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Your 14-month-old is up at 4:30am, you’re clinging to a 6pm bedtime and a 10pm bottle… and somehow everyone’s still wrecked. In this case study, Sally & Bec walk through a real family’s week—why the “early to bed” fix stalls, and how a short-long nap reset plus a later bedtime turns brutal mornings into reasonable starts.
What You’ll Learn
Why many 6pm bedtimes cap nights at ~10.5 hours (hello, 4:30–5:00am)
The exact short–long nap plan (10:00–10:30 cap; 1:00–3:00 long) for 14 months
How shifting more sleep to the PM lowers cortisol and smooths nights
What to do with a 10pm bottle so it stops anchoring early wakes
Environmental checks (TOG, temp, true self-settling) that make resettling stick
How to move bedtime toward 7:30pm without overtired chaos
Chapters
00:10 Intro – Why we love case studies
01:23 Meet “Marty”: 14 months, 10pm bottle, 4:30am wakes, two naps, picky eater
03:59 Why 6pm bedtimes often backfire on early rising
04:28 5am vs 4:30am: total sleep math and realistic night lengths
05:43 Early bedtime as a rescue, not a long-term strategy
11:05 The plan: short–long schedule to load sleep into the afternoon
12:02 Cap Nap 1 strictly at 30 minutes (not 35–45)
13:48 More PM sleep → lower cortisol → easier nights & resettles
15:12 Room temp/TOG checks + confirming true self-settling
18:32 Align your technique with baby’s patterns; nudging the 10pm wake
19:56 Wrap-up: expect natural lengthening once the day is rebalanced
🎙️ ABOUT NAP TRAPPED
Hosted by sleep consultants Sally Woods (The Sleep Concierge) and Bec Maher (The Sleep Centre), Nap Trapped helps tired parents solve baby-sleep challenges with warmth, evidence, and zero judgement. Every week we turn your questions into practical solutions—with a side of Aldi chocolate.
Links
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https://www.instagram.com/thesleepconcierge/
https://www.instagram.com/_thesleepcentre/
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts
Forward this to a friend stuck in the 6pm-bedtime-but-still-wrecked loop.
