Early Morning Wakings
Understand why your baby wakes before 6am and what you can do about it.
Early morning wakings are one of the most exhausting sleep problems — not because they happen in the middle of the night, but because they sit in that frustrating grey zone where it feels too early to start the day and too late to call it a night waking.
Common causes of early waking:
- Overtiredness at bedtime
- Too much or too little daytime sleep
- A reinforced wake habit from responding too early
- Light creeping into the room at dawn
Most parents assume the fix is simple: push bedtime later, or just wait it out. But early rising is rarely that straightforward. By 5am, your baby has already completed most of their overnight sleep. Sleep pressure is low, sleep is lighter, and small issues in the daily schedule that had no effect at midnight start showing up here. That is what makes early wakings so persistent — and why generic advice so often fails.
The good news is that early morning wakings are almost always fixable once you understand what is actually driving them for your baby.
Angelica Videla is a certified baby and toddler sleep consultant based in London, supporting families across the UK, Europe, US, and Australia. The articles below cover the most common causes and what actually works — based on gentle, evidence-based approaches that do not involve leaving your baby to cry.
Baby Waking at 5am — Why It Happens & How to Fix It
Why your baby wakes at 5am every morning and gentle, evidence-based strategies to help them sleep until a more reasonable hour.
Read article →Why Is My Baby Waking at 5am? Causes and Solutions
A 5am wake is one of the most stubborn sleep problems. Here is why it happens and how to shift it without making things worse.
Read article →Early Morning Wakings and the First Nap Trap
The first nap can accidentally lock in early morning waking. Here is what the first nap trap is and how to break the cycle.
Read article →How to Respond to Early Morning Wakings
How you respond to early waking matters as much as your schedule. Here is what to do and what to avoid.
Read article →If early mornings (or any other sleep issue) have been going on for a while, find out whether sleep consulting is worth it.
Early mornings still a problem?
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