Because of what I mentioned above, that your baby is in her lightest sleep in the early morning hours, it is going to be very difficult (and near impossible) for her to fall back asleep if she is relying on someone or something to do that for her. If other people are up and about early in the morning and there is light that creeps in to your baby’s room, you better believe that can wake up your baby! The darker, the better - even during nap times!ģ) Does my baby have a sleep association that is causing her to wake early? If your child wakes with the expectation that she needs to be fed back to sleep, rocked, held, etc., then this issue needs to be corrected first before you can expect your baby not to wake up so early. What to do: Blackout shades are your best friend! I highly recommend investing in blackout shades and blocking as much light as possible from getting into your baby’s room, especially if she is in an area that is directly exposed to light. If she is awoken by light, it is going to be very difficult for her to go back to sleep because her internal clock is driving her desire to be awake, even if she still feels tired. The reason for this is that between 2/3am and 6/7am is when your baby is in her lightest stage of sleep.
Your baby is very sensitive to light in the morning, so even the smallest crack in the blinds or strong ray of light can wake her up. If your child is on a two-nap schedule, the first nap of the day should never be before 8:30am, and if she is on a three-nap schedule, never before 8am.Ģ) What is the light exposure like in my baby’s room? Your child’s circadian rhythm (or internal sleep clock) is primarily driven by light.
In order to make any type of change to your child’s biological clock, you need to re-train her body to sleep within her appropriate windows. What to do: If this happening, you want to try and stretch that first morning awake window, even if it means she is slightly overtired. I often see that when this is the case, that first nap ends up being very long, which is considered a “crash nap”. When this happens, she is relying on that first nap to make up for the nighttime sleep she isn’t getting. If you are putting her down before 7:30/8am for a nap, her first nap of the day is essentially being lumped in with what should have been nighttime sleep. In order to change the behavior, we need to first be able to get to the “why” behind it, so there are a few questions you can answer to help you better understand what is going on.ġ) Are my child’s nap schedules appropriate? If your child is waking at 5am, it is very likely she is still tired and can barely make it 1.5-2 hours before she needs a nap. There are a few different reasons why your child might be consistently waking up early or has recently just started this pattern. So if your child is naturally an early riser and wakes up around 5:30am, that might be okay as long as nighttime sleep is a minimum of 10 hours and isn’t broken up by several long wakings. However, we must also consider the time it takes your baby to fall asleep at bedtime and any middle of the night wakings that happen throughout the night, even if they are brief. This is based off of a recommend 12 hours of nighttime sleep, so if your child is going to bed at 6pm, an appropriate awake time would be 6am (or 7pm-7am, etc.).īecause not all babies are the same, we must consider that some children sleep closer to 10-11 hours per night, which is still considered healthy nighttime sleep. I consider “too early” to be anytime before 6am for your baby to be awake for the day. What is considered an early morning wake-up?īeing an early riser is much different than waking up before your body has gotten the rest it needs.
The good news is that there are a few ways you can help adjust their cycle, but before we dive into how to do this, there are a few things you should know about early morning-wakes ups and why they happen. Unfortunately, there isn’t a “quick fix” for this problem and many babies become stuck in a cycle of waking up early that they can’t seem to break out of.
Waking up early to the sound of your baby crying before 5am is not exactly the most peaceful way to start your day.Įarly morning wake-ups are a common challenge that many parents face with their littles, and they can also be one of the most challenging issues to correct.