Dealing with Sickness & Sleep
As a parent and a sleep consultant, I know that one of the most challenging times for a parent is when their little one is sick. Illness can disrupt sleep, but is also a crucial tool for recovering from sickness. So how do we navigate balancing your child’s need for comfort while maintaining healthy sleep habits?
Helping support your child as they recover is always going to take first priority over sleep “rules”. This is one of the many reasons I don’t recommend starting to sleep train while recovering from sickness. We want our little ones healthy before we introduce a new change of routine to something like their sleep. Prioritizing their comfort will be most important. This may mean offering extra cuddles, contact naps, setting up humidifier in their room or offering them medicine. These small adjustments can make a big impact in their ability to rest.
Sickness can lead to to temporary setbacks in sleep patterns - this is totally normal. It’s important to adjust your expectations around sleep when your child is feeling under the weather. They may require more support to fall asleep, wake more frequently or require shorter wake windows. Trust that these changes are short term, especially if you already have well established habits around sleep and focus on supporting them in their recovery.
While flexibility is key when dealing with illnesses, it’s important to maintain some routine that is familiar to your child. While bedtimes/nap times might need adjusting or the bedtime routine might be shortened when they are sick, I recommend keeping the components of the routine the same, whatever that looks like for you. Our basic bedtime routine consists of bath, story and bed, keeping the familiar routine in place not only will offer your little one some familiarity and reassurance when they aren’t feeling their best, but will also continue to act as familiar cues that time for sleep is approaching. Continuing these routines and holding your familiar boundaries around sleep will also help avoid falling into a new habit of using an unsustainable sleep prop to help them fall asleep.
If you are about to start sleep training or just getting started, I recommend pausing until your little one has recovered before resuming. Sleep training requires a foundation of health and consistency to help develop their independent sleep skills. If you are navigating sleep challenges due to illness and have questions, know you are not alone. Reach out for support, I’m here to help you and your child through this and onto better rested days ahead! Or if your child is feeling better but you are noticing a lingering disruption in their sleep, let’s chat and create a plan to get their sleep back on track.
