As I mentioned before, natural light during the day is the big cheerleader for melatonin production at night. While there’s no quick fix for adjusting baby’s hormone production schedule, you can definitely help her out by getting her outdoors during the day as much as possible. So now for the big question you’ve probably been hoping I might have an answer for. This, combined with a lack of independent sleep skills, means that baby’s probably going to wake up fully, and have a really hard time gettting back to sleep. She gets to that “slightly awake” state, and now there’s a little bit of stimulant and no natural sedative.
So baby hits the end of a sleep cycle around 3:00. and at this point, the melatonin production has ceased for the night. wake up, then her body starts to secrete cortisol three hours prior to that. Here’s what happens… Assuming your baby’s circadian rhythm is scheduling a 6 A.M. So what does all of this have to do with the dreaded 3 A.M. In short, baby missed the window and now she’s going to have a hard time getting to sleep, but her behavior indicates anything but sleepiness.
This often shows up in the form of playfulness and an abundance of energy. Whatever reason, baby can’t sleep, (probably because, y’know, bears.) And if baby’s got a bear to run from, adding a shot of cortisol should help increase her chances for survival.īaby’s system starts secreting cortisol and, before you know it, she’s a little bit cranked. The brain instinctively decides that something isn’t right that for What’s she got to stay awake for? She doesn’t watch The Bachelor and she hasn’t discovered the Internet yet. So when baby’s body has begun producing melatonin, there’s a narrow window of time when the body expects baby to be going to sleep. So what’s with that burst of energy right before bedtime? So in the situation we examined above, here’s what’s happening…īaby’s taking great naps during the day, which is obviously wonderful, and she’s getting lots of time outdoors, so her body’s ready to crank out some melatonin when nighttime rolls around. Melatonin production is increased and starts earlier in the evening when we awaken to some nice, bright sunlight.īut as beautifully crafted as this system is, it’s not perfect and it’s easily confused. Once the sun starts to go down, our bodies recognize the onset of night and begin to produce this lovely sleep- inducing hormone, which helps us get to sleep and stay asleep until morning, when the whole process starts over again. Think of it as mother nature’s caffeine.Īnd if cortisol is our morning cup of coffee, melatonin is our evening glass of wine. In order to understand this counterintuitive reasoning, first a little background on how this whole system of sleep works.Ībout three hours prior to when we’re naturally prone to waking up, our bodies start secreting a hormone called cortisol, and if you’ve done some reading on your baby’s sleep prior to this, the sight of that word probably causes you to flinch a little.Ĭortisol is a stimulating hormone, and is also produced in times of stress in order to elevate the heart rate and stimulate the nervous system (incase, y’know, bears) but in the morning, it’s just trying to get us started. What baby’s demonstrating in this scenario is actually a need for more sleep, not less. After all, if us grown-ups were to take a 3 hour nap in the afternoon, there’s a good chance we’d have a hard time falling and staying asleep that night.īut the opposite is almost always the case. That would be the reasonable assumption, for sure. So what’s going on? Is baby getting too much sleep during the day? Once they do finally get to sleep, they wake up several times at night and never sleep past 5:30 in the morning. When they’re told it’s time for bed, they get upset and bedtime becomes a battle.
#Toddler wake up time clock full#
Imagine this scenario: An 18 month old child gets plenty of fresh air and sunlight during the day, goes down easily for long, restful naps, but when bedtime rolls around, suddenly they’re full of energy and want to play. The reason most people have such a challenging time with their babies’ sleep is because of problems that aren’t so simple, and don’t have obvious solutions. If they’re teething, a little Children’s Tylenol can often solve the problem, at least temporarily.īut those are the simple fixes. If baby’s too hot, you can turn up the AC or put a fan in the room. There are factors you can control, obviously. Their bodies and brains are rapidly going through significant changes, and by the time they’ve got one issue under control, a new one pops up to take its place.
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