things a little clearer for you.
When you ask if there is a way to cancel out the early morning waking, I assume you mean to get him to sleep past 7am. I have answered this question below, but if that isn’t what you meant, let me know.
Unfortunately, it’s common for babies to start their day between 6 and 7 am. This is just a typical circadian rhythm for infants, so getting them to sleep past 7 am is generally challenging.
Given that 6 – 7 am is their preferred wake-up time, the way to get your son to sleep for longer overnight is to move his bedtime earlier. I don’t think moving his bedtime earlier will mean that he will wake up earlier, as this is his usual wake-up time. However, the way to ensure this doesn’t happen is to gradually shift his bedtime to an earlier time. And by gradual, I mean shifting his bedtime 15 minutes earlier every two days. This will give his circadian rhythm time to adjust. You would continue to shift his bedtime 15 minutes earlier until one of two things happens:
1. You reach your desired bedtime
2. Your baby starts to wake up earlier in the morning. If this happens, he is reaching his overnight sleep requirements before your desired wake-up time and waking up earlier as he don’t need any more sleep. To fix this, you just shift his bedtime 15 minutes later, and he should go back to waking at 6:30/7am.
In addition to shifting his bedtime earlier, you will also need to:
– Watch the time his last nap of the day ends. You want to make sure he is tired enough to fall asleep at the new bedtime. At this age, he may be able to tolerate staying awake for 2 – 21/2 hours before needing to nap again. So you need to make sure he wakes from his final nap of the day 2 – 21/2 hours before the new bedtime.
– Dim the lights 1 hour before the new bedtime. This will help encourage his body to release melatonin, making it easier for him to fall asleep.
I hope this helps
Emma