Early bird
Is your child waking up at the crack of dawn and ready to start their day, leaving you feeling utterly exhausted and all over the place? It isn’t easy managing an overtired and cranky child at the best of times, let alone if you are sleep-deprived yourself.
Although little ones naturally tend to begin their days early, waking at 04:00 or 05:00 is far too early and can take its toll on you and your child! If your child is rising before 06:00, it is actually considered a night wake. This scenario is a common occurrence in young children, but it isn’t one that you just have to accept and live with. By applying a process of elimination, early rising before 06:00 can definitely be overcome. The goal is to work towards pushing your little one’s wake up time to 06:00 onwards.
There are a number of factors that can play a part in early rising and so it is important to identify which of those may be a contributor. For younger babies, early rising may be due to hunger. Environmental factors such as noise, temperature, and darkness should be assessed and adjusted so that your child’s bedroom environment is conducive to sleep. The way you respond to your child when they rise early should be considered too. It is really important to always respond to them just as you would during a night wake, otherwise it could reinforce the early morning wake. It is also worthwhile taking into consideration your little one’s day and nighttime sleep routine, as overtiredness or under-tiredness can result in early rising too. Hence, a daytime sleep balance is key. In some instances, once a child begins to rise early, it can turn into a habit wake. Habit wakes can be challenging to crack, but by applying a consistent re-settling method when your child wakes, you will eventually notice that they will naturally start to wake later.
As you can see, there are a multitude of factors to consider when early rising arises. This is what makes it one of the most challenging sleep issues to crack. Rest assured, however, that sleep can be restored for you all, and this sleep issue can be overcome once the reason for the early rising has been identified!
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