Is your child waking up too early? The rising sun may be to blame. Discover simple, effective tips to help your baby or toddler sleep in later—starting tomorrow! Why the sun is waking your baby or child up and tips for you to stop it from happening tomorrow. Get your little one to sleep in later.
Early waking in the morning is never fun. If you have a child who has started waking early in the morning, be sure to take into consideration the possibility that the sun is what is waking him or her.
My children were sun risers. As Spring turned to Summer and the sun rose earlier and earlier each day, they woke up earlier than is typical with our daily schedule. When we had a cloudy, rainy morning, I usually had to wake them up.
Brayden was more of a sun riser than Kaitlyn. Brayden has always been a sun riser–even as a newborn. When he nursed in the early morning hours, I always hoped he would be done before the sun rose. Otherwise, he was ready to start the day.
I am also a sun riser. Even when McKenna was waking twice a night as a newborn, I found myself waking up at 6 AM as the sun entered my room. It isn’t because I didn’t want to sleep–believe me, I did!–but it is because the sun was up and I found it hard (or impossible) to sleep. If I am that way, you can understand that a child would be that way.
Young children have no concept of time. The sun comes up and that must mean it is time to get up and start playing. One morning when Brayden was 4 years old, he came to visit me at 6:15 asking for breakfast. I told him it wasn’t breakfast time and he replied, “But the sun is up!”
>>>Read: How the Sun Impacts Your Child’s Sleep
How To Help Kids Sleep In
So what do you do about it? There are a few things you can do to try to fix it.
Darken the Room
One thing you can do is try to block the sun. You can get dark blinds or hang a dark sheet or blanket over your child’s window. If you can block out the sun, you can prevent the sun from waking your child. You can get ideas for blackout blinds and curtains here: Blackout Curtains to Help Baby Sleep Better
Accept It and Adjust the Schedule
Another thing to do is just accept that your child is going to wake earlier because of the sun. In my experience, it is really only an issue for a few months. During this time, you can adjust your sleep schedule. You can possibly have a longer nap in the day or an earlier bedtime to compensate for the early mornings and still help your child get enough sleep in a 24 hour period.
If you choose to accept it, I would suggest that you do not start breakfast as soon as your child wakes up. At our house, breakfast is at 7 AM, whether the kids wake up at 6, 6:30, or 7:00 AM. I don’t want their metabolism to get used to eating early because then they will wake early from hunger long after the sun is a non-issue. You want consistency with the timing of breakfast each day and not start a new habit of waking earlier.
If your child is still staying in bed until you get him out, I would try to not get him out of bed until it would be time to get him up. So if you have a baby or toddler who is required to stay in bed until you come get them up in the morning, wait until your desired morning start time time to get up.
At our house, our kids were allowed to get up on their own once they were preschoolers. Brayden was allowed to get out of his room when he got up as a four year old. He had certain activities in the family room he knew he was allowed to do. He wasn’t allowed to wake up Mom unless it was an emergency. Of course, there are days he did not follow through like my breakfast story above. At the same time, Kaitlyn was two years old. She was not allowed to get up until a parent got her. She stayed in her room until Mom went to get her in the morning.
Use Clocks
Brayden could start to read important times on his clock around 3.5 years old. If your child is 3 or older, consider if he might be able to read a clock to know when it is okay to get up. An Okay To Wake Clock (affiliate link) can be super helpful in these situations, also. These clocks will change color at the time you set, letting your child know it is time to get up. You could also use an alarm clock, but I would only do this if you need your child waking up by a certain time each day.
Try to Regulate Circadian Rhythm
The circadian rhythm is a sleep regulatory system. The circadian rhythm is an internal body clock. This is something within your body that helps impact your sleep cycles. Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child (affiliate link) describes it as being something that switches on and off genes in response to light (see page 15). It is a molecular clock that is set by sunlight.
That means light exposure affects your body’s internal sleep clock. To try to set your circadian rhythm, you want to:
- Have bedtime at a consistent time
- Have your child see the sunlight as soon as possible after waking (but wait if the waking didn’t happen at the time you want. That is why leaving your child in their bed can help fix the early morning waking issue)
- Spend 30-60 minutes in the light each day. This is typically most effective close to noon
- Limit screen time close to bedtime
- Use room darkening curtains to block out morning and late evening light
- Avoid using a nightlight
You can read a lot more about this here: Circadian Rhythm Explained and How It Impacts Sleep
Conclusion
If you are suddenly experiencing early mornings and have early risers at your house, be sure to consider the sun as the culprit. Try the tips in this post to help your child sleep until your desired wake time and stop early morning wake-ups.
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This post first appeared on this blog in June of 2009