Do you have an Early Riser in your Family?
Have an early riser on your hands? Is your baby waking up before the birds sing? Riding the 5 am struggle ? every morning? You’re not alone!!??
When dealing with an early riser, we have to look at the whole picture as there are multiple variables that can contribute to this exhausting habit:
➡️ Sleep drive is lowest between 4-6 AM. What this means is that our babies have had a full night’s sleep and our sleepy hormone, melatonin is dropping. As adults, we may toss and turn during these hours, but we have learned to put ourselves back to sleep. Out little ones need our help to learn that it’s not time to wake up yet!!⠀
➡️ Look at the sleep environment. If there is light is peaking into the bedroom this can cue your baby that it’s time to wake up when they are in this lighter stage of sleep. Use some Blackout Shades to help keep the room dark.
➡️ Look at the daytime schedule. A baby who is overtired or receiving too much daytime sleep can contribute to the early wake-ups.
➡️ Bedtime is too late. You would think a later bedtime would allow them to sleep later, but it’s actually the opposite! An earlier bedtime usually = a later morning wake up. ⠀
➡️ How does your baby fall asleep? If your baby falls asleep being rocked, fed, or held, they will look for the same intervention when they wake up. Falling asleep independently is crucial!⠀
➡️ Parental reinforcement. If your baby is waking up for the day before 6 am, your baby may start to wake out of habit and expect that the day is going to start. Keep firm but loving boundaries and treat it like a middle of the night waking. If your baby was waking at 1 am, would you get them up for the day? Probably not, so treat wake ups between 4-6 AM as a nighttime wake up.
➡️ Hunger—if your baby is under 6 months, they may still need a feed between 4-6 AM, but go back to bed until their desired wake up time of 630-7AM
➡️ Lastly, the one no parent wants to hear…if you’ve checked everything else off the list, you may just have an early riser! Every child is different just as adults, and some of us are early birds!!
If what you’re doing is working then there is no need to change it, but if you’re facing sleep issues, you can find help here!
