Illness has been circling our household as well as many of my current families so this post is dedicated to illness and sleep! 🤧 Children need sleep to be healthy and happy (so do we). They are at a stage of critical growth (growth hormones are released during deep sleep). They need sleep even more when they are sick because their little bodies are fighting off illness! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ But we all know that sleep is disrupted during illness, mainly because they are congested which makes breathing and sleep more difficult. ⠀ What can you do to ensure your child gets sleep while they are sick?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ❤ Try your best to keep their routines the same- naptime and bedtime routines. But that doesn’t mean you can’t change things up. (Skip bathtime or skip the book)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ❤ Your child may need MORE daytime sleep to catch up and get that deep restorative sleep that will help them fight off this illness. Allow your toddler that may not nap anymore to nap, let your baby take an extra long snooze if they had a rough night. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ❤ If your child isn’t napping great in their crib, one contact nap won’t be the end of the world, it’s important they get the rest that they need. Or if they wake up after 30 minutes it’s okay to extend the nap in your arms. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ❤ If there is crying at bedtime or night wakings respond right away. Always treat their symptoms first and do a pickup if needed. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ❤ Always try to keep your child in their own sleep space. Go to them before bringing them to your room and your bed. Help them back to sleep! Yes, even if they are an independent sleeper. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ❤ You may need to offer extra fluids throughout the night, yes even breastmilk/formula if they aren’t eating well during the day. And even if they weren’t needing a night feeding before.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ❤ If all else fails and you end up really off track and your child was an independent sleeper, reimplement those strategies from before responding and offering comfort as needed. You can always get sleep back on track! Was this post helpful? Like, Comment, Share & Save for when you need these tips! 🤒

STRUGGLING WITH EARLY MORNING WAKINGS? 😫 Did your child start waking earlier after daylight savings time? Push them back to their normal schedule, not offering naps too early and doing early bedtime if needed! ⏰You really don’t want to start your child’s day before 6:00 AM unless you have somewhere to be. Try to keep your baby in their crib until your desired wake up time. 🌒 But what’s causing them to wake up super early? 🧑🏽‍🍼Is your child an independent sleeper? If not, start there. Work on removing anything that’s helping them get to sleep (pacifier, feedings, rocking or patting). Your baby should go down FULLY AWAKE not DROWSY. Even if your child is sleeping all night long, it’s very hard for them to get back to sleep during the early morning hours. 🌜Bedtime Is it too early? Too late? How much awake time? Too much awake time causes overtiredness 👉🏼 early mornings. I prefer early bedtimes but don’t expect your child to sleep more than 12 hours, so don’t put them to bed at 6:30 expecting them to sleep later than that. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 💤Naps Too much daytime sleep or too little daytime sleep can also cause early morning wakings! Either your child won’t have enough sleep pressure to sleep through until morning or will be too overtired 👉🏼 early mornings. If naps are poor you can always bring bedtime earlier. Early morning wakings can also be caused by the TIMING of naps. If the first nap of the day is too early then the early morning cycle will repeat. Try to push the first nap based on your desired wake up time. This can be tough, but try going outside or even giving baby some water time to help keep them awake! 🚗Environment Revisit your child’s sleeping environment. Babies sleep best in a dark, cool room (65°-70° is a good range). I mean pitch black. Is there light coming through the windows in the early morning? It is helpful to have a sound machine to drown out any noises. Garbage trucks, cars driving by, someone in the house getting ready, etc. could all be causing your baby to wake up. Keeping a sleep log can be helpful in pinpointing the root cause. Comment “EARLY MORNINGS” for a link to my early morning wakings guide

📢 Daylight Savings Reminder! We “Fall Back” Sunday, November 3rd Yes, it’s that dreaded time of year where we gain an hour of sleep, but… If you’re a parent, your child most likely won’t sleep that extra hour which can mean an extra early morning 🥱 Stay calm and keep reading! ⏰ No need to start early, just start Sunday morning of DST. Change the clocks once you wake up for the day. My advice is to “split the difference”, adjust by 30 minutes for 3 days and then on day 4 go back to the normal time. In about a week your child will be back on track. Now of course this strategy depends on the age of your child. For younger babies, just keep following awake windows. Still confused about “falling back”? I’ve got you covered! Head to my blog post where I go into more detail about how to make the switch along with sample schedules! 👇🏼 https://www.happilyeveraftersleep.com/daylight-savings-fall-back/ Comment “Fall Back” for a direct link! Make sure to like, save & share this post!

Q&A Monday! 🎃🧛🏽🧟‍♀️ 😴 Bedtime battles? Night wakings? Early morning wakings? Chronic short napper? Struggling with a sleep regression or transition? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Wish you could ask a sleep expert for advice? It’s your lucky day! Ask away! 👇🏻Like this post then head to my stories and enter your question there. Please share some details along with your child’s age. I will tag you in my response. Some questions may need more details or may be too complicated to answer. If you’re looking for more support, book a free sleep solution call with me and we can talk about what’s going on with your child’s sleep and how I can best support you. Comment FREE CALL below and I’ll send you a link!

📢 Daylight Savings Reminder! We “Fall Back” Sunday, November 3rd Yes, it’s that dreaded time of year where we gain an hour of sleep, but… If you’re a parent, your child most likely won’t sleep that extra hour which can mean an extra early morning 🥱 Stay calm and keep reading! ⏰ No need to start early, just start Sunday morning of DST. Change the clocks once you wake up for the day. My advice is to “split the difference”, adjust by 30 minutes for 3 days and then on day 4 go back to the normal time. In about a week your child will be back on track. Now of course this strategy depends on the age of your child. For younger babies, just keep following awake windows. Still confused about “falling back”? I’ve got you covered! I’ll be sharing a blog post with sample schedules as well as on my stories, so be on the lookout for that! Make sure you’re following me @happilyeveraftersleep to get more daylight savings tips!