Why Is My Child Waking Up So Early?

Hi, I’m Dana Obleman, creator of The Sleep Sense Program. This week’s question comes from Allison and she writes, “Nancy Sue was sleeping 7:00 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. for months but in the past month, she’s been waking up around 6:00 a.m…. What should I do?

Well Allison, over the last month or so, I’ve received lots of those questions. These “too early mornings” seem to be creeping up more and more often. Well, it probably has a lot to do with the early rising sun. Even in my own sleep, I’m noticing that I’m waking up around 6:00 where I used to sleep pretty consecutively until 7:00. So, my best guess would be that all these early morning wakers are waking because of the sun.

A good tip is to make sure the room is really dark -- you might even have to get some blackout blinds put in or hang a dark sheet or blanket over the windows. If you’re worried about it being too dark, you could always put a small nightlight in somewhere so that it’s not too dark; but you want to hold out that morning sun as long as you can, because it can cause early wakeups.

But maybe it has nothing to do with the sun... You have to make sure that your daughter knows that you expect her to sleep until 7. So, if she used to sleep 7:00 a.m. to 7:00p.m., you’ve got to stick with that. This means that if she wakes up at 6:00, you can go in, give her a quick check, tell her it’s still night-night time, and then you need to leave her in her crib until at least 7:00.

What can sometimes happen with early morning wakers is that they used to wake up at 7:00, then for a few days it was 6:30 and Mom went in and got them… Now it’s 6:15, Mom goes in and it’s 6:00 a.m., then it’s 5:30. So, if you respond too quickly, you’re sort of sending a message that it doesn’t really matter what time you wake up, I’ll come and get you even if it’s too early!

So, be fairly strict with your 7:00 morning. But do remember that some babies are 6:00 a.m. risers and that’s just something that a lot of parents have to live with. But, if she was sleeping until 7:00 or 7:30 most mornings, I’d make 7:00 your cutoff and just hold her to it. Make sure the room is dark and this should blow over.

Thanks Allison for your question. Good luck and sleep well.