Troubleshooting Early Wake-ups!
Ask yourself these 11 questions.
How many times have you been woken up by your baby in the early hours of the morning? If it’s happening more than once a week, it might be time to take a closer look at what’s going on. In this blog post, we’ll ask you some questions to help you figure out why your baby is waking up so early. Generally, the natural wake-up time of most children is anywhere between 6:00-8:00 am. Especially if that early wake-up call means your baby has clocked less than 11-12 hours of night sleep
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In this blog, we will cover
- 11 Questions to ask yourself to get to the bottom of your early morning wakeups
- Is your bedtime too late? A bedtime that is too late for baby is a recipe for an early wake-up. The majority of babies do best with a bedtime of between 6:00-8:00 pm.
- Is your bedtime too early? While you all know I love me an early bedtime, we never want to get stuck in a perpetual 5:00 pm bedtime cycle, as this, over time, will lead to baby waking up early. A super early bedtime is great on crappy nap days or when we are trying to chip away at some sleep debt that may have accumulated from weeks/months of poor sleep, but it’s not meant to be used consistently over the span of several days/weeks.
- Are you keeping baby awake too long between the last nap and bedtime? That stretch between the last nap of the day and bedtime is the most sensitive of the day, and if we are stretching it too far will lead to night wakings, sleep-cries, and a potential early wake-up the next day.
- Is your baby hungry? If that 5:00 am wake-up is 3.5-4 hours from your last night feeding, then baby may be truly hungry at that time and it’s a good idea to feed him and put him back down to allow him time to fall back asleep and continue his night sleep. Many babies will keep one last early night feeding into their 9th month.
- Are you always leaving baby until 6:00 am? Getting baby up before this time lets him know that this is indeed an appropriate wake-up time. We always want to ensure we leave baby until 6:00 am to discourage any wakings prior to this and to send a consistent message, 24 hours/day.
- Is baby falling asleep independently with zero props? Sleep is the lightest between 4-6am and if baby relies on any props to go to sleep for the night initially (yes, that paci counts!!!) then when they wake up in these early morning hours, they will need you to re-create these same conditions but since sleep is so light at this time, it is harder for them to fall asleep even with your assistance.
- Is baby’s bedroom dark enough? Especially with the summer solstice in June, the sun is up early. If baby’s bedroom is too bright at this time (and with sleep being very light at this time as well) it may be difficult for the child to return to sleep. Turn that bedroom into a baby cave!
- Is your baby teething? The most common sleep symptom’ of teething is a temporary early wake-up. Again, we know that sleep is light in the early morning hours and if baby is uncomfortable/in pain/discomfort then it will be difficult for them to return to sleep at this time. The effects are at their worst 2-3 days as the tooth pops through, with the worst offenders being the top front teeth and the molars.
- Is baby overtired? An inappropriate daytime schedule (not enough naps/day sleep, baby being kept awake too long in between naps, etc.) is a major cause of an early wake-up. The best solution for an overtired baby is an early bedtime to help them catch up on sleep (as well as a round of sleep training if the cycle of overtiredness is caused by negative sleep associations!)
- Is baby going through a nap transition? Early wake-ups are inevitable as baby transitions to a new nap schedule, even with well-rested children who consistently sleep through the night.
- Is baby reaching a new milestone? At the peak of mastering a new skill, (crawling, standing up, walking, talking, terrible 2’s, etc) baby may temporarily wake early for 2-3 weeks.
Final Thoughts
So, what do you do when your baby wakes up early in the morning? The first step is to try and understand why they’re waking up early. There are a variety of reasons why this might be happening. Once you know the cause, you can start working on ways to help them get back to sleep. If your baby is consistently waking up at 6 am or earlier, it might be time to adjust accordingly.
Have you been struggling with early morning wakeups? Let us know how we can help.
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Sending sleepy vibes and sweet dreams your way!
Erin McCormick
Your Pediatric Sleep Specialist
