Save your sanity this summer with these Sleep Tips
Is summer throwing your routine out of the window? Finding bedtime a battle? Super early mornings, becoming too much? Meet Sarah, founder of Teach To Sleep; she may just save your sanity when it comes to sleep!
Sarah is mum to two little ones (18 months apart) and a certified baby and toddler sleep consultant. She has over 15 years’ experience as a primary school teacher and a senior lecturer in Education. Sarah takes a holistic approach which aims to support families to make choices which fit with their individual needs and their family’s routines. She doesn’t class herself as a sleep trainer but rather a sleep teacher.
Over to Sarah…
Teach To Sleep’s Philosophy
I am not a fan of the term ‘sleep training’; to me it conjures up images of training dogs. So, I don’t train little ones how to sleep, rather I use my longstanding experience in education to empower parents to help their little ones to develop healthy sleep habits. This means that I don’t use cry it out or any other methods which involve being non-responsive to your little one’s needs.
My sleep teaching philosophy is to fit my advice to each family I talk to, not the other way around. Every baby is different, each will have their own particular personality, temperament, and sleep needs. Most babies need lots of support when it comes to sleep, it is important to recognise this and know that if your baby struggles with sleep, this is very normal and you are not doing anything wrong.
Many parents find that the summer can really help with reducing the effects of sleep deprivation (somehow the exhaustion of being a parent who is getting up multiple times in the night doesn’t feel so hard in the sun) but that the summer can throw some new sleep challenges into the mix such as early risings and struggles to settle in the heat.
So, how can you help your baby sleep during the summer?
Keeping Sleep Environments Cool
A poll by the National Sleep Foundation found that cool room temperature was one of the most important factors in getting a good night’s sleep. So here are some tips for keeping your little ones cool during the hot nights:
During the day, close windows and blinds on the sunny side of your home and keep all the windows open to try and get some air flowing through.
You may want to use a fan, if nothing else, its noise may help to soothe your baby to sleep and drown out any background noise. If you do use a fan make sure that you direct it away from your baby because babies are not able to regulate their body temperature as well as adults so they can get too cold and struggle to warm up their bodies. Also, make sure that the fan is far enough away so that they can’t reach it.
A cool bath, shower or wipe down with a cold flannel before bed can help to drop your baby’s core body temperature by a degree or two which will help them to fall asleep.
Use a lightweight blanket or sleeping bag. Sleeping bags are great because as the temperature drops in the night you know that your baby will still be tucked in rather than kicking off their blanket and waking up cold.
If it is super-hot, dress them in light pyjamas or a nappy/diaper only.
Early Risings
Summer can often bring about unwelcome early risings! Most people consider this to be anything before 6am, I know this can still seem very early for some, especially if you are up several times in the night or you are a night owl. Here are some possible reasons as to why your little one may be waking early and some possible solutions to try.
Check:
If they are hungry or in need of comfort. During the early hours of the morning, it is much harder for your baby to get themselves back to sleep because the melatonin (sleep hormone) is depleting and the wake up hormone (cortisol) is starting to be produced, so they may well need more comfort than they usually do at this time.
That your little one’s sleep space is DARK, ideally pitch black. Investing in blackout blinds or lining their curtains with blackout lining is really worth it because any light seeping through can cause early wake ups and a dark sleep environment supports sleep for all ages, including adults.
Whether they are being woken by a noise (someone going to the toilet, someone going to work, dust bin lorries, car doors shutting etc.). If this is the case, try playing white noise throughout the night in order to block out these noises. And if someone in the home gets up early, see if they can settle baby back to sleep by going straight to them as soon as they hear them stirring and seeing if they can soothe them before they wake up fully.
Your baby’s nappy/diaper when they wake up, if it is very full, consider a tactical nappy change before you go to bed.
How they seem when they wake up, if they are desperately trying to get back to sleep, do whatever gets them back to sleep the quickest, easiest and most reliably and try a slightly earlier bedtime. If they are wide awake, they have probably had all the sleep that they need, in which case try a later bedtime (you may also want to shifts nap/s later) .
Hopefully, these tips will help your baby to develop solid foundations for sleep but if you are in a sleep rut:
I really do feel for you, I have been there and it is TOUGH but it will get better!
I offer lots of free advice through my Instagram account @teachtosleep and my Teach To Sleep Facebook Community group where I provide free sleep talks.
Sometimes it is just a short phase and it will right itself in time. If it doesn’t then please do get in touch. I offer a variety of packages for various ages which can be found on my website.
Written by Sarah Patel, Sleep Consultant.
Find out more via www.teachtosleep.co.uk. Private consultations start from £65 and online group workshops from £30pp.