Sickness and Sleep

One of the questions I get asked the most is how to handle sleep when your little one is sick.

It is so hard as a parent to see your little one sick and feel so limited in how you can help them! It is especially tough when their sleep is affected!

In this blog, I am going to go over my biggest tips to help with sleep when dealing with sickness! 

Sleep—

I know this sounds obvious, but sleep is truly the best medicine. We want to continue to offer naps and a regular bedtime. If they are struggling falling asleep, you absolutely can help them because again, sleep is the best medicine! 

Keep as many things as consistent as possible—

Control what you can! When baby is sick, we often feel so out of control, but I recommend trying to control the things you can like their bedtime routine and where they sleep and their room environment! Aim to keep your same bedtime routine in place and place baby to sleep in his or her crib. Continue to use a sound machine! Aim for a consistent bedtime routine (or an early bedtime if anything!)

Don’t jump to the most intervention you can offer—

For example, if baby is sick, do not immediately jump to sleeping on the couch with them. If they need help falling asleep in their space, it is absolutely okay to offer assistance and support, but aim to stay consistent with how you typically get baby to sleep.

Also note that elevated sleep is not recommended. I know it is SO hard to sleep when you are congested and it is tempting to prop up your baby’s crib to help with the running nose and congestion, but it is simply not a safe option. Try using a nose frida or a bulb syringe for their nose or a humidifier to help with a cough. 

Let baby sleep longer (within reason) for naps and in the morning—

While we do not want baby sleeping all day or skipping daytime feedings, it is okay to let her sleep longer for naps because again, sleep is the best medicine!

Feedings—

Make sure you are still offering full feedings! Baby may not want a full feed or may fight feedings if feeling stuffed up, but continue to offer. If necessary, wake baby from a decent nap to ensure they do not get dehydrated and go too long between feedings!  If baby is drinking things other than just milk, offer lots of water and increase fluids. 

Offer medicine as desired or needed—

Always consult with your physician if you have any concerns about medicine or medical questions!

Have grace and help your baby—

While sick babies need lots of sleep, they also need lots of love!! Please do not let the fear of “creating bad habits” hinder you from caring for your baby in the way you were created to do! Snuggles are absolutely recommended!!

Do not begin sleep training or changing habits/routines while baby is sick—

This just isn’t a good idea! You will doubt decisions, which will lead to inconsistencies which will end up making it harder for baby to learn independent sleep skills! 

Baby is all better, but still struggling. Now what?

If your baby is all better from their illness but can tell that they created some new habits while sick, have no fear! Get right back to your regular routines and expectations. If you ended up rocking baby to sleep during illness, talk with them (even if baby isn’t talking back!) about how you are going to start lying them down awake again–and then stick with it! Just like any sleep training, we want to be consistent with our expectations. Baby may need a little more support, and it may feel like you are sleep training all over again, but trust me–if they did it once, they can do it again! If you are a Hey Abby graduate and finding you need more help, know I offer Refresher Packages to help get you back on track! 

If baby had been napping longer than normal, it may be daytime sleep needs to be reassessed. You may need to cap daytime sleep to ensure sleep is happening mostly at night and baby is not sleeping too much during the day. If the opposite (not sleeping enough during the day) is happening, it may be related to any new habits formed while sick, so take a look at the broad picture.  It may take a few days to get baby’s body adjusted back to “normal,” but have grace, stay consistent, and it’ll get there! 

If sleep has always been a struggle and sickness just exaggerated the struggle, I have packages for you! Sleep IS possible. I’d love to help!  Email me today!