Your baby waking up excessively early while you yearn for a bit more sleep? Completely understandable. What many mothers fear might just be happening to you: the sun hasn't quite risen yet, but your baby has decided to embrace the new day full of energy.
We recommend trying a few steps before giving up altogether and starting your morning alongside the chirping birds:
Pay attention to bedtime
A baby waking up too early might be hinting that you put them to bed too late when they were excessively tired. Therefore, don't prolong bedtime even if they seem to be enjoying and playing. Stick to a reasonable bedtime to prevent excessively early wake-ups the next morning.
Try to avoid early morning attractions
If you're concerned about putting them to bed on time and yet your baby wakes up at 5:00, try to keep them away from interesting attractions like bottles, breastfeeding, water, screens, or moving them to your bed for the first half-hour of the morning (or even quarter-hour if your baby is nearing one year old). Although these may likely put the baby back to sleep and give you more time to snooze, they might become enticing attractions for waking up early. Surprisingly, this might help, and the baby might understand that it's not worthwhile to wake up early.
Ensure absolute darkness in the room
Since around 5:00, melatonin in the body spikes, aiding babies to wake up. Make sure the baby's room is dark, with blinds drawn, and no light creeping in to encourage early rising.
Have you tried everything and the wake-ups are still too early?
If all else fails, you may have to accept the fact that your baby simply loves to wake up early. If it's any consolation, remember you're not alone, and everything can still change and improve as they grow older.
The Jama app was created to provide mothers of newborns up to three years old with support, content, activities, expert tips, and videos to guide them through this challenging period. All the content in the app grows with the baby and is precisely tailored to their developmental stages, so mothers receive only what's relevant and engaging to them at any given moment.
The Jama app is where Israeli mothers meet and connect with other mothers around them, creating new and exciting friendships on this fascinating journey.
Find us on Google: https://app.jama.co.il/
Daniel Saransky, in collaboration with JAMA