Is your toddler waking earlier than you would like?
A perfectly appropriate wake-up time for your child is between 6 a.m. and 7:30 a.m., even if that feels early to you some days! However, if your toddler or preschooler is up at 5 a.m., he’s likely waking up not just too early for you, but too early for him. He may be unable to settle down for a nap (from overtiredness), generally cranky much of the day and overtired when bedtime comes.
There are a number of common causes for early rising, and ways to remedy them.
A Late Bedtime
Sometimes we think that if our child stays up later she will sleep longer, thereby fixing her early rising problem. Unfortunately it just doesn’t work that way for young children. That’s because when a child is overtired, her body secretes arousing hormones which make it harder for her to go to sleep and stay asleep. An overtired child will get less restful sleep during the night, and this can adversely affect her health. Research shows that 18-month-olds with later bedtimes are at a higher risk for motor, language and social deficits.
For children ages 0 to 10, watch for their natural bedtime window, which is likely between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., and aim for that after a soothing bedtime routine.
[Read: Sleep Schedules for Children 6 Months to 5 Years Old.]
Nap Deprivation
Just like thinking a later bedtime will cure early rising, it’s easy to think that keeping a baby or toddler awake or skipping naps will help him sleep in. But, in fact, skipping a nap will have the opposite effect on young children. Babies who have very short naps or only nap early in the day will likely have trouble sleeping restfully at night and will often wake too early in the morning.
Instead of skipping a nap, be attentive to your child’s sleepy cues, such as yawning, ear pulling, staring or a shorter attention span. When you see these signs, start naptime as soon as possible. A child who is overtired and wired before a nap won’t nap well or for as long as needed.
Awake Too Long During the Day
If your child is awake too long between their afternoon nap and bedtime, it can lead to early rising in the morning. Most toddlers have about a four-hour wakefulness window between their afternoon nap and bedtime sleep. If it’s stretched too long, your child will become overtired and not sleep well, which may again lead to early rising.
Too Drowsy at Bedtime
Putting yourself to sleep is a learned skill. If your child has not mastered this at bedtime, it will be much harder to go back to sleep at 5 a.m. First, be sure you have a consistent, soothing bedtime routine. Watch for her sleepy cues, and speed up the bedtime routine if she is acting tired.
Finally, put your child in bed while she knows she is being put into bed. If she falls asleep too quickly (within 5 minutes), then put her in bed more alert the following night. Imagine a scale between 1 and 10, where 1 is wide awake and 10 is deep sleep. You want your child to be at a 7 or 8 — drowsy but alert enough to know she is being put in bed. If you find your child difficult to read, err on the conservative side, and put her down awake after a soothing bedtime routine.
She may fuss at first, but doing this consistently will help her learn to soothe herself to sleep at bedtime — the easiest time to learn to put yourself to sleep. Then, when she rouses at night or in the early morning, she will be able to apply this learned skill to put herself back to sleep.
[Read: How to Smoothly Transition Your Child From the Crib to a Bed.]
A Medical Condition
It’s possible that your child may have an underlying medical condition affecting his sleep, such as obstructive sleep apnea, asthma or allergies. These are conditions that can make breathing more difficult when sleeping. If your child is snoring, mouth-breathing or sweating during sleep, or has very restless sleep, please consult your doctor.
Here are a few additional sleep tips to address early rising:
— Use room-darkening shades so that the early morning sun isn’t waking your child up.
— Under 8 months of age your child may need a “dream feed” in order to stay full until wake-up time. Stay as quiet as possible in a dimly lit room so that he is barely awake for this late-night feeding.
— For older children (2 years and up), use a toddler wake-up clock so they have a clear signal of when it’s wake-up time or not.
— If your child wakes frequently during the night (in addition to his early rising) and struggles going to bed independently, then you may need to start sleep training your child.
— If your child just started getting up early, after the end of daylight saving time, use naptime to get to the new bedtime. In other words, make sure your child is taking a nap after 12 p.m., and that the nap is long enough so that the wakeful window after the nap isn’t longer than 4 hours (or a maximum of 5 hours for a toddler or preschooler who is well-rested).
[See: How to Promote Safe Sleep for Your Infant.]
Whatever you do to facilitate your child’s adjustment to waking later, just remember that your loving patience and firm consistency are essential for helping your early riser transition to sleeping longer successfully.
More from U.S. News
Starting Solids With Your Baby? Avoid These 8 Mistakes
Is it Healthy to Sleep With Your Pets?
Tips to End Your Child?s Early Rising originally appeared on usnews.com
