About this topic

Babies and young children commonly wake up too early in the day. Some children are just ready to start their day early, even if their parents are not. There are ways you can help your child learn to sleep a bit later or stay in their bed a bit longer in the morning.

General

• Use curtains or shades to keep your child’s room dark.

• Consider if outside noise is waking your child. A white noise machine might help or move your child to a quieter room.

• Does a soaked diaper wake your child every morning? Think about using a special overnight diaper.

• Learn how much sleep your child needs. Is your child happy when they get up early? Do they need a nap earlier than normal? Look at how much time your child sleeps at night and naps during the day.

  • Do long daytime naps cut into your child’s night time sleep? You may want to try waking your child up from their nap after a certain time to make sure they can sleep at night.

  • Is your child ready to take one less nap during the day? This gives your child more of their sleep time at night.

  • Are naptimes late in the day? Move them earlier so there is more time before bedtime.

  • If your child doesn’t get enough sleep at naptime, put them to bed earlier. This may help them to sleep longer in the morning.

• Most young children will need about 11 to 12 hours of sleep each night. Some need a bit less, some need a bit more.

  • Do you need to move bedtime a little later so your child can have 11 to 12 hours of sleep at night and not get up at 5 am?

  • Try to move bedtime 15 minutes later every few nights until your child is going to bed at the time you would like.

• Teach your child about wake up time. This means that the day does not have to start just because your child is awake.

  • You will have to help your child learn this, just as you do with going to sleep alone.

  • When your child wakes early, calmly and quietly check on them to make sure they are okay, haven’t soiled their diaper, or gotten sick. Tell your child that it is not time to wake up and that your child should go back to sleep. Tuck them in like you did the night before and leave the room.

  • Your child may cry or fuss at first. Go back in their room in about 15 minutes and again, explain that it is not time to wake up. Continue this process until it is your desired time to wake up. It is OK if your child plays quietly in their bed.

  • This may take a few days, but your child will learn that you mean it when you say it is not time to wake up.

• Help your child learn to play quietly in their bed. After your older child has fallen asleep in their bed, place some books or other quiet toys near. When your child wakes in the morning, there will be something to play with.