5 Reasons Your Baby Wakes Up at 5am

Any morning wake-up before 6am essentially constitutes part of the night sleep. So if your baby wakes up before 6am, they are not sleeping enough. 

Here are a few reasons your baby might be waking up before the sun:

1. Brief awakening

Over night, there are a few brief awakenings from light sleep stage and dreaming. The last brief awakenings is at 5am. If a baby has a strong dependent sleep association (rocking, tapping, feeding) and does not know how to self-settle, going back to sleep once awaken will be very hard.

2. Too late bedtime

Missing baby’s optimal bedtime will lead to them struggling to go to sleep, stay asleep, and wake up too early in the morning. This can set the tone for sleep-chaos the next day. Optimal bed time is between 6-7pm.

3. Morning nap too long and/or too early

When morning nap is too long, baby starts treating it as part of their night sleep. It then interferes with the last stretch of night-sleep. The first nap essentially consists of baby’s last cycle of night-sleep, preventing them from waking up later in the morning. Ensure morning nap is shorter than the midday nap, and does not start before 9am. From 4 months, morning nap should not be longer than 1 hour.

4. Sleep debt

If baby hasn't slept well during the day, they will struggle to sleep well over night and may wake up too early. Over-tiredness results in the production of stress hormone (cortisol) which inhibits baby from entering deep sleep, therefore they wake up after each sleep cycle.

If your baby struggles to settle at bedtime, and wakes up multiples times before midnight, it’s a sign they are overtired. To re-set their sleep, ensure morning nap is offered on time and is not too long. This will help baby settle well for a long mid-day nap, and will help them make it to bedtime without sleep debt.

5. Food, light and social interactions

These 3 components are often causing your baby to wake up too early.

• If baby's room isn't dark enough, morning light can cause early wake ups. Blackout curtains and rolled up towels over curtains’ rails can help darken the room.

• If baby is used to be fed first thing when they open their eyes, they are more likely to waking up anticipating a feed, and struggle to go back to sleep.

• If your baby woke up at 5am, it does not mean the day needs to start. Talking, playing and interacting with them - essentially promotes these early wake ups.

Depending on baby’s age, best to keep them in their bed until desired wake up time without engaging with them. This communicates the message “it is not yet time to get up”, and provides them the opportunity to return to sleep.

To solve your baby’s early wake-ups book a sleep consultation package today, or find out more about our programmes in a free discovery call below.