Common Causes of Early Rising

What is considered “early rising”? Or what do we consider “early mornings”? Studies show that it is biologically normal for our internal clock to set the beginning of our day anytime between 6am-8am. This means that wakings before 6am are “early rising, early mornings”. 

Do you have a little one who is constantly waking in the early hours of 5am, or even 4am? Then keep reading on to help find out why and what you can do to fix it! 

1. Overtired at bedtime.

While it is very common to think that staying up late before bed will promote sleeping in, it is actually quite the opposite. Especially for babies. Going to bed too late, or just being awake too long before bedtime, can actually cause their body to fill with more stress hormones like cortisol. This rise in stress hormones will disrupt sleep. It could look like trouble falling asleep at bedtime (i.e. more crying/resistance). It could come out as frequent night wakings, or result in a dreaded waking between 4-6am! If your baby’s bedtime is consistently late (think 8:30pm or later) and he or she is waking for the day before 6am, then consider moving bedtime anywhere from just 30 minutes earlier to even 60 minutes earlier. It will also be helpful to consider how long your baby is awake before bedtime. Use the chart below as a reference, knowing that each baby is unique and you can try to gauge your baby tired cues as well as take into account the age appropriate recommendation.

0-2 months old - awake time before bedtime 45 minutes to 75 minutes.

3-4 months old - awake time before bedtime 75 minutes to 2 hours.

4-5 months old - awake time before bedtime 2 hours 15-30 minutes. 

6-7 months old - awake time before bedtime 2.5-3 hours. 

8-10 months old - awake time before bedtime 3-3.5 hours. 

10-14 months old - awake time before bedtime 3-4 hours. 

14 months+ AND on a one nap schedule - awake time before bedtime 4-5 hours.

2. Too much (or even too little) daytime sleep.

Each baby is unique in that they need a certain amount of sleep during a 24 hour period to feel well-rested and not overtired. However, there’s also a maximum amount of hours babies can sleep during a day. That shouldn’t be a surprise because of course you can’t expect infants to sleep nearly 20 hours or so! BUT it may come as a surprise that too much daytime sleep could cause that dreaded 5am waking. If your baby has had more than enough daytime sleep and sleeps from 7pm or 8pm until 5am, it's likely that they are maxed out in terms of how much their body can sleep! They simply have no sleep pressure, no tired factor, etc and he or she is wide awake! This is why I always encourage capping naps, or at least capping overall daytime sleep. Refer to the chart below for the recommended amount of daytime sleep based on age. Also, consider that if your baby is having a lot LESS daytime sleep than the recommendation, then he or she may be overly tired throughout the day which (as mentioned above), can also cause early rising. For example, a baby under 9 months old who is constantly taking only 30 minute naps for a total of 2 hours daytime sleep, may simply be overtired the whole day. 

Newborns may have approximately 4-6 hours of daytime sleep. 

By 3 months old this will likely go down to 4-5 hours. 

4 months old - the recommended amount of daytime sleep is 3.5-4 hours.

5-7 months old - the recommended amount of daytime sleep is 3.5 hours. 

8-10 months old - 2.5-3 hours of daytime sleep.

11months old+ 2-3 hours of daytime sleep.

3. The morning nap starts too early.

On a 3 nap schedule the first nap should not begin before 8am. On a 2 nap schedule it should not begin before 9am. A morning nap that is offered too early contributes to early rising because your baby knows that nap time is coming and is trying to create enough sleep pressure before it OR your baby sees that early nap as a continuation of night time sleep. Focus on stretching your baby’s morning wake window so that the morning nap is not starting so early. When stretching wake windows remember to offer fresh air and sunshine, fun and new activities, and extra feedings!

I hope this helps your dreaded early rising come to an end very soon! If you’re still unsure what the cause is and you need more help to improve your baby’s sleep overall, remember I offer custom support packages to work with families one on one. Take a look at my offers or even consider getting started with just a free phone call!