Setting up your child with solid sleep foundations

Sleep isn’t just about the time your child is asleep! The rest of their 24-hour period has an impact on the way they will sleep during both the day and night.

From infancy through to childhood sleep needs change drastically starting with mostly sleep and little time awake during the day and night to consolidated night sleep with less day sleep and longer periods of being awake.

Setting up good foundations for your child’s sleep can be implemented from the first few months of their life but as their needs change and they develop it is natural to run into speed bumps or run off the road entirely and need to implement or reset one or more of your foundations to improve the way your child is sleeping.

The first step on getting back on track is identifying what is causing the sleep issue and which foundational block you need to realign.

The four key sleep foundations are:

• Sleep Environment – creating an environment that is conducive to sleep is one of the first and easiest steps in setting your child up for sleep.

  • A dark sleep space helps promotes the production of melatonin and reduces distraction from light and sound.

  • White noise – particularly for babies but also toddlers and older children can reap the benefits as it can create a positive sleep association and a buffer sound to external noises.

  • Average temperature – too high or too low can be disruptive to sleep. Usually between 18-21 (degrees Celsius) but this can vary by child. Adding layers, increased sleeping bag TOG rating, heating, or cooling can assist.

  • A nice environment that they like to be – going to bed for the night is the longest period that your child is separated from you, their bedroom shouldn’t be over stimulating but also doesn’t need to be stark and bare. Just a nice balance to create an environment they enjoy being in.

• Awake Times & Routine – during awake periods your child builds sleep pressure which allows them to fall asleep when it comes to nap or bedtime. Too little sleep pressure and your child may not find it easy to fall asleep or only take a short nap and too long your child can become overtired which creates higher cortisol levels, acting like adrenaline in your child’s body making it more difficult to settle, causing restless sleep or being more wakeful. Throughout the day following your child’s age appropriate awake windows and balancing with feeding can help regulate your child’s body to promote sleep.
  Creating a relaxing and predictable bedtime routine for both naps and bedtime can then help signal to your child that sleep is coming and provides time for their transition from awake and playing to their sleep space so it doesn’t surprise them and delay settling (or cause tears). A short pre nap routine of 5-10 minutes and then a longer bedtime routine including bath and feed are ideal.

• Feeding and nutrition – It goes without saying that children need good nutrition to grow and thrive overall, but it also promotes sleep. Having some consistency to the times when they eat, and drink can help regulate their internal clocks and allow them to have a full tummy while asleep and not waking from being hungry. Helping your baby to increase their daytime intake of calories can also reduce their need to consume overnight and start to extend time between night feeds.

• Settling to sleep – sleep associations are always a big topic of conversation in the sleep world. Some external sleep associations (such as feeding or rocking) can start to interfere with your child’s sleep e.g. if your child falls asleep being fed then wakes after a sleep cycle they may look for you to come back to restart feeding to put them back to sleep. In the same way that if you woke up in the night with your pillow on the floor you would pick it up.
  Sleep associations only become a problem if they are a problem for you or impacting your child’s sleep. You can help your child through making changes in a very supportive way and this will vary depending on your starting point. The benefit to helping your child sleep independently is they will relax into their sleep through the beginning of the sleep cycle and then can become more confident able to link through sleep cycle transitions and extend the length of time they are asleep for.

Your child’s sleep is not going to be linear and there are huge changes that occur in the first 2 years of life particularly where sleep is disrupted. From physical and mental developments, teething, regressions, illness, nap transitions, childcare and so much more.

If you need personalised support to help you and your family on the road to good sleep, I provide a range of one on one support options, to find out more head to www.littlebosleep.com.au

Lauren Beeten
Baby & Toddler Sleep Consultant, Owner of Little Bo Sleep - Mama Base Illawarra