5 Great reasons why you should wake up before your children

Look, I already know you’re rolling your eyes at the title. I know that sleep can be hard to come by especially when you have an infant or toddler. But I gotta tell you that implementing waking up before my baby has changed the game for me. I will say that since I learned this one secret to all my days have never been better.

I remember feeling like I couldn’t get anything done during the day. My daughter’s sleep schedule was beginning to regulate however the length of her naps during the day still varied quite a bit. In the beginning, I’d put her down to sleep and hope and pray that she would stay sleep for at least an hour so that I could get as much as possible done around the house. My husband has been working from home but I wanted him to be able to focus on work and not have to worry about juggling our daughter and his work duties. So, her nap times were the only time I really had to do other things without her wanting to be held.

One day in particular, I had just put her down for a nap. Literally the entire time I was holding her, I was counting down to when I would be able to knock out the million things I needed to do. I needed her to sleep at LEAST an hour.

I put her down and jumped in the shower and tried to finish as quickly as I could. But man, that water felt good. Yall know I love being in water (see my self-care post) and I found myself just standing there with a sigh of relief. Finally, a minute to breathe.

Just as I was grabbing the soap, I heard the notification for the baby’s camera. I stopped in mid track. She had woken back up. It sounds dramatic, but I almost wanted to cry.

I grudgingly washed all the soap off and ran to the baby.  Dripping wet.

So much for getting things done. This was the day that I realized that something had to change.

I started scrolling on Youtube and typed in “mom routines” and that’s when I found my answer. A lightbulb went off. What if I started waking up a little earlier in the morning before the baby woke up?

So, I decided to give it a try.

The next morning at 5 am (yes, that early), I woke up. It was hard at first, but since then my days have never been the same. Thanks to this one tip, I have had the time to pursue the things I really want to do, like starting this blog 🙂

Why you Should wake up before your children

1. Put yourself first as a form of Self-care

We as moms have a tendency to put everyone else first before ourselves. That’s apart of that nurturing quality that the Creator gave us. However, we can’t neglect ourselves completely( I blogged about some ways you can self-care). Use this Self-Care Checklist that helped me when I first became a mom!

2. Get some alone time

It can be so hard to find any time to just be alone without children crying for you throughout the day. When you wake up earlier, this gives you a chance to really set your intentions for the day.

For a little more introverted like myself, having to be around people (even your own children) can sometimes feel draining. Please don’t feel guilty. You need alone time to recharge and waking up earlier is the perfect chance to do so.

3. Become more productive

It can be hard to find the extra time to take care of things around the house when your children need supervision throughout the day. Having some time before everyone else wakes up gives you a chance to tackle some of the tasks that may get neglected during the day.

Also, waking up early also gives you the chance to work on other goals you may have. I mainly write these blog posts in the early mornings because I find that I think the best without a lot of distractions.

4. Get more control of your day

I don’t know about you but I hate feeling like my day is happening to me. It can often feel like that especially when you have children, and children can be very unpredictable.

You may be banking on having some free time during the day during your baby’s nap but what if they decide they’re only going to sleep for 15 minutes (this has definitely happened hence the story above :).

It feels so great to have some say so in how your day goes even if its only for the first hour.

5. Less stress

When I feel rushed to get things done, it puts me in a very anxiety driven state of mind and that equals nothing but stress.

Having time to actually take your time causes much less stress and less stress makes for a happier woman.

So how can you start waking up earlier?

Don’t snooze your alarm

I know waking up early can be hard to do and let me just tell you in the beginning you WILL want to just sleep in. It’s so much easier to just snooze the alarm and go back to sleep but it does a get a little easier with time.

There’s a trick I learned where you count down from 10 and then you must do whatever it is you don’t want to do.

Allow yourself a couple of seconds, but then, just get up out of the bed.

It doesn’t have to be a whole 3 hours before your children. It can be as little as 30 minutes just so that you can take a longer shower.

The main point is to get as much time as you need for yourself before anyone else gets a chance to interrupt. I think this practice also emphasizes putting yourself first before you’re able to really give of yourself to everyone else and we stan a #selfcareQueen

Hopefully after implementing this tip, you feel refreshed and that you’re able to give more to your family throughout the day.

So, I’m challenging all my mamas out there to give this a shot. Trying it out for a couple of days won’t hurt. You may find that you love it as much as I do.

Tell me if you prefer waking up early and getting things done, or doing everything at night in the comments below.

Much Love,

Anita B.