Have Long Days Made Your Nights Depressingly Short? Ten Tips To Help Get Your Family Back On Track.

As we round the curve into the longest days of the year, those long balmy days can lead to some frighteningly short nights. Humans naturally tend to sleep more in winter and less in summer. Also, we tend to want to pack more into our days when it’s nice out – it’s so tempting to go for a walk after dinner! And kids will whine, “but it’s STILL LIGHT OUT” if you try to coax them to bed at their normal hour.

But kids don’t seem to sleep any later as a result. If anything, they are likely to wake up even earlier.

Ideally, your child should wake up between 6-7 am. That may still be earlier than you prefer, but it’s considered biologically normal. If your child is waking up earlier than that, especially if it’s earlier than 5:30 am, your child is having early morning wakings that are most likely not serving their biological need for rest. 

What’s a tired family to do?

Here’s a few tips:

1. If you don’t have blackout shades already, install them. Here are some cheap portable ones that don’t require installation and that can be brought with you when you travel.
   
   
2. Even if you already have blackout shades, consider layering blackout curtains on top of them. These will block out the light that seeps in along the sides and top. These can be very inexpensive and surprisingly effective.
   
   Especially in the morning, even a small amount of light can lead to early morning wakings.
   
   
3. Bring your child to a darker part of the house a full hour before bedtime. Turn off screens. Lower artificial lighting. It doesn’t need to be pitch black for the bedtime routine but darkness signals the body to release natural melatonin, which will lead to sleepiness.
   
   
4. Keep bedtime the same time almost all the time. Your child’s need for sleep doesn’t change nearly as much as the length of the day. Remember the pain you feel when you get woken up at 5 am and be realistic about how often you are willing to endure it. No one will be in a good mood at 5 am.
   
   
5. Acknowledge to your older child that, yes, the neighborhood kids are all still out playing and no, that doesn’t mean he gets to stay out playing too. Different families, different rules. It doesn’t have to be fair. Just acknowledge the difference and your child’s disappointment and continue with bedtime as scheduled.
   
   
6. Do not acknowledge early morning wakings with attention. Set your Hatch Rest or OK to Wake Clock (for children ages 2 and up) for 6 am and do not respond to your child before the light turns green at 6. This may mean confining your child to their room with a barrier if they won’t voluntarily stay in their room. 
   
   
7. Do not offer screen time before 6 am to buy yourself more time to sleep. Your desire to sleep longer is totally understandable but unfortunately, screen time in the early morning will only reinforce the early morning wakings. I suggest no screen time until after breakfast and on school days, not until the child is dressed and ready to leave (to avoid power struggles over getting dressed).
   
   
8. On nights when you do make an exception -- and it's fine to do so occasionally -- make a mental note to yourself that you will likely start the next day early. Put yourself to bed on time and get up early with your kiddo (though not before 6).
   
   
9. Get everyone outside in the early morning (after 6 am), ideally for some exercise, and plan to be home before noon for everyone to get some rest. Parents, that’s your opportunity to nap too. End the nap by 2-3 pm, depending on the age of your child. Do not let a toddler or older child nap past 3 pm.
   
   
10. Compensate for early morning wakings with an early bedtime, as counterintuitive as it sounds. Most early morning wakings are caused by overtiredness. Keeping your child up even later to help them sleep late will most likely backfire.

If you’d tried these tips and you still have miserably early mornings, schedule a free consult and find out how we can get your family back on track. Remember, for those of you who just need a bit of customized advice and not a full coaching package, I offer a 30-minute Ask Me Anything call. This is a great option for returning clients and for those who already have great sleep habits in place but need to make some changes in things like morning wake time.