Perhaps you've heard this sleep tip before: "Pull bedtime earlier if you are dealing with early morning wakings." I know, I know. It sounds crazy but in many cases, an earlier bedtime can actually *help* with early morning wakings. If you feel skeptical, you’re not alone. Let’s walk through this piece of sleep advice below and see if it’s the right solution for your situation!

 

How can an early bedtime help?

Baby & toddler sleep can feel sooo counterintuitive sometimes. And if you have an early riser, you’ve probably had at least one person tell you to just keep them up later and not to let them nap much in order to solve early wakings. On the surface it makes sense, right? Less day sleep and a later bedtime should equal more night sleep and a later wake up. However, this advice is not going to get you far in most cases. 

 

The main reason is overtiredness. This is a state that your child will be in if they are kept up too long or not allowed to get adequate sleep. So what does this mean for your child if they are overtired?

 

Essentially, sleep begets sleep. The more well-rested your child is, the more likely they are to be able to get the sleep they need. When they become overtired, their body can start to resist sleep. This may look like difficulty falling asleep when it’s bedtime or naptime, sleeping more restlessly and waking more frequently. It will look like they don’t need or want sleep when it’s actually the very thing their body is craving.

 

On a biological level, overtiredness causes an increase in our stress hormone, cortisol, and that is what can disrupt sleep when cortisol levels are higher than normal. 

 

At night, it’s normal for our baseline cortisol levels to drop as our melatonin (sleepy hormone) levels rise. Then in the early morning, our melatonin levels naturally start dropping and our cortisol levels start rising. When our cortisol levels reach a certain threshold, it’s our brain’s signal to wake up for the day!

 

So you can see how starting the night with a slightly elevated cortisol level (from overtiredness and a late bedtime)  can lead to an earlier start the next day instead of a later one!

 

What’s the right bedtime to avoid overtiredness?

Depending on your child’s age, they can tolerate being awake for different amounts of time before they’ll need to go to bed. A wake window is what we call that period of time. Below are some loose guidelines I use based on your little one’s age. Ideally you don’t want your wake window before bed to be greater than the numbers below:

 

4-6 months: 2-2.5 hours

7-9 months: 2.5-3.5 hours

10-14 months: 3.5-4 hours

15+ months: 5-6 hours

For no nappers (3+ years of age): Aim for 12-13 hours of total night sleep and plan your bedtime accordingly.

For more help with understanding age appropriate wake windows for your baby, check out this freebie with my wake window chart.

 

If you are currently struggling with early wakings AND your wake window before bed is longer than I suggest above, give it a tweak and see if it helps!

 

When does an early bedtime not work to solve early morning wakings?

While I love an early bedtime, it’s not *always* the solution to early wakings. I know “12 hour nights” is the gold standard of sleep on the internet but it’s not always possible for babies and toddlers. Some children won’t ever sleep more than 10-11 hours overnight and that’s okay. With this information in mind, you can see how an early bedtime of 6 or even 6:30pm could still lead to 5am wake ups. So it’s important to keep the whole picture of your child’s schedule and sleep needs in mind as you navigate early wakings.

 

Why are early wakings so challenging?

Early wakings can be among the most frustrating of sleep issues when you’re a parent. You feel like you would do almost anything just to get an extra hour of sleep in the morning. Your baby’s sleep pressure is lowest around 4-6am and that’s part of the reason why early wakings can feel so prevalent.

 

Habits can play a big role as well and therefore, when you are making tweaks to solve early wakings, you can’t expect to see instance progress. Oftentimes it will take weeks of consistency on your end before you will see your baby or toddler starting to wake later.

 

That’s why I’ve created my Early Waking Mini Course! It walks tired moms through simple steps they can take to improve early wakings. This way you know what changes need to be addressed and you can have the confidence to stay consistent with them for the long haul- so you can actually see your hard work pay off!