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Home › Articles › Parenting Preschoolers › The Early Bird: Waking up Too Early

The Early Bird: Waking up Too Early

An Excerpt From The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers & Preschoolers (McGraw-Hill, 2005)

By Elizabeth Pantley

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"I don't need an alarm clock. Every day my daughter wakes up early – usually before 6. Is there any way to get her to sleep longer, or is she just an early bird?"

It is true that some children seem to be natural early birds, but only about 10 percent to 15 percent actually have a biological tendency to be a complete lark. Another small percentage is somewhat larkish, but most early-rising children are simply waking up early for outside reasons that affect their rising time, and these can be changed.

You may be able to tell if your little one is really a lark is if she:

  • wakes up on her own – cheerful and chatty.
  • is most active and energetic in the late morning to early afternoon.
  • sleeps soundly.
  • gets tired after dinner.
  • goes to bed early and easily.
  • wakes up early no matter what time she goes to bed.

If this describes your child, you may indeed have a little lark on your hands. Even so, you might be able to squeeze a bit more sleep time in the morning if you make some changes in your child's routines by applying the ideas that follow. If your early-riser doesn't fit the previous description it's likely that she's not a natural-born lark and you'll have good luck encouraging a later wake-up time.

First Things First
One of the common reasons for early waking is simply that your child has had enough sleep! Take a good look at the sleep chart and add up your child's night and nap hours of sleep. If your 2-year-old is napping for two hours and then getting an average amount of hours of sleep at nighttime, that would be 11 night sleep hours. If she is going to bed at 7 p.m, guess what? Eleven hours later – it's 6 a.m.! (Remember, too that "early" has a different definition for everyone; many people arise at 5 a.m. or even before that, without considering it too early.)


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