Early rising is a big problem with a lot of parents, with young children awakening too early, before 6am, ready to start the day. Waking early is typically a symptom, so what is the cause?
1. Make sure your child’s bedtime is not too late. Bedtime close to and beyond 8pm can mean that your child is overtired going to sleep, and this can cause a chemical reaction that contributes to early wakening.
2. Ensure that your child is getting enough day time sleep for their age group. Understand that day sleep and night time sleep are independent of each other. Having regular day sleep for the required amount of time for the child’s body can result in a well rested child, which in turn can help them smoothly transition through the last sleep cycle around 5am until morning time proper, which ideally would be 6am onwards.
3. Make sure that your child’s naps are not too early in the day. It is a vicious cycle with early risers. They waken at 5am, full of beans and ready to start the day, but need a sleep again really quite soon as they become worn out. If your child requires two naps a day - this is my expectation to at least 15 months - then you really shouldn’t have the first nap until 8am, and the next one after 12noon. If your child is 15 months or older, and on one nap, you will need to move the nap so that it happens after 12noon. It is significant with early rising to maintain not more than four to five hours of wakefulness between waking from the last nap and being asleep at bedtime.
4. Finally, rule out hunger - make sure that your child is well fed throughout the day, with evening-meal-type food at dinner time. Also, eliminate any light, natural of otherwise, entering the room and signalling to the brain to awaken before it is actually ready. Being too hot or too cold can exasperate the problem, along with any noise disturbances like the dog barking, central heating clicking on or someone else using the bathroom.
Correcting this particular sleep issue can take at least three to four weeks. During this time, it is important to treat any awakening before 6am as night time, even when you know your child will not go back to sleep; this way you can help to adjust the body clock and enable the correction of the early sleep phase. Good luck.
