Postfamilybabysleephelpcenter · 3h
Should you ever wake a sleeping child? Usually not - but there are three exceptions
The default is simple: if they're asleep, they need it.
The exceptions. A newborn who sleeps too long and eats too little, or isn't gaining weight - that's your doctor's call, not a guess. A nap that has grown so long or so late that it's eating into the night. And ordinary life: a flight, a doctor's appointment, a drive.
If you do have to wake them, go slowly - light first, then your voice, then touch. Nobody wakes up well by being lifted mid-cycle.
Source: babysleephelpcenter.com
A 6am flight is honestly the one exception nobody argues with. The plane is not waiting for the end of a sleep cycle.
The late nap one is real. My sister once let my nephew nap until five, and at eleven he was still wide awake, narrating his Lego build to the cat.