Having a consistent morning wake time (within 30 minutes) is very important when trying to establish a good routine and healthy sleep habits and particularly when you are trying to problem solve with your routine. If your baby wakes up at a different time every morning you are never able to get a consistent daily routine and his body is never able to get accustomed to waking and sleeping at the same time each day. You also end up having to constantly time how long it has been since baby has been awake or asleep instead of simply putting baby down or getting baby up at a certain time. Of course, with young babies you will most likely need to use this method accompanied with sleep cues at first, but over time, baby should start to sleep around the same time each day.
A consistent morning wake time also helps keep night time sleep during the night rather than during the day. If you let baby sleep in until noon each day he may not be tired enough to go to sleep at a reasonable time at night, or he may start to wake up during the middle of the night because he has had too much sleep during the day.
Lastly, if you do not have a consistent wake time there is a possibility your child's routine may drift later and later since our biological time clock lasts a bit longer than 24 hours (see Biological Rhythms and Sleep). Normally this isn't a problem for adults because we have to get up for a variety of reasons (work, kids etc), but if we are free to sleep in late we may end up sleeping later and later each day.
I am wondering if I should wake my 4 month old in the morning, in order to take a consistant morning nap. She sleeps from 7pm-8:30 or 9:30 am (waking twice to eat) so her morning naps aren't happening at a consistant time. Sometimes a later nap (10:45) due to a later wake time gets interrupted because of us having to go get her oldest brother from school. I have a hard time waking babies but will do it if it is necessary. Advice appreciated! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteLaurie,
ReplyDeleteI think it is really important to try to get that morning wake time within around 30 minutes since it helps keep the consistency for the rest of the day. So yes, I would wake her. And you might try putting her to bed a bit earlier to make up for any wake time lost in the morning since she seems to be a child that needs a lot of night sleep. I would make sure the night sleep isn't robbing too much of her nap time. I have no idea if this is an issue but I am just throwing it out there. Maybe she is up at night a fair bit and that is why she is waking so late in the am even with a good 7 pm bedtime.
Rachel
Rachel,
ReplyDeleteI have a 2 month old. We are now elongating her sleep time at night. Most times she goes 5-6 hours from her dream feed. I'm having a hard time deciding what time her morning wake time should be... I'm on maternity leave now so 7am would be ok, but I'm concerned that we'll need to move it earlier when I go back to work and she needs goes to daycare. Do you have any advice?
She typically wakes on her own now between 5:30 and 6:30 depending on when her dream feed is (we're working on finding the sweet spot). I like 6:30am but her daddy would like her to be awake before he leaves for work at 6:30 so he can at least say good morning.
I'm not usually this indecisive but this is kind of a big thing and I could use some advice.
Mama S,
DeleteYou can do it at 7 am now and then slowly move it earlier as you get close to ending your maternity leave. Moving to an earlier morning wake up is a million times easier than moving the other way around. Most kids do pretty well with this. So that would mean you would feed an put her back down if she woke earlier than like 6:30 for now.
If and when you move her earlier, whatever times works for you will probably be fine. Just make sure bedtime is approximately 11-12 hours prior to morning wake up time. She may have a later bedtime right now (compared to morning wake up) but it should be moving earlier relatively soon. If not, issues often pop up.
Rachel
Hi Rachel- Thank you so much for your helpful Blog.
ReplyDeleteMy question is the opposite. My little 6wo guy keeps waking earlier than wanted. I would like to start the day at 6:30 am but he consistently awakens at 6 or 6:15am. SOmetimes as early as 5:45. Seems like a little bit of time difference, but makes big difference later in day. I agree that if he awakens more than one hour prior, I would feed and put back down until 7am and adjust the day, but how can I get him to sleep later? I have since been shush patting him and using the pacifier from 15-30 minutes to get our wake up time the same every day.
If I keep this up and only feed him at 6:30am will he eventually sleep until 6:30am?
His bedtime is 7-7:15pm. In past few days, he is now awakening before his dreamfeed at 10pm (used to dream feed at 10:30pm) and used to wake at 2:45am and now awakens at 2am, but has still slept until 6 or so... Is this a sign that the awakening time will also move earlier?
Thank you again for answering both issues...
Nicole
Nicole and Joe
DeleteIf I keep this up and only feed him at 6:30am will he eventually sleep until 6:30am?
Very likely and it is probably your best bet right now.
Is this a sign that the awakening time will also move earlier?
It may or may not but my guess is that it won't make a difference. If it does, it will hopefully be short lived as he gets bigger and older. Keep in mind that he is pretty young and may end up with some growth spurts increasing feed frequency every now and again. Some kids don't wake up more, others do for a short time.
Rachel