Did you have yet another 5am start this morning? Is it becoming the norm in your house? It doesn’t have to be.
As you might be aware, early morning awakenings have a lot to do with a child’s normal sleep cycles, but it can also have something to do with what happened the day before, in terms of whether little ones get enough sleep (or even too much). Sometimes, it can lead to a catch-22 situation where your child has a poor night’s sleep and then sleeps badly during the day, resulting in things spiralling out of control over the space of a few days. It is one of the reasons why I love little ones to have a good daytime napping situation.
An early riser generally wakes at 5am as this is the time their sleep cycle settles down during the night and your child then remains in a light sleep for the rest of the early morning. More often than not, if your child is overtired going to bed, they generally wake at this time. As a result of many factors, including overtiredness, cortisol is released, which acts like adrenaline. This can prevent children from getting to sleep/sleeping peacefully and/or cause early awakenings. As normal sleep cycles dictate, your child will be in a light sleep phase in the morning time; it does not take a whole lot to rouse them fully. If re-settled, they will tend to go back into a deep sleep after this light phase. So, if you don’t persist, you will find your little one will lose out on two hours sleep each night – that’s one full night’s sleep in a week.
We all get set on a bedtime, however, we may need to change that bedtime if your child is waking up at 5am. This doesn’t necessarily mean keeping them up later though. Children up until at least three years old need approximately 11-12 hours sleep each night. Therefore, I strongly advise to aim to have your little ones asleep by 7pm (7.30 latest), and make sure they are getting adequate sleep during the day for their age and stage.
When your child wakes early in the morning, you need to be consistent in your approach because there will be a certain amount of habit mixed in. Otherwise, your child will not really know what to expect – they won’t know if you are going to tend to them or leave them be and this can be a little scary, never mind confusing for them. Decide what you are going to do in this instance, and stick to the plan.
Many parents will get up and start the day at this time but I really don’t advise it. As far as I am concerned, 5am is still yesterday. You may need to prepare yourselves for a week or two to get up at 5am to try resettling your little one until a time that you and your family decide is acceptable to get up. For example, if your little one repeatedly wakes at 5am, I would recommend that you try and re-settle them until around 6.15/6.30. If they go back to sleep – great; if not, get up at that stage and continue with your day.
Over time, they will learn to sleep that little bit longer. Early risers call for patience and deep breaths but it doesn’t have to be a permanent thing.
Niamh O’Reilly is a sleep coach. She’s also a baby and childcare guru, a ‘parent nanny’ and the answer to many a weary parent’s woes. When it comes to baby and child issues, Niamh is your woman. Always on hand to offer a no-nonsense solution, in an approachable way. A regular in the Irish media, (most recently as TV3’s Late Lunch Show’s ‘parent nanny’) over the next while at HerFamily.ie, Niamh will share some of her experiences, helping you attain that ‘holy grail’ – nights of uninterrupted sleep for all of the family.
Niamh’s book, No Fuss Baby & Toddler Sleep, is now available to buy from all good book stores or online from Amazon.com.
