A secret you didn’t know about early morning wakings
I have a secret to share with you. It’s a secret all about early morning wakings.
I’m sure you’ve heard lots about early wakings before and it might feel like you’ve tried everything. But did you know that that early morning cuddle session in your bed, you know, the one with your baby all attached to you and lovey and cute, is actually encouraging them to wake up earlier?
Once your baby is sleeping in their own room (or even their own sleep space), it’s super confusing to them to wake up in the morning and immediately get brought into mom and dad’s bed for their first feeding, or to get some screen-time in your bed while you soak in a few extra minutes of shut-eye.
What this morning ritual is doing, is encouraging your child to wake up earlier and earlier. Once your child is eating solids regularly, I highly encourage you to feed them breakfast as the first step in your morning routine, followed by milk (formula, breast, cow, etc.).
Having a bottle of milk, or a nursing session is really really cozy. So cozy in fact, that your child is SO excited for it. So if they are waking up at 5am and they seem awake for the day, and you respond with their favourite thing ever (milk!), then they are going to continue waking up earlier and earlier for it.
So how do you battle this?
You make a change.
If you are struggling with early morning wakings with your child and they are getting milk or a cuddle session in your bed every morning, then I want to highly encourage you to change that. Of course, you can still nurse or offer a bottle in the morning, but do something else in between waking up and feeding. Whether it’s changing their outfit and diaper, having 10-15 minutes of playtime with toys, or going around and saying “hi” to everyone in the house.
Making this small (but important!) change will benefit you SO much.
Let me know how it goes!
Bailey
ps. If you feel like you’ve tried EVERYTHING and you’re still struggling with early morning wakings, it’s worth taking a look at my sleep packages to see if we’d be a good fit for each other. I help problem-solve any child sleep issue to ensure everyone is getting the rest they need!
