𝗜𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝘂𝗽 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗻 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲𝘀? 𝗜’𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸!
Causes of early rising in toddlers:
𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀: Learning to walk/run/climb and new language acquisition are notorious interrupters of sleep
𝗡𝗮𝗽 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: If your toddler is ready for less daytime sleep, sometimes this will present with early risings.
𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: A child may be more likely to have a need for connection in order to get back to sleep after having been separated from the primary caregiver for the majority of the night. Couple this with the fact that sleep drive wears down, and you may have an early riser on your hands.
𝗦𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗡𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀: As kids get older, their need for sleep reduces. There are only so many hours any one person can sleep, and your child may be maxing out earlier than you’d like!
👉🏼👉🏼 What can you do?
✨ Adjust the schedule – this may mean dropping or capping a nap, or adjusting the timing of bedtime to shift your toddler’s sleep to a time that works better for your family
✨ Give your child lots of opportunity for connection before bed. You can even designate specific connection-based activities to be part of the post workday or bedtime routine
✨ Make sure that when your toddler wakes, there isn’t an incentive to continue to wake at that time. Keep things as nighttime-like and boring as possible, with lights off or simmer until your desired wake time
✨ Embrace it! Early rises are super annoying, but you’d be surprised how much you can get done in those early morning hours. Plus, in most cases, and early rise likely means bedtime will be early enough to allow you to have a few hours to yourself before going to bed