🥱 Firstly, it is important to note that early rising is considered to be anything BEFORE 6:00am due to the natural rise in our stress hormone, cortisol, to wake us up for the day 😴 This is often why settling can become increasingly difficult, alongside the natural loss in your baby’s sleep pressure 🥰
However, if your baby consistently wakes before this time, consider the following:
1️⃣ Your response
It is normal for our babies to go through much more frequent and lighter sleep cycles 🔄 after midnight ⏰, therefore they could simply be wriggling around and taking a little longer to transition into their next or last sleep cycle of the morning. Therefore, intervening too soon in some instances can inadvertently disturb them and continue to cause early rising 😫
2️⃣ Hunger
To determine if your baby is waking due to genuine hunger will largely depend on their age, daytime calories, and sleep associations 😰. You could consider delaying your baby’s morning feed by 10-15 minutes and changing their nappy beforehand. Over time, your goal would be to extend their feed by 30 minutes to discourage them from progressively waking earlier and earlier 🤞🏻
3️⃣ Too much day sleep
If your baby is having too much day sleep, they may not have enough sleep pressure to sleep any further and they could also need their routine tweaked ⏰. This could be more common when your baby transitions to 2 naps between 6-9 months and to 1 nap between 15-18 months 🥰
4️⃣ Overtired
On the other hand, if your baby’s naps have fallen apart or they are going to bed overtired, this increases the risk of bedtime resistance, fragmented night sleep, and early rising 😖. This repetitive cycle 🔄 can continue in a downward spiral, impacting their daytime naps and ultimately causing your baby to go to bed overtired once again 😫🆘
With that said, if your baby is still catnapping, resisting sleep, or waking frequently overnight, book a consultation or download our Sleep Essentials Guide at www.settletosleep.com.au so we can support you in restoring sleep for you and your family 🩷🌸💫