All too frequently I hear stories or receive emails similar to the one below. Early morning wakers are a hard lot, but they can learn to sleep later if given the right tools.
Help Sleep Doula,My two year old starts his day at 4:30 a.m. No matter what I do, he won't go back to sleep. He still takes two naps - one at 7 a.m. on the way to day care and the other at 1 p.m. By the time he gets home from day care he is miserable and can barely make it to 6 p.m. when it's time for bed. Can you help? ~ Exhausted in Etobicoke Dear Exhausted,It sounds like your child is living in a different time zone; maybe a province or more west of Etobicoke. It's time to encourage him to come back to Ontario time. Here are some of the tools I advise parents to use when dealing with an early riser. My first recommendation is to use a visual tool - like a Gro clock (www.gro.co.uk/Gro-clock.html). These clocks use a visual sign, turning from moon to sun, so children can easily understand when it is time to wake up. It is also important to remember children take their cues from you. So if you are willing to entertain them at 4:30 a.m., then they are willing to be entertained. Treat early mornings the same way you would a 1 a.m. waking - do not engage them. Sometimes by just giving them verbal support, they will go back to bed. It may happen they go back to sleep only to wake 30 minutes later to repeat the same process until your desired wake-up time. But that is a start. If you need to go into his or her room at wake-up time, it is important to show them the visual tool of the sun and that is the reason for your arrival. Also, if you do choose to start your day early, don't feed your child until it is the desired wake up time. This will help them adjust to a new routine. I would also use a similar technique that many use for time changes. Put your child to sleep 15 minutes later each day, for five days, slowly adjusting their sleep patterns to better align with the time zone they live in.Good luck. It may take a little while, but soon you will have your child sleeping until the sun makes it over the horizon.
Tracey Ruiz aka The Sleep Doula, a mother of two, offers sleep solutions for babies, toddlers and children. Working in the trenches with thousands of families over the last nine years, Tracey has seen it all. Through Tracey's extensive experience, she knows there's never a "one size fits all" solution and provides the essential support families need. Visit www.sleepdoula.com for details. People with children's sleep questions can email letters@insidetoronto.com. Put Sleep Doula in the subject line. Emails will be forwarded to Tracey who may answer them in future columns. Tracey's column will appear the first Thursday of every month at insidetoronto.com