Are early morning wakings getting you... up?

🌅 How to Sleep In: A Guide for Parents 😉

Are early morning wakings getting you... up? 🌞 Trust me, you're not alone. I am getting a lot of calls and emails these days about early morning wakings. I know it is hard, but there's hope to reclaim those precious hours of sleep. 💤

Here's how you can tackle those early starts and enjoy more restful mornings.

Understanding Baby's Sleep Needs

First of all, get a sense of how much sleep your baby needs. After 3 months of age, babies need approximately 10-12 hours of sleep at night. So that means if your baby goes to sleep at 7pm, their wake up call will fall between 5-7am. If they are a 10 hour a night sleeper, they may be bright eyed and bushy tailed at 5am. 

Signs of Sleep Satisfaction

When you enter the morning scene, observe your baby's demeanor. If they're bright-eyed and content, that 10-hour stretch was just right for them. However, if they're showing signs of tiredness—like snuggling or seeming sleepy—it's an indicator they could use more sleep than the current pattern provides. If this is the case here are your options:

Options for a Few More Zzz's

1. Feed and Retreat: Go in and offer a feed and lay baby back in their crib (asleep is fine). That might buy you an extra 30-60 min.

2. Cozy Cuddle Time: Try a side-lying feed or a cuddle in your bed. This way at least you stay horizontal and (relatively) resting. Many babies sleep a little bit more if cuddled up next to a warm body.  If you do this, just be sure that you put a limit on when you pull baby into bed (ie: no earlier than 5am) so that you don't begin to co-sleep earlier and earlier each day.

3. Cry It Out Approach: If your baby is older than 5 months of age and you have used a Cry It Out Method to help them learn to resettle, you can give them up to 30 min of crying to see if they can resettle. It may take 7 days to see if this approach works. If your baby is tired, she/he will resettle and sleep more. If she/he is not tired, then no amount of crying it out will help baby to go back to sleep.

Bedtime for You, Too!

Lastly and importantly... it is essential that you as parents go to bed early as well. 🌙 Make sure you're catching those early Zzz's too. This phase of early nights is temporary but oh-so-important. Show your body some love and get the rest you both deserve.

About the Author

Hi, I’m Sarah. As a mother of two, I quickly learned that sleep is influenced by a variety of factors and there is not one RIGHT way to help baby sleep. Both of my daughters had unique temperaments and struggles, and I was humbled to learn that newborns are complicated and parenting in a world of information overload is stressful.

Now, I partner with parents to create a tailored plan using an evidence-based and multidimensional approach to sleep. I take great care in co-creating a plan that takes into account all of the factors that makes each family unique, including parenting philosophies, infant temperament and readiness, age, weight gain, health and development and much more.

To date, I have helped over 2,000 families. (You can read the wonderful feedback from families on my Yelp profile.)

If you're ready to teach baby to sleep independently and feel like someone’s got your hand through all of this, contact me.  Tell me more about what you’re facing and I can answer your questions about my approach to working with families and offer a personalized plan that gives you the support you and your family deserve. 🫶