If you have a little one waking to start each day between 4 and 5 am, you’re not alone! Many of the families I support come to me in this situation. Their babies or children wake up between 4 and 5am, and they can’t get back to sleep. It might not seem like an issue if you like getting up early yourself, but when a little one is up so early each day, it’s more than likely that they’re not getting the amount of sleep overnight that they need to thrive.

Let’s do the maths. If your baby or child gets up every day at 4 am, and they go to bed at 6 or 6:30 pm, that’s a long day for them, over 14 hours. If they go to bed even later, say 8 or 9 pm – which I don’t recommend, but I know it happens – that’s a 16- or 17-hour day. These are all long days for an adult, so imagine how exhausted a baby or child will feel after even just ONE day this long!   

The good news is it’s possible to encourage your little one to sleep for longer in the mornings so they get that full stretch of restorative sleep they need each night. You can do this by looking at what’s happening during the early hours of the day. 

During the cooler months, babies and children commonly wake up as early as 4 am because they’re not warm enough. When they rouse or wake, they feel cool or cold, and they’re unable to resettle. Remember, while we never want to allow our little ones to overheat, a cosy baby always sleeps better than a cold one.

During the warmer, summer months, lack of warmth can still be an issue as can light coming into the sleep environment. When your little one rouses or wakes and sees the variation in the light, they tend to think it’s morning and time to start the day.  

If you’ve addressed lack of warmth and light and your baby or child is still waking up between 4 and 5 every morning, you need to explore other reasons for their early rising. Have you been feeding them at this time? Have you been bringing them to your bed in the hope that they’ll sleep longer? Or have you been getting them up to start the day because they won’t resettle? Sometimes it’s OUR actions that help early rising become a habit.

If this is the case, try not to feel guilty or panic – just make a plan to move forward. Work on resetting your little one’s body clock to start each day between 6 and 7 am. Avoid feeding them unless they genuinely need to be fed, maintain night-time conditions until it’s time for them to wake up, and keep working on letting them self-settle so that when they rouse at that early hour, they go right back to sleep again until morning. 

The information in this Blog Article relates to healthy babies and children with no undiagnosed, untreated medical issues or concerns. If you have any concerns about the health of the baby or child in your care, please see their GP or paediatrician.

For more sensible, straightforward, safe advice and resources on getting your family the sleep you all deserve, explore my website – sleepbysteph.com.au