5 Reasons Your Twins Wake Up at 5am

Why my Twins wake up at 5am?

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

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

1. Brief awakening

Over the night, there are a few brief awakenings from the light sleep stage and dreaming. The last brief awakening is at 5am. If a baby has a strong dependent sleep association (rocking, tapping, feeding) and doesn’t know how to self-settle, returning to sleep once awakened can be very hard.

2. Too late bedtime

Missing babies’ 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 bedtime is between 6-7pm.

3. Morning nap too long and/or too early

When the morning nap is too long, babies 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 babies’ 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 your babies haven't slept well during the day, they will struggle to sleep well overnight and may wake up too early. Overtiredness results in the production of stress hormone (cortisol), which inhibits babies from entering deep sleep, therefore they wake up after each sleep cycle.

If your twins struggle to settle at bedtime, and wake up multiple times before midnight, it’s a sign they are overtired. To reset their sleep, ensure morning nap is offered on time and is not too long. This will help your babies 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 three components often cause your babies to wake up too early.

• If the 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 babies are used to being 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 babies 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 twins’ 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.

One way to help your babies sleep longer in the morning is learning to self-settle. Self-settling can also help little ones stop cat napping…

If your little ones struggle to sleep well, you can learn more about twin sleep consultation in my “Parents' Guide to Twin Sleep Consultation”.

You can find more free twin sleep guides and tips here.

To solve your twins’ early wake-ups book a twin sleep consultation package today, or find out more about my twin sleep training methods in a free discovery call below.