Spring has most definitely sprung already but the early morning sunrise can definitely have it's drawbacks when it comes to sleep and one of the most common problems I hear from parents is that their baby or little one wakes too early. Sometimes there can be easy steps you can take to solve this so here are my top tips to help combat the issue:
Darkness- Even a crack of daylight coming in around a blackout blind can cause a baby to wake early. Daylight at 5am will confuse your baby and have a hormonal effect too. Make sure that there is no light starting to creep in from doorways or windows that could be disturbing their circadian rhythm. Take a look at the brilliant instant black out material that I recommend over on my services page
Noise – Birds, central heating, dustmen etc. These environmental noises can cause problems. You will never be able to eliminate them entirely but you may combat them with white noise played constantly throughout the duration of sleep.
Room temperature - As the temperature outside rises with the season change, check the temperature of your child's room and make sure that it remains as consistent as possible and that their sleep wear and bedding is appropriate.
Bedtime – Many parents think that putting their baby to bed later will cause them to wake later. This is very seldom the case and over-tiredness could in fact be the cause of the early wake. Try bringing bedtime earlier for a few nights before trying a later bedtime.
What happens when baby wakes? - If your baby nurses first thing in the morning, or comes for cuddles in your bed this can cause an early wake to continue as it’s something they’re looking forward to and have got accustomed to waking for. Delay the feed or cuddles by 15 minutes and go into a brightly lit room and play, this should help break the association.
Timing - Very often these problems can creep in due to a need for a timing change, the distribution of sleep over 24 hours can quickly become very distorted with nights becoming shorter/morning wake earlier and earlier and naps becoming longer and/or earlier to compensate. Altering the timings very slightly can make all the difference.
And give each of these changes some time, the problem is unlikely to disappear overnight. If you have difficulties with this or any other area of your child's sleep and would like more help please do get in touch - it is my passion to help families get back to a good night's sleep. Sweet dreams, Sally x