Early-Morning-Waking
Is your child you experiencing early-morning-waking???
This is one of the most common complaints I hear from parents when it comes to their child’s sleep. Did you know that it’s actually normal for babies to wake anywhere between the hours of 4-7 a.m. and there are a few reasons for this.
That time of morning happens to be their lightest sleep, after 4:00 a.m. melatonin production dips significantly to undetectable levels, and babies are usually waking from a REM sleep cycle, which is their lightest stage of sleep (which is not a great cocktail for getting them back to sleep).
In addition to low melatonin, their sleep pressure (the need/drive to sleep) is at an all time low. They are waking after having slept a solid chunk of sleep (even if that sleep was broken up) and have met most of their sleep requirements for the night. They simply aren’t as tired, therefore making it nearly impossible for them to fall back asleep. They are somewhat rested, yet not enough that they’ll function properly throughout the day.
Let’s explore 10 reasons why your child could be experiencing early-morning-waking:
Here are a few simple tips to help your child combat early-morning-rising:
1. Room darkening shades
The last thing you want is for your little one to wake up before the birds thinking it’s time to party because of light creeping into their room. Did you know that the circadian rhythm is directly affected by light and dark? When your child wakes in the morning, you don’t want light to send signals to the brain telling it that it’s time to wake for the day; It should be dark enough to signal the brain that it’s still time to sleep. Do yourselves a favor and get some room-darkening shades to block out sunlight at bedtime and from creeping in in the early morning hours.
2. White noise
White noise is especially helpful in drowning out all of that external noise that could be keeping your little one up, or even worse, waking them up early in the morning. Plain static white noise is best, try to avoid music or other sounds like rushing water, rainfall, thunderstorms, etc…as that can be overstimulating and possibly keep your baby awake longer at bedtime. The static white noise will help them fall asleep and promote deeper sleep as well. If you are worried about a whie noise dependency, don’t worry, you can slowly wean them off of it at a later time - I have successfully done this with my own kids, and guess what? I no longer have to drag around the noise machine for my older ones when we travel!
3. Appropriate wake windows and bedtime
Make sure your child has the proper amount of awake time before being put down for naps and bedtime. Their time awake should be appropriate for their age and within a timeframe that will optimize their sleep and prevent things like over-tiredness, catnapping, difficulty falling and staying asleep, early-morning-waking, etc…Putting your little one to bed too late or too early could directly affect their quality of sleep and the time they wake in the morning. Always look at the last nap of the day and watch for their sleep cues to determine when the best time is to put them to bed. For children who don't nap anymore, make sure they are in bed at a decent hour, this could be 6/6:30 for some children, especially ones who have just transitioned out of a nap or who are especially sensitive sleepers. Keeping them up for hours past their bedtime in hopes of having them sleep in in the morning is a surefire way to cause early-morning-wakings.
4. Cap daytime sleep
Now I know you’ve heard me talk about this one before - capping daytime sleep to 1-2 hours (depending on their age). The reason for this is because too much daytime sleep can start eating up their nighttime sleep. Huh? Yes, you heard me correctly. Let me explain…If your child sleeps more than their recommended amount of daytime sleep (I mean, like a lot more) then they not only meet their daily sleep requirements but they exceed them, which ultimately deducts from their nighttime sleep requirements. This simply means that your child will not need as much sleep at night. Their daily sleep has eaten up their nighttime sleep…literally, which can cause a slew of sleep issues, one of them being early-morning-wakings.
5. Eliminate dependency on breast or bottle upon waking.
Are you nursing or feeding your baby at 5 a.m. in order to put him back to sleep?? Try and refrain from doing this as it creates a dependency on it upon waking and then your little one is left with a habit of waking early for a feeding. Create a clear distinction between feeding and wake time by feeding them outside of their room and a few minutes after they have woken and come out of bed.
6. An ok-to-wake clock.
I Highly recommend this visual tool for toddlers who wake in the wee hours of the morning, regardless if their early-morning-waking is habitual or they are natural early-risers. It shows them what time it is and when they can come out of bed. I myself use one for my kids because one of my sons is a very early riser (we’re talking 5 a.m.), he always has been and it shows him what time it is and when he can get out of bed for the day. Implementing rules and boundaries surrounding bedtime and providing your child with clear expectations with the ok-to-wake-clock will ensure a successful bedtime and wake time.
7. Adjust your expectations.
Keep in mind that some babies/kids are natural early risers, or larks as I like to call them. Oftentimes they gravitate toward wake times closer to 5-6 a.m. Many babies are physically unable to sleep in past a certain time in the morning and that’s pretty common. A good rule of thumb is, as long as the clock says 6 a.m. it’s a perfectly normal and reasonable time to start the day, albeit really difficult for some parents, I get it! Anytime before 6 a.m. is still considered nighttime and should be treated as a night time waking. There’s not a whole lot you can do to change the body clock of a natural early bird, so you may as well change your expectations and allow a more realistic wake time for your little one. I recommend shifting their bedtime a bit earlier (if it isn’t early already) since they are waking early anyway to ensure they are getting the recommended amount of sleep for their age.
There are 3 options of how to deal with early morning waking.
I’ll just say that the early morning waking issue can be tricky because babies are so much more awake than they are in middle of the night and they often have a hard time falling back asleep past 4-6 am. So choose wisely how you will respond to and deal with your child at this hour.
Option 1: Wait it out
Waiting it out means that you really aren’t doing much. You are basically not taking your baby out of bed until 6:00 am at least or when you decide it’s morning time. You can stay out of the room and doing nothing, or you can choose to do whichever sleep training method you are using or have used in the past in order to get your baby to stay in the crib until morning - even if she never falls back asleep.
Option 2: Intervene
Intervening means you are saving the morning at whatever cost. You’re going to do whatever it takes to get your baby back to sleep at this hour, even if it means sticking the paci back in, feeding, shushing, rocking, etc…This can be really helpful but also have some drawbacks as well, so if this sounds like you, go for it, but be mindful that it may cause a habit to form, or further perpetuate an early morning waking cycle or even waking at other hours of the night. If your baby baby happily goes back to sleep and no habits form and this works for you, then by all means, save the morning sleep!
Option 3: Start your day
Some parents don’t really know what to do other than start the day. They are too tired to do much of anything else, feeding or intervening doesn’t seem to be working and they really don’t love the idea of not intervening at all so they opt for starting the day. I do not recommend this, because starting the day this early further perpeturates the issue, but also it will shift the day too too early and you don’t want your baby napping at 6:00 am or having a bedtime at 5:00 pm.
Which option would you choose?
Here are my 2 of my best tried and true tips for combating early morning waking.
Create a buffer of time between baby waking up until the time you do anything like feed, change diapers, dress, play, etc... Try to wait at least 15 minutes before doing anything that your baby find enjoyable or exciting (I know, this sounds mean!) Once this time has passed, feed baby, diaper change and play outside of their room. Doing this will help prevent an early morning waking by eliminating any excitement and expectations immediately upon waking.
One of the most common causes of early wakings is a late bedtime. Over-tiredness is a child's worst enemy and does not allow for quality sleep and almost always causes premature wakings (i.e., early morning waking). A later bedtime does not equate to a later morning wake time. Push bedtime a half an hour earlier to help prevent early morning waking. Trust me on this one, guys!
Can you fix an early-rising issue?
This question is indeed a common one, but it can also be complicated with varying responses. Sometimes there can be an obvious quick fix to your child’s early wakings and sometimes not. The truth of the matter is that it really depends on whether or not your child is a true natural early riser or not. Is he waking early because of his body clock or out of habit? And you can read the full blog post about that here.
Fixing a child's early morning rising issue can vary in duration, depending on the underlying causes and the specific strategies implemented. Generally, it can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks to see significant improvement.
Realistically, though, if a child is a natural early riser due to their biological clock, it may be challenging to completely change. However, you can often adjust their schedule to encourage a slightly later wake-up time.
Some techniques include:
Gradually shifting their bedtime later (if it’s on the very early side).
Ensuring their room is dark and quiet.
Limiting stimulating activities before bedtime.
Offering a consistent bedtime routine. (Consistent schedules often produce better sleepers)
Encouraging them to remain in bed until a reasonable time, like 6:30/7 am if they’re used to coming out much earlier.
While you might not turn a natural early riser into a late sleeper, you can often find a compromise that allows for a more reasonable wake-up time.
For children/babies who are not natural earlier risers and perhaps waking out of habit, find the source for the wake up and you’ll have an easier time eliminating/fixing the issue driving this wake up. For this child it’s usually a bit easier to tackle because there is a reason for their wake up, not related to their body clock.
Ask yourself these questions to determine the cause:
Is your child expecting or relying on something or someone in the morning that is reinforcing the early wake up?
Are they eating enough throughout the day to sustain them through the night?
Are they feeling well? Rule out any illness, teething, irritability or discomfort.
Is their room conducive for sleep? Blackout shades, white noise? Comfortable temp?
Does your child have an age-appropriate schedule? Is he oversleeping during the day? Perhaps, he is exceeding the recommended amount of daytime sleep for his age, which in turn can take away from nighttime sleep, causing early morning wake ups.
When you figure out what it is that is causing your child’s early rising, be diligent about eliminating that cause with gentle reminders, sleep coaching and consistency in order to truly help your child overcome this habit. This can take a few days to a few weeks at best.
All in all, it requires some trial and error and a bit of patience to figure out how to help your child overcome early rising and help them to a more reasonable wake time in the morning.
Good luck and I hope you found this helpful.