Tag Archives: melatonin

Baby Sleep, Child Sleep, Toddler Sleep

How to Avoid Summer Sleep Trouble

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Summer used to be my favourite time of year. Late nights, barbecues with friends, lazy mornings. Since becoming a mother, my ideal summer has changed somewhat. Now I have the challenge of a child struggling with sleep. Here are my best 3 tips to help you survive the summer months and promote the best opportunity for sleep for your entire family.

Sleeping in the summer months can be tricky for everyone.

1. Darkness

Our bodies need darkness to produce melatonin. Melatonin is what makes us sleepy. During the summer months, it can still be light outside making it more difficult for your child to fall asleep. Try your best to use thick, block-out or blackout curtains in your child’s bedroom. This is also really important in the morning when the level of melatonin in our bodies is at it’s lowest. The smallest amount of sunlight can wake your child ready to start the day!

2. Temperature

If our bodies are too hot, we find it difficult to sleep. If your child has been running around, offer a lukewarm bath or shower to help drop their body temperature a little. Provide quiet, calm activities before bed.

If you live in a hot house like me, dress your little one in very light layers when they first go to bed. Later in the evening, you may want to add another layer over the top, because as the temperature drops in the early hours, you do not want your child to wake feeling cold. It can be really tricky getting the right balance so sometimes it is a bit of trial and error. For safe wrapping, visit here.

3. Avoid Over-Scheduling

This is a busy time for many families. With so many social events filling up our diaries, it can be hard to say ‘no’. I say everything needs to be in balance. If your child has had a late night or a day of missed naps, then the next day, try to stay closer to home and offer the best opportunity to catch up on lost sleep.

Our children’s bodies do need a certain amount of sleep each day. If that is reduced, then they carry a “sleep debt”. If that sleep debt if not addressed quickly, it will impact on your child’s sleep permanently. A child not sleeping is one tired and cranky household!!

The overall message here is be consistent with bedtime as much as possible. If there has been any missed sleep, make sure your child has a chance to catch up. Make sure your child’s environment is perfect to promote the best quality sleep possible.

Book in a time to chat with me here.

 

Sleep well!

Janelle Jeffery Child Sleep Consultant for Sleepytime
Janelle Jeffery
Child Sleep Consultant for Sleepytime

 

Baby Sleep, Child Sleep, Sleep Training Methods, Toddler Sleep

Do you want nap time success?

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Mastering naps can be tricky.
Mastering naps can be tricky.

Almost all parents at some stage of their child’s life find naptime difficult. Some naptime issues include:

  • Your child needs your help to nap;
  • Your child finds it difficult to fall asleep at all; or
  • Your child only catnaps.

There are many more nap problems that I haven’t included here but these are definitely the most common. If you are experiencing difficult naps, here are my tips for better nap time success:

1. Sleeping independently

This is a big one. What I find is if you are helping your child to fall asleep (rocking, patting, feeding, dummy, bouncing etc) to sleep, often these sleep associations have an expiry date of usefulness. With a newborn the rules are different. Feeding to sleep was fine, but eventually that will stop working for you, so you move on to say, rocking to sleep. Now your child is too heavy so you change to patting. Suddenly you realise that your ‘bag of tricks’ is empty and your child still isn’t sleeping on their own. Now it is time to place your child into the cot completely awake without your help so they can begin to establish their own tools to fall asleep. Easier said than done right? If you need some help, contact me here.

2. Provide a ‘sleepy’ environment

Again, newborns can usually sleep anywhere. Once your baby passes this newborn phase, it is important that the majority of the time they are sleeping where it is dark and fairly quiet. If you have a noisy house during they day, white noise can help. Try to make the room as dark as you can. Why? Darkness helps the body to produce melatonin that makes us sleepy. The temperature of the room needs to be on the cooler side (not cold). If you cannot change the temperature, dress your child in lightweight clothing. If your child is too hot, it is harder to sleep.

3. Send the message it is “sleepytime”

Most parents have the bedtime routine down pat, but forget to send the same message at nap time. Your child needs the cue that it is “sleepytime”. It may seem obvious to us the cot is there, so it must be “sleepytime”, BUT babies need time to unwind and understand what is happening at that moment.

Here is an example of a nap routine:

  • Go into the bedroom
  • Change nappy
  • Sit and read a quick story
  • Kisses and cuddles
  • Say “it’s sleepytime”
  • Into the cot awake

4. Allow time to resettle

Some children’s cries will go from nothing to hysterical in less than a minute. When your child wakes up after the first sleep cycle (30-45mins), he will cry out and you will run in immediately. This is part of being a responsive parent right? Yes totally but the problem with rescuing your child so quickly is that they are still tired and not finished napping. This is the reason they are so upset. Your child really wants to sleep more but they are not sure how too. If your child isn’t falling asleep independently at the beginning of the nap, then clocking on to the next sleep cycle without your help is difficult. Don’t be afraid to wait a little to allow them the chance to fall back to sleep. Always listen to the cries and if there are breaks, then just wait a little. If you are needed, try for 10-20mins to extend the nap by offering some gentle touch. This won’t be easy at first, but the more you do it, the better the chance you will be successful.

Combating naptime struggles are often frustrating and exhausting for not only you, but also for your child. Naps do take a lot of time to perfect, and just when you think you have it all sorted, it is time for your baby to drop a nap. If you wonder if your child is ready to drop a nap, download the “Sleepytime Guide to Mastering Nap Transitions” here.

Sleep well,

Child Sleep Consultant for Sleepytime
Child Sleep Consultant for Sleepytime
Baby Sleep, Child Sleep, Sleep Products, Toddler Sleep

5 Hot Tips to Summer Sleep Success

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Summer is fast approaching so before we know it we will have our aircons on full blast and sweat dripping down our faces, legs other??? Ewww. Summer also means a very full social calendar and longer days filled with endless daylight. Have you already noticed a change in your child’s sleep? I sure have!

So this got my brain ticking and my fingers typing. Here are my 5 hot tips for summer sleep success.

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#1 Consistent and Predictable Routines and Schedules

It is so important that you approach bedtime they same as you would any other time of year. If bedtime is 700pm, stick to that time. (Note – if you have daylight savings, then move to the new time as quickly as you can then stick with that schedule.) With social events filling the diary, it can be tempting to stretch out bedtime or forgo daytime naps. Once and a while this is okay, but the less sleep your child has, the more difficult sleep will become overtime.

 

#2 Dark, dark, dark

Whether you have daylight savings or not, at the end of the day we are all trying to get our children to sleep when there is daylight. Make sure your child’s room is super dark. Darkness helps to trigger the pineal gland to release melatonin into the body. Melatonin makes us sleepy. If you do not already have block-out curtains, purchase a blackout blind like the “Gro Anywhere Blind”. These are removable and can be taken with you wherever you go.

 

#3 Drink lots of water

When our bodies are dehydrated, it can interfere with sleep. If you are flying, drinking lots of water reduces the effects of jet-lag. Adults should reduce alcohol consumption and children should avoid sugary drinks.

 

#4 Keep an eye on the temperature

Before bed, make sure your child is engaged in quiet activities. If your child is running around, their temperature will increase making it harder to fall asleep. It is just like exercising before bed.

As the temperature during the night dips, if you run a fan or air-conditioner in your child’s room, they may wake from feeling cold. Set a timer if you can and stop it before midnight.

 

#5 Do not engage in the battle of the wills

Older children will question “Why do I have to go to bed, the sun is still up?” Yep it sure is. Sticking to your guns and not engaging in an argument is important. Referring back to Tip #1 and Tip#2, if you are 100% consistent with your routines and schedules, and you darken the room as much as possible, this will help your child to fall asleep.

School age children may go to bed a little later over the summer holidays but 2 weeks before school returns, begin to transition them back to their usual bedtime.

 

So enjoy these summer months. I love this time of year as it is all about spending time with love ones, being outdoors and BBQs!! Yummy!! How about you?

 

Sleep well,

Janelle Jeffery

Child Sleep Consultant for Sleepytime