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Finding a sleep consultant whose approach aligns with yours can be time-consuming and confusing. Do you even need one?
A sleep consultant can help reassure you about what biologically normal sleep looks like in children. (And it is not the 7-7, sleep through the night holy grail that some gurus might claim to help you achieve). You can try a few things to optimise your child’s sleep before you reach for the phone.
In this post, I will share with you 10 things you can try before reaching out to a sleep consultant.
1. Broad Spectrum Daylight
Get outside as much as possible, especially in the morning.
This will help your child’s circadian rhythm, as exposure to sunlight ( even on a cloudy day) will reset it. As broad-spectrum daylight enters our eyes, it acts as a circadian regulator.
2. Routine
Create a consistent routine for your child; this means other activities might need to be shifted. Consistent habits can positively reinforce our body clock.
3 Temperature
Room temperature needs to be not too hot and not too cold. 17-18 degrees Celsius is the ideal bedroom temperature. Our body temperature is the highest in the evening and the lowest in the early morning, which means that children who kick off their duvets in the earlier part of the night might wake up from the cold in the early hours of the morning. If your child tends to wake up in the early hours of the morning, a strategic visit to their bedroom to cover them up before you go to bed might solve this issue.
Dress your child in clothes made from 100% cotton.
4. Exercise, exercise and even more exercise
This is self-explanatory. Children ( even babies) need to be given plenty of opportunities to burn energy to sleep better. And, of course, exercise is important for their overall health and development. You might have to be creative at coming up with ways that allow your child to exercise indoors in the winter if you live in the Northern Hemisphere, where it is dark by 4pm.
5. Sleep environment
Look at your child’s sleep environment. Is their bedroom a place they associate with resting and calm, or is it a place they associate with stress ( if bedtime battles have been going on for a while)? For the same reason, never send your child to their room as a punishment.
Think about light and noise too. For nighttime sleep ensure the room is dark, and consider whether your child’s early wake is related to sunlight creeping in around the curtains. Blackout blinds can solve this. Some of us can only sleep in total darkness, while others don’t like the room being pitch dark. A red night light (instead of a standard one) can be helpful. Think about whether your child is struggling with breakthrough noises. White or pink noise can be a good solution. Pink noise can induce slow-wave sleep, so it is not recommended to use pink noise with babies under 6 months of age.
6. Naps
Optimise their naps. Naps are for relieving sleep pressure, and they need to be incorporated into your child’s routine in a way that they fall roughly into the middle of their awake time. If naps are badly timed and too much time passes between an afternoon nap and the evening bedtime, children might become dysregulated/ overtired. It is also possible that they are prevented from falling asleep despite being tired due to a circadian mismatch, meaning that their inner clock will tell them it is not time to sleep yet, even if they have high sleep pressure and fatigue.
7. Bedtime routine
Look at your child’s bedtime routine. Is it the right length for their age? Is it predictable? Does it have the same activities in the same order? Is it calming and sleep-inducing?
If you answer any of these with a ‘no’ then you have something to work on. Try to avoid bringing excitement into the bedroom. Get all the big energy and silly games, such as playfighting and chasing, out of the way before you start the routine. Get your child to ‘remind’ you what steps the bedtime routine involves, so they feel it is not something that is imposed on them. You can create a bedtime book together to show the steps of the routine using photos of your child at various stages of the routine.
8. Love tank
Fill up your child’s love tank. You want to restore the connection after a day of being apart ( or being together but rushing around, not having any quality time together ). Children who are securely attached have fewer sleep problems in generalChildrenen who have a chance to voice their fears and worries about whatever is on their mind to a loved one will sleep better, er too. Try to have big conversations before the actual bedtime routine starts; also, try to have 1-on-1 playtime; even 15 minutes can make a difference. Look up filial play to get an idea about effective ways of playing.
Also, consider your child’s love language, as responding to them in their love language will fill their love tank the best. Here is a great book on love languages. 5 love languages
9. Health
Look at your child’s health. Do they have allergies or eczema? Do they snore or breathe? If so, bad sleep might be the symptom, not the root issue. Try to address these health issues first, because a sleep consultant will not be able to help much if your child’s sleep issue is due to pain or discomfort.
Diet is an important factor too. Check out my older post on the link between sleep and nutrition here.
10 NUTRIENTS ESSENTIAL FOR SLEEP
10. Blue light
Limit exposure to screens that emit blue light in the two hours before bedtime.
Blue light from screens inhibits melatonin release. Therefore, it will delay sleep.
Once you have considered all of these factors and still find your child’s sleep unmanageable, then it might be time to call in a sleep consultant.
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