Seven Tips to Stop Early Morning Wakeups
One of the most common complaints parents have when it comes to their young children’s sleep is early morning wakeups. Most people aren’t keen on waking up well before the sun comes up, and waking at 4:30 AM on a regular basis followed by a full day of work and/or parenting leaves parents feeling, well…exhausted. It also makes it hard to enjoy some time to yourself at night, when you know that your little alarm clock will be waking you up soon.
Kids are little creatures of habit, once early morning wakeups are established, they are likely to stay that way. Early morning wakeups also can keep kids from getting as much sleep as the need, especially if paired with bedtime avoidance or night time wakings. And lack of sleep has repeatedly been found to be positively correlated with a decrease in health and learning abilities. Behavior issues correlated with lack of sleep include tantrums, aggression, impulsivity, and more. Even small deficits in sleep have been found to affect cognitive ability, and this effect has been found to persist even later in childhood.
Early morning wakings that result in too little sleep aren’t good for parents or kids!
I’ve always been much more a night owl than an early riser. When my son was born, the early mornings were a struggle, and when he got a little bit older it became my mission to see how I could get him to sleep later. I found that many of the tactics suggested for infants were the same things that I knew worked for toddlers and preschoolers. Plus, once your child is older, you can help them understand signals that let them know when it’s time to get up, and motivate them to sleep in later.
First, let’s talk realistic expectations. The (unfortunate) truth is that many kids are “morning people” and wake up naturally between 5:30 and 6:30 AM, and getting some young kids to sleep in any later than 6:00 AM just isn’t realistic. The days of sleeping until 7:30 just might be over for now, sorry!
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s go over the proven ways to encourage your child to sleep in a little later.
If you’re getting up before you want your kids to get up, get a white noise machine. I personally prefer to shower and get ready a bit before I wake my son, and since kids sleep schedules don’t differentiate between week days and weekends, this will help you get more sleep yourself on the weekends. This also helps if your kids are sharing a room and one tends to wake the other one up.
Block the light! Most children are very sensitive to light, especially in the morning. Get serious about it: I have a travel blackout shade with window clings that makes it so dark in my toddler’s room that I can’t see my hand in front of my face with the lights off. If early mornings are a problem for you, I definitely suggest trying this for a while to see if it helps.
Keep them in the crib as long as possible! I plan to keep my son in his crib until he is 4, if he stills fits. In case you’re wondering, he has already tried to jump out but I’ve gotten him to stop doing so by immediately responding with a very firm “no” and explaining that it isn’t safe for him to do so. It seems to work best when I say it through the monitor (my friend tried this and her son told on the monitor when she came back in the room. He pointed at the monitor and said, “that guy wants me to stay in my bed!”).
Make sure bedtime is at an appropriate time. The amount of sleep your child needs at night depends on their age and whether or not they are still napping, and knowing how much sleep they need at night can help you choose an appropriate bedtime based on when you would like them to wake up. For example, a 2-year-old needs around 9 to 10 hours of night sleep if they are still taking a nap, so if you’re putting a 2-year-old to bed at 7 PM you might be asking for a 4 am wake up! Also, if you’re getting a long daytime nap but early mornings, wake your child up from their nap early to shift some of that sleep to night time. The more your kid sleeps during the day, the less they are going to sleep at night.
I’m a huge fan of “ok to wake clocks”. There are many versions, but what they have in common is signaling to your child when it’s time to wake up. They are cute, kids often find them fun, and it’s the clock telling your child that it’s still time to sleep, not you! You will want to wait until your child is a little older and able to understand and make the connection between the clock and waking up.
Add some motivation. Sticker charts, with which stickers are earned for staying in bed/in room until a certain time are also for kids who are a little older and understand the concept, but can be very effective if you have a good motivator to exchange for earning stickers. What kid isn’t motivated by ice cream (and what parent isn’t willing to trade a little ice cream for sleeping in)?
Finally, and importantly, check in with how you’re responding to early morning wakings. The easiest thing for a parent to do when their kid wakes early in the morning is to pull them into their bed, or lay with them in their bed. Remember sleep associations? Your child can develop a sleep association that requires your presence to put themselves back to sleep when they wake in the morning (and are less sleepy that earlier in the night). If your child is waking up very early on a regular basis, and you are helping them settle back to sleep, you may need to fade that sleep association before they will start sleeping in, no matter what else you try.
You might not get to sleep in until 8 AM anymore, but 4:00 wake ups don’t have to be your reality either. In addition to the tips above, a consistent bedtime routine has been found to cause less wakings in the night, and less early morning wakeups. I created a bedtime tip sheet based on proven strategies to help parents easily create their own routine that works. To get it, click below!