All About Early Wakings
Early mornings are a common challenge that many parents face with their babies and toddlers! Early mornings are one of the more difficult pieces of the sleep puzzle to change! They are extremely common during the sleep training process and before a baby is sleep trained.
Why? The simple answer is because your baby’s sleep pressure is lower between the hours of 4:00am-6:00am and they probably just had “enough” sleep to feel awake and ready for the day!
What Is an Early Morning?
An early morning is when a child wakes earlier than 6am for the day WITHOUT falling back to sleep, and before they had adequate night sleep.
It is not an early morning if…
⁃ It has been more than 10/10.5 hours of sleep
⁃ It is past 6am
⁃ They are hitting their average sleep needs between day and night sleep
⁃ They wake up and fall back to sleep
⁃ They wake within 30 minutes of desired wake time
I know waking at 6am isn’t “ideal” and everyone would love if their child slept until 8/9am but not every child’s circadian rhythm is wired for that! Waking between 6-8am is normal.
If you have an independent sleeper who is NOW having early mornings you will want to ask yourself are they overtired? undertired? is it their environment? Are they in the early waking/early bedtime cycle? So many different things can cause early wakings— it really is sometimes just a process of elimination!
Is it overtiredness?
Other signs could include:
⁃ Taking a long time to fall asleep
⁃ May have wakings early in the night (waking 45 mins after bedtime is a classic sign)
⁃ Large amount of total awake time compared to average
⁃ Before bedtime they are tired but then get a “second wind”
⁃ In the early AM: crying and seems frustrated
⁃ Poor mood during the day
Solution? Try less awake time during the day, specifically before bed!
Is it Undertiredness?
⁃ Large amount of total sleep compared to average
⁃ Your child seems to have lower sleep needs
⁃ Night wakings are typically HAPPY
⁃ Wakings are often later in the night (after 2am)
⁃ Good mood during the day
Solution? Try giving your child less sleep during the day or more total wake time! Consider bumping bedtime a little later.
What about their environment?
⁃ The room is not blacked out
⁃ Their room gets unseasonably cold or warm
⁃ Sound machine isn’t blocking out other noises (coffee machine, siblings, etc)
Solution? Try making your child’s room dark as a cave, keep the room temperature between 67-72 degrees and bump up your child’s sound machine! You may have to cover monitor lights and/or smoke detector lights with black electrical tape..
Maybe it’s the…. Early waking / Early Bedtime Cycle:
⁃ Your child’s bedtime consistently happens early (~6pm)
⁃ Your child is sleeping 10.5 hours +
⁃ Your child is getting necessary amount of day sleep
Solution? While I love a 6pm bedtime when appropriate, if your child is constantly going to sleep at 6pm and sleeping over 10.5 hours, you need a schedule change! Shift their out of crib time by 15 minutes for a day or two and keep shifting until you reach your designated wake time of 6:30/7am out of crib time while also shifting your entire day with naps and bedtime!
Early mornings take time and consistency to change! It will not happen right away.. it is important to make the necessary change and continue to not get them out of their crib until their designated wake time!
