Early Rising
If your child wakes very early every once and a while there is nothing to worry about.
There are many reasons that can contribute to early rising.
If it becomes a persistent occurrence, that’s when it may be time to
review a few things to better improve your child’s sleep.
**Sleep Tip** Putting your child to bed later, will not help them sleep in longer.
It will do the opposite. In fact, an earlier bedtime helps with early rising!
Their Routine
Taking a second look at your child’s average wake window and
total day/night sleep requirements is important. If they are getting
a good amount of sleep, their behaviour is normal, and they’re
waking at 6am… I’m sorry to say but that is their body’s normal
time to get up for the day. If something is off with their wake
windows or nap times then that could be your culprit. Too much or
too little nap time during the day can make nights wonky.
2. Check for illness, teething, separation anxiety, or new changes in the household/daycare.
3. Check the environment.
Maybe there’s a light in the morning that’s blasting them
in the face around a certain time, the AC turns off in the early
morning and things get a little warm, or there’s some sound
increase in the morning (dogs, birds, people going to work).
In those cases, take a look at some blackout blinds, or increase
the volume on your sound machine (50-60 dec).
**Sleep Tip** A common thing that perpetuates early rising is
changes to the routine. Your child wakes at 5am instead of 6am…
their first nap gets bumped early and thus the whole daily schedule
is bumped earlier than normal. Instead, what you want to do is try
and stretch their wake window till when they usually have their first
nap. Unless you see major tired signs then offer that nap a little early.
4. Self-Settling
If your child is waking early, along with other wake ups through the
night then they most likely need to master some self-settling skills
and the problem is more that than them waking early. I would suggest
working on that self-settling and the early mornings should resolve.
5. Boundaries
If your child is old enough, using a strategy to let them know that the
day doesn’t start until a certain time. So even if they aren’t asleep,
they stay in their bed till 7am let’s say. Using items such as the Hatch Clock
or anything that changes colour at a certain time, or even an alarm clock.
Implementing those boundaries for them.
As always, if you are working through these tips and have questions or
would like clarification please reach out! I’d love to help you and your family get better sleeps.
Good luck, and remember consistency is your best friend when tweaking a routine or making changes!
Your Paediatric Sleep Consultant
-Marina
