Are you suffering with early wakings? Is your little one awake for the day at 5am and there is no getting your baby back to sleep at the time?
One of the most asked questions is regarding early wakings!
Beginning your day at 5am (or before!) isn’t anyone’s ideal start to their day; it’s tough for you, your baby and other members of your family. But why is your little one waking early? And what are the possible solutions?
There are a number of reasons; let’s go through the most common reasons.
Sleep Environment
Your little one’s sleep environment is a good starting point to try to establish what could be causing early wakings.
Light: Is the room dark enough? Or does it become lighter when the sun comes up? One of the most common reasons for babies and toddlers waking early is light seeping into their rooms, especially in the Spring and Summer. One of the most cost effective (and easiest) ways to resolve early wakings is to install black out blinds and or curtains for your baby’s room. Travel blackout blinds (such as the Tommee Tippee travel blind) can be very cost effective and are portable too!
Noise: Is there street noise waking your little one? Are neighbours starting to leave for work? Are there car doors slamming or engines running? Other examples of noise could be parents’ alarm clocks, siblings, pets, trains or planes, or simply the birds in the trees outside! If noise is something that disturbs their sleep, use white noise to create a buffer between your baby and the external noise.
My key tip with white noise is to make sure you invest in a machine that stays on all night. A cheaper way of doing this is to use Alexa, YouTube or white noise apps – just make sure they can play all night so your little one doesn’t wake when it cuts out.
Daytime Routine
Oddly, your baby or toddler might be waking because they are not getting enough sleep in the day. Hear me out….
Essentially overtiredness will lead to increased cortisol levels (the ‘awake’ hormone) in your little one’s body leading to them being ready to wake up earlier than they otherwise would.
However, the opposite is also true – too much day sleep can also contribute to early wakings.
The table below is a guide for how long your baby or toddler should sleep over a 24h period.
Sleep Amount
| Age | Sleep Amount Over 24h Period | Average No. of Naps Per Day |
| Newborn | 16-20 | Multiple |
| 2-4 months | 16-18 | Multiple |
| 4-5 months | 14-16.5 | 4-5 |
| 6-8 months | 14-16.5 | 3-4 |
| 9 – 11/12 months | 14-15 | 2 |
| 12 – 18 months | 13-15 | 1-2 |
| 18 – 36 months | 12-14 | 0-1 |
| 36 months + | 11-12 | Usually 0 |
Check out the routines on my Instagram grid @minidreamerssleep for example daytime routines for your baby/toddler.
Recent Cognitive & Physical Development
Cognitive and physical developmental leaps can often be the cause and this isn’t something we can control. Our little ones learn so much during their first few years that their brains are constantly firing to make connections. Infants can wake during the night to practise these skills – think babbling and rolling over at 3am! One way to reduce the impact of this on sleep is to give your little one lots of opportunity to practise these skills during daytime play.
Another way is to consider how you are reacting to these changes during the night/in the morning. This determines if these wakings are only temporary due to developmental leaps or become a longer term habit. If we react to them by feeding or playing, little ones assume it’s time to start the day leading to habitual wake ups.
Habit
For some babies, early wakings can just become a habit. After all, it’s a body clock and the body can get used to doing things at the same time each day/night. Trying to get your little one back to sleep to sleep with settling methods such as rubbing their back, shushing, repeating a consistent sleep phrase and giving them verbal comfort will help to reset their body clock. This is more applicable for older babies (not newborns) but try not to feed when your little one wakes early. There’s nothing that establishes and consolidates early wakings more than feeding and kick-starting the body’s metabolism.
So what are some possible solutions?
Now we have established some of the causes, what can you do to help encourage them back to sleep when they wake early?
Start with looking at the sleep environment: blackout blinds, white noise and temperature (ideally between 16-20°C) are all reasonably easy fixes.
Focus on day sleep: finding the ideal day routine for your little one is a huge component of long and restful night sleep. Head over to my Instagram to find example routines for your baby or toddler.
Make sure bedtime isn’t too late. Often parents push bedtime back in a hope that it means their little one will sleep in but as we now know, overtiredness can have the opposite effect meaning your little one will still wake early and probably be even more tired than before.
Feeding too early in the morning will kickstart your baby’s metabolism and they can begin to ‘need’ that early feed which reinforces them waking again and again. If they wake between this time, encourage them back to sleep with settling methods.
Work out what time of the day is acceptable for your family to wake up. As a guide, forward 11 hours from bedtime for what is acceptable and not an early waking; your little one may just need less than 12 hours.
It can be difficult to practise, but try and not rush to get them up before the acceptable wake up time and instead help settle them back to sleep. They may even just coo or play in their cot contently before you go in to start the day.
Early wakings are tough! However, there is something driving the early wakings and when there is a problem, there is usually a solution – it just isn’t always an easy solution.
I am Emily, from Mini Dreamers Sleep Consultant; a devoted mom, experienced teacher, and OCN certified baby and infant sleep consultant. I understand first hand the challenges and joys of parenthood, and I’m here to help you and your little one achieve the peaceful, restorative sleep you and your family need. Follow me @minidreamerssleep and check out my website www.minidreamerssleepconsultant.co.uk.