How to stop early rising
Do you have an early riser? 🥱
It’s such a common sleep challenge and a sleep challenge that almost all us experience with our little ones at some stage (us included). It’s normal to see some early rising pop up here and there, particularly when little ones are going through a stage of development or nap transitioning (as examples). Dealing with a few early wakes every so often is not so bad but when the early rising goes on and on with no signs of improving that’s when it get’s a little exhausting for everyone. So how do you stop it?
We’ve put together some of our top tips that you can implement right away 🤩
⭐ Resettle! Encourage your little one to return to sleep until your ideal morning start time. We recommend keeping little ones in bed until 6am at the earliest if this is the earliest that you’d like to start the day. Your little one might not return to sleep straight away and it can take persisting with this for a few weeks but the more you encourage a resettle the quicker they will start sleeping in later.
⭐ If 6am rolls around and your little one is still awake we recommend doing a dramatic wake. If you have been in the room with them trying to get them back to sleep, leave the room for 1-2 mins, come back in and make a really big deal that it’s now the morning. Turn some lighting on or open the blinds, come out of the room and start the morning off strong.
⭐ Schedule nap 1 as though your little one woke at 6am. If nap 1 is too early this often just reinforces the early rise. Set the awake time as though your little one woke for the day at 6am or as close as possible. When setting the awake window from 6am start with the lower end of your little ones awake window. If after a week your little one continues to early rise you can gradually push out the nap time a little further by 5-10 minutes every couple of days - working your way up to their max awake time scheduled from 6am.
⭐ Delay first feed / breakfast until closer to 6:30am. If your little one feeds or eats early this just drives their body clock to continue to wake at that time. Staying in bed until 6am and pushing feeds out closer to 6:30am helps to discourage early wakes.
⭐ Total day sleep shouldn’t be excessive of day sleep needs. Making up for lost night sleep in day sleep is totally fine but not if you want to stop the early wakes. If your little one is having extra day sleep and their total day sleep exceeds their average day sleep needs it’s likely they will rise early again the next day when they reach their 24 hour totals.
⭐ Try and avoid putting your little one down to bed overtired at night. Every age has a max awake window but it doesn’t mean your little one can handle max awake time before bedtime – this is a common issue. Many babies are ready for bed at the lower end of their awake time between their last nap and bed (if the last nap was only short – less than an hour). It’s the same for toddlers on one nap, they can usually handle more awake time in the morning and need the lower end of their age appropriate awake window before bedtime.
Want to knock early rising on the head for good?
All these tips + MORE can be found in our Early Riser Guide. Via the Slumber & Sprout app you’ll have lifetime access to the guide and any other programs that you purchase. With instant access you’ll have all the tips and methods you need to resolve those early wakes. Say goodbye to 5am!!
Hayley & Katie xx