Waking up to the sound of your baby crying before 5 a.m. can throw off your day right from the start. Early morning wake-ups, a common struggle for many parents, can be challenging to overcome as babies often get stuck in a routine of waking up early that feels difficult to change.
What are considered early mornings?
Anything prior to 6 a.m. qualifies as an early morning, indicating that your baby may not be getting the recommended 12 hours of essential sleep they need.
To address this challenge and meet your baby's sleep needs, it's essential to understand the causes of early morning wake-ups and apply proven strategies.
While early wake-ups can be influenced by various factors, it's crucial to avoid specific behaviors that can perpetuate them.
Here are three things to steer clear of to prevent exacerbating early morning wake-ups:
Don’t start your day at 5am
Our biological clocks are regulated by various factors such as food, light, and social interaction, known as Zeitgebers, which are external cues that synchronize our biological rhythms. If your baby wakes up at 5 a.m. and you respond by turning on the lights and beginning your day, you are essentially signaling to your baby, "It's morning, time to start the day." With repeated instances like this, it can become a habitual early wake-up time as our bodies tend to align with regular waking patterns, even on weekends. Treat early morning wake-ups similarly to nighttime awakenings by keeping the lights off and minimizing stimulation.
Don’t go straight to feeding
If you suspect that your baby is hungry and you offer a feeding, this can inadvertently reinforce early wake-ups as your baby may come to expect to eat at that specific time each day, potentially leading to hunger-driven awakenings.
It's important to consider that every baby has distinct nutritional requirements, and infants of varying ages require different feeding frequencies (e.g., babies under 6 months may still need one night feed).
We need to ensure that calories are distributed appropriately and that feedings are not being used frequently for soothing purposes to fall back asleep. It is important in this case to conduct an evaluation and create a gradual plan to reallocate calories throughout the day and determine if an earlier nighttime feeding is necessary.
Read more on this here: How to wean feed at 5am and how it can cause early mornings
Do not help to sleep
Teaching our little ones how to return back to sleep independently is the best thing we can do for their wellbeing, health and for great sleep whose benefits will last a lifetime.
Whether they use a pacifier, a comforting lovey, or their own hands, being able to go back to sleep without any external dependence will allow for more restorative rest for the entire family.
While we cannot always prevent nighttime or early wake-ups all together, possessing these soothing skills enables babies to settle back to sleep effortlessly, often without you even noticing and even when the conditions are not ideal.
If you prefer to assist them back to sleep and they don’t wake up for the day in the process, then you can continue to do so but as your child gets older this will become increasingly more difficult.
If your child struggles to settle back to sleep at night, the likelihood of them being able to do so in the early mornings is minimal. Going back to sleep in the morning hours when your body is waking up requires an effort but is a skill that is needed to extend early mornings.
If you want to help your little one sleep better, you can start today by getting a personalized plan and support. There are many gentle ways to encourage independent sleep, and understanding what to do while considering all the factors that impact sleep (like total sleep time, diet, environment, etc.) will bring you fast and long-lasting results (and reduce the stress for all of you).
If your little one is already sleeping on their own but struggles with early wake-ups, let's dive into why they might be occurring and explore various ways to tackle them. Our "End Early Morning" mini-course aims to shed light on the causes of early wake-ups, offer preventive measures, and present four strategies to help address them effectively. Additionally, you'll receive a personalized schedule review and feedback from your own dedicated Pediatric Sleep Consultant.
Get the End Early Mornings Mini-Course HERE.
No matter what you are struggling with, there are options. Continuing to feel tired and knowing your family is not getting enough rest is not one of them!
