How to manage your child’s sleep when they’re unwell

As social creatures children top the charts for both spreading and catching germs. Parents know only too well that coughs and colds mean their child will wake more and need comfort and care in the night. Even children who can sleep for England will be kept awake by a fever, coughing or a blocked nose. And of course when your child is unwell they are likely to need extra comfort and attention from you in the night.

So how do you prevent this inevitable event causing long term sleep problems for your child?

Maintain your child’s bedtime routine:

Try and keep up your child’s regular bedtime routine. Having a warm soothing bath helps to relax achy muscles and unblock noses. A warm bath is a great trigger for the production of the sleep hormone melatonin and keeping to your routine will prove invaluable when your child recovers and needs to start getting used to “normal” routines again.

Your child will need more sleep:

Don’t worry if your little one is sleeping more at this time, this is nature’s way of helping them fight infection: in fact the illness itself actively increases our need for sleep to help support and stimulate our immune system. Let your child have as much sleep as as they want, you can always make adjustments when they’re fit and well again.

Keeping close by at night:

Your child is very likely to need medication or frequent close attention during this period of illness and you may want to sleep nearby in order to keep a close eye on  them.

Try to avoid bringing your child into your bed when they’re ill, especially if they have a high temperatur.  To minimise disruptions to their sleep it is better to do this by “camping out” in their room…. then when they’re well again it will be much easier for you to return to your bed than to persuade them back into their’s.

However any new habits formed at this time can always be changed once they’re fit and well again.

Becoming ill during a sleep plan:

It is not uncommon for children to become ill when you’re in the middle of a sleep plan. Most coughs and colds are short lived and it is best to put your sleep plan on hold until your child is feeling better.

Try to keep up your child’s bedtime routine; this will prove invaluable when they recover and need to get used to ‘normal routines’ again.

Once they are eating and drinking well and seem back to their “old self” you can go back to your sleep plan.

There is usually no need to go right back to the beginning, you should be able to pick up from where you were when your child became ill. After about 3 or 4 nights of perseverance and hard work you should be back on track.