It’s one of my most asked questions when I do a LIVE q&a, and early waking affects so many families, so you’re certainly not on your own if your child is waking before 6am. I tend to class anything pre-6am as an early wake, but I will say before I dive into what can help, that some families will naturally have quite early mornings, and if your child is waking at 5am or 5.30am, and it suits you as a family, please don’t feel the need to fit into a ‘societal’ norm of what time your child ‘should’ wake. Sleep is very unique and individual. Having said all that, I completely understand that for a lot of families a pre-6am wake up can feel incredibly hard, so what can you do to help your child sleep that little bit longer?
First of all, I’d take a look at their environment. Sounds simple, but it really can be that easy. Think about light, noise, temperature, have they got a full nappy, could any of these things be waking them up, and could you make any small adjustments to support their environment? Consider black-out blinds, white noise (or pink noise if over 6 months) and appropriate tog bedding to aid their temperature regulation.
The next consideration is their total sleep requirements in 24 hours. Sleep needs change as your child grows, and a child can only sleep for so long in a 24 hour period before they have used up their particular 24 hour sleep allocation. Sleep is also extremely unique to each child, and whilst there are lots of online guides with nap timings and bedtimes, actually these only suit a very small minority of children, so please don’t be concerned if your child’s sleep needs are a little different. The main considerations: are they happy, do they seem regulated, and is sleep working for them? From a sleep needs perspective and early wake up, it could be that your child’s sleep needs have simply changed, and therefore their daytime sleep or bedtime needs a slight adjustment. I’d advise making very small adjustments, so for example, if they have a nap, take off 20 minutes, then observe over a few days. Similarly, you could push their bedtime back by 20 minutes, and see if this helps to push the wake up time back. Do give it a few days, as the impact of any sleep changes do take a little time.
To help with calculating your child’s sleep needs, you can now download the Sleep Nurse UK sleep tracker, which is a completely free app that allows you to track sleep over a 24 hour period. The app was built with my work working with hundreds of families over the course of my career as a paediatric nurse, health visitor and sleep consultant. The beauty of the app is it allows you to track sleep, notice any patterns or trends, but it also honours the fact that sleep is so unique. There are no nap or timings suggestions, it lets sleep be completely guided by your child. You can download the free app by clicking on the ‘APP’ section above.
My final tip is a little bit of a reset, and I’d only suggest doing this if you’ve already looked at their sleep environment and sleep needs. For some children, their circadian rhythm, so their sleep and wake cycles, can shift over time, and then can get stuck early rising. If this is the case, try going into their room about 15-20 minutes before they wake, gently rousing them (not fully waking), and then let them go back to sleep. What this can do is encourage them to link into their next sleep cycle. You can do this for a few days, and then delay what time you go into the room by 5 minutes, delaying it every few days until they wake up at a time that is more aligned with their sleep needs. This isn’t a sure fix, and I would always encourage you to look at the above factors first, but for some children, it really helps.
If you try any of these tips, please do let me know! Early waking is extremely common, you haven’t caused it, and often a few adjustments really can make all the difference.
If you’re feeling like sleep is unmanageable and unsustainable for you at the moment, and you’d like further 1:1 support, I’d love to help. I work with families to empower them with sleep, viewing sleep from a holistic and responsive perspective and always honouring a child’s age, development and unique sleep needs. To book a completely free 30 minute sleep rescue call to chat about sleep now, sleep goals and what working with me could look like, click the ‘Book a Free Rescue Call’ button.
Topics: Baby sleep
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