Top Reasons for Early Wakings
Before we get into the most common reasons for early wakings, we should talk about qualifies an early wake time and what an appropriate wake time for an infant is.
A normal (and appropriate) wake time for infants is between 6am-7am. This falls in line with the natural infant circadian rhythm wake window. (Yes, this applies to weekends too!)
The drive to sleep is at its lowest between the hours of 4am and 6am. A reason you could be experiencing early morning wakings. While our drive to sleep is highest at night. (The reason why you always start sleep training at night.)
If your early riser is ready to go at 6am every morning, that’s a perfectly appropriate wake time. But that’s not to say you can’t work to stretch that wake time a little later.
If baby wakes before 6am, I consider that an early morning waking.
Finding the root cause of why your child is waking early can be trial and error. There are several culprits for early morning wakings.
Let’s talk about the TOP reasons for early morning wakings.
1. Bedtime is too late
You’d be surprised how big an impact an earlier bedtime can have on an early riser. As little as 15-30 minutes can make a huge impact.
A later bedtime doesn’t mean baby will sleep in. In fact, it has the opposite effect. A late bedtime often means an early wake up. I repeat, a later bedtime doesn’t mean baby will sleep in!
A healthy bedtime for infants and toddlers is typically between 6:00pm-8:00pm. A healthy amount of nighttime sleep for an infant and toddler ranges between 10-12 hours.
Don’t be afraid of a 6pm or 6:30pm bedtime! I personally put my daughter to bed around 6:30pm most nights.
When narrowing down your culprit, considering a bedtime between 6pm-6:30pm could really help resolve the problem. If you have a late bedtime one night because #life, be sure to get back to your normal bedtime the next night. Try not to go more than 1-2 nights out of your regular bedtime.
Also, be mindful of naps that day. If naps were short or missed, move bedtime up. Preventing an overtired baby will do you more favors than trying to keep baby up until their regular time. An overtired baby going to bed too late does not mean they will sleep in later.
You can read about why an early bedtime matters in my post, Respecting an Early Bedtime.
2. The room isn’t dark enough
I always think back to the first time I stayed in a hotel room with my daughter and was packing my portable black out curtain and worrying what the window size in the hotel would be to see if I should buy another curtain. Then I remembered hotels always have black out curtains. The “shutter out the world” kind of black out curtains.
I don’t think my daughter ever slept better than in that hotel room. And as a sleep consultant, I pride myself on a dark sleep environment at home! But even away from home, sleeping in a pack ‘n play in an unfamiliar space, that dark environment (and white noise machine) kept her sleeping and napping like a champ.
Room environment plays a vital role in teaching babies the behavior of sleep. Think of a cave. Dark and cool. Those are two components of the ideal sleep environment. And they are a key factor when extending the morning wake window.
Light filtering into the room is a natural way to wake the body up. By keeping the room dark, you are giving your child’s body the opportunity to log more sleep hours.
Invest in room darkening shades or curtains. You should not be able to tell it is a gorgeous sunny morning/afternoon from that baby’s room. Environmental factors cannot be discounted when talking about healthy sleep habits.
Read my post about The Ideal Sleep Environment for my Top 4 Sleep Environment Must-Haves to promote healthy sleep.
3. Too much daytime sleep
Young children require 10-12 hours of nighttime sleep alone. The only way to log those hours is by starting early. If baby is getting too much sleep during the day, it will affect their nighttime sleep.
You may need to adjust your nap schedule or cut a nap short in order to balance out daytime and nighttime sleep.
(It might even be time to drop a nap. You can read more about the 5 signs it’s time to drop a nap and the 5 steps to do it here.)
4. Not enough daytime sleep
On the contrary… not getting enough daytime sleep can be a factor in early morning wakings. Sleep begets sleep. If baby is not getting restorative sleep during their daytime naps, they will become overtired which can cause frequent night and early morning wakings.
I consider a nap one hour or longer to be restorative sleep. When baby naps less than one hour, their body has gotten rest but their mind has not gotten the restorative sleep it needs to continue with the day.
If baby is consistently taking short naps throughout the day, or the last nap of the day is short, move bedtime up to accommodate the sleep shortage and prevent baby from becoming overtired. Preventing an overtired baby will do you more favors than trying to keep baby up until their regular bedtime time.
For more nap tips, check out this guide on beating short naps.
5. Baby is overtired
Do I sound like a broken record yet?
An overtired baby will not sleep in. An overtired adult? Maybe. But for a baby it’s important to reiterate that being overtired or going to bed too late has the opposite effect.
Being overtired is a vicious cycle for a baby. If baby is overtired before the first nap of the day, it will affect all naps that day which will affect bedtime. Or, if there is too much wake time before bedtime, you will have an overtired baby and you can almost guarantee an early wake up.
6. Baby can’t self soothe, has a sleep association, or parents interfere
Do any of these examples sound like you?
- My baby is rocked or nursed to sleep.
- My baby NEEDS a pacifier to fall asleep and stay asleep.
- My baby wakes up early and is ready for a nap shortly after waking.
- Whatever time baby is up in the morning, so am I. #allthecoffee
If you answered “yes” to all or any of the above, it could be the catalyst in those early wakings.
Sleep associations:
Self-soothing skills are so important to becoming an independent sleeper. Do you have to give up the sleep sacks or the pacifier? Not if you aren’t ready. You can still have an independent sleeper, but it is critical that baby is able put himself to sleep (or back to sleep in the middle of the night) if you want to end the early morning waking cycle. If baby falls asleep by being rocked and placed in the crib, then you can bet he is looking for that association to get back to sleep. Especially during the early morning hours when his drive to sleep is at its lowest.
Early Nap:
Is baby ready to go down for a nap shortly after an early morning waking? An early nap often means baby’s body is treating that nap as an extension of their nighttime sleep. A routine of getting up at 5am and going down for the first nap of the day at 6am will only reinforce that early 5am wake time. Instead, you will need to treat the 5am wakeup as if it were a night waking. Keep the environment dark, calm and with smooth transitions.
Rushing in:
You could unknowingly be interrupting the self-soothing process if you are going in to get baby too soon. If you rush in the minute baby is awake in the morning and don’t give baby a chance to self soothe or try to get back to sleep on their own, you could be in the way! You could also be teaching baby that the minute they are awake, someone will be in to get them. Instead, let baby practice trying to get back to sleep independently before you rush in. Get baby comfortable being in the crib awake knowing someone will be in to get him when it’s time to get up.
Reinforcing Early Wake-ups:
If baby is waking at the same time every morning, 5am, and you start your day with him at 5am, he could just be trained to be up at 5am! (Much like a weekday work alarm.) Don’t fortify early wakings by starting the day when baby is up. Treat these early morning wakings (prior to 6am) like you would if it was the middle of the night. We can teach baby to stretch their wake time later if we aren’t surrendering to the early wake up and setting baby’s internal clock to 5am.
7. Hungry
Enough calories during the day will eventually equate to longer stretches of sleep at night. When baby gets enough calories during the day, they won’t be looking for those calories during the night. Although hunger is the first reason considered for night and early morning wakings, it isn’t always THE reason. (This does not apply to newborns.)
Consider the following:
First, consult with your pediatrician about your baby’s weight to be sure the little one is following their growth curve.
Second, if you think baby truly is waking from hunger, up baby’s caloric intake during the day. Add a few ounces to the bottle or an extra nursing session. If baby is between 4-6 months and you haven’t started solids, talk to your pediatrician about incorporating solids into baby’s diet. Offer these extra calories to baby’s diet for at least 2 weeks in an effort to resolve early morning wakings.
Third, consider night weaning. You may need to wean baby from night feedings in order to get those calories consumed during the day. Having enough calories during the day means baby won’t be looking for those calories at night. Again, caloric intake during the day equals sleep at night.
There are lots of reasons your child could be waking early. You might have to play around with these strategies before you find the root cause.
If your child continues to struggle with early morning wakings or you need help creating a sleep plan to get your child’s sleep on track, check out our services page to schedule a FREE 15-minute consultation.
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