If you’re a parent, remember: routine and consistency are your best friends!
One of the most common problems that parents to young kids encounter is undoubtedly early waking. But before you resign to the fate that you have an early riser and are therefore in for years of 4 AM wake-up calls, we have a few tips that can help. And like all habits, the sooner you start to deal with them, the better!
Beddy Tip # 1:
Expectations are natural. Keeping your expectations real, is important.
First set a realistic expectation of how many hours of sleep you’d like your child to clock in. Twelve hours is ideal – and so if you want your child to sleep peacefully till say 7 AM, do not put your child to bed before 7 PM.
Beddy Tip # 2:
Repeat after us. Routine. Routine. Routine. Stick to the same bedtime, and same wake-up time every day. On weekdays and weekends. The end goal here is to set your child’s baby clock to sleep in longer.
Beddy Tip # 3:
Be clear about what Morning Time is. So if your child wakes up at 5 AM and wakes you up – and this is not a reasonable time for you to wake up, reinforce this with your words and actions. So essentially, you have to treat early waking the same way as you would treat night waking. Basically, put your child back to bed and make it clear to your child that it’s still night-time.
Beddy Tip # 4:
Cut out unnecessary noise and light. Several times, sounds from the neighbourhood or simply the light from the sun entering the child’s room could wake them up. Make sure you have curtains that can cut out the light, and utilise available devices that play white noise or sleep music on loop in the child’s sleeping room to block out other sounds.
Beddy Tip # 5:
Limit Daytime Naps. If you find that your child isn’t sleeping in time at night, reduce nap time in the day by about 15 minutes at a time to adjust to the night-time sleeping schedule that you desire.
Beddy Tip # 6:
Don’t wait for your child to be overtired before you put them to bed. Consistency is your only ally. It would be best if you put your child to bed, at the same time, every night so they’re sleeping the appropriate amount of time and their wake-up time is manageable for both of you.
Beddy Tip # 7:
Don’t worry too much! Early rising is a phase they will grow out of. All kids do!
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