Early Morning Waking: Getting Your Early Riser to Sleep Longer

Does your child wake up at a time that hurts your feelings? Let’s go over a quick list of early morning culprits: 

Note that I would consider “early” mornings before 6am.

Check your space

• Sleep in the wee hours of the morning is lighter and easier to be pulled from.
• Is the room as dark as possible (consider street lighting outside of the window, daylight sneaking in, etc.
• Is there white noise/fan to block out neighbourhood and household noises?
• Is your child wearing overnight diapers? Consider going up a size if they are still soaking through. 
• Less is more. If your toddler is struggling with going down easily for sleep, try removing the clutter from their bed. Instead, choose 1-2 safe items that they love. For some children, too many items creates a stimulating environment. 

Check their motivation

• If your child is met with instant gratification, they could be waking earlier looking for that. For example, pulled into a warm bed with a parent, fed instantly, given a tablet, etc. 
• When waking in the morning, take baby out of the room and bring into your living room/kitchen to start the day. Try delaying the morning feeding by taking your time getting baby dressed, etc. – just a few minutes can be helpful

Check other factors

• If over 18-months, is the child drinking milk/dairy drinks before bed? This is known to cause night wakings/early morning wakings.
• Switch to water and limit dairy to be finished by dinner time
• Avoid screen-time before bed (60-90 minutes) as that can cause night wakings/more disturbed sleep

Check your timing 

• Ensure your little one is going to bed early enough. This may sound counterintuitive, but it’s true! If your child is overtired, it can lead to more restless sleep/early morning wakings. 
• Sticking to a minimum wake-up time is very helpful. For example, if your little one wants to start the day at 5:15am but you know that they’ll be tired again in an hour – don’t allow them to wake up. Use the same strategies you were using when teaching them to sleep initially. Comfort them every few minutes as they protest – but ensure they do fall back asleep. Even if they only fall back asleep for a few minutes, it helps to send the message that it’s not morning time.

If you have addressed all of the above possibilities, it may be a good idea to shift bedtime a little bit. Only do this by 10-15 minutes for a couple of days, then another 10-15 minutes a few days later, and so on. Bedtime should always be somewhere between 6 and 8pm.