As the Christmas holidays approach, you may want to think about your child’s sleep practices for the festive period. It can be such an exciting time for young children, but it is also a really busy time with extra activities, holiday visitors, along with late nights and possibly staying away from home.
Whilst you absolutely need to embrace the merriment, the Baby Elegance ambassador Lucy Wolfe says it is important to be cautious and mindful about how sleep can be affected.
Overtiredness, overexcitement and travel can mean that you get less sleep than normal, with many families finding issues that arise over Christmas can linger well into the New Year. Lucy is here to share some suggestions on how to have a merry and rested Christmas time.
Decisions for festive fun
Ideally in the run-up to the festive period, it’s best to have young children optimally rested. That way they will be more tolerant of changes and lost sleep. Whether this is your first Christmas with children or your family has grown in numbers, you may find that you have to make decisions about what events you can attend, how late you stay, if you travel or if you stay at home.
Ultimately you will know your own child best, but if you observe that your child is normally slow to warm up, not very adjustable or seems sensitive to being overtired then you will need to maintain your current sleep practices as much as possible. Of course, you need to have fun. But your fun could be impaired if your young child starts to resist sleep, wake frequently and become fussy with their food because they have built up a sleep debt.
Avoid big changes
Lots of parents may decide to help their child give up the dummy or the bottle by giving it to Santa but proceed with caution. This is a huge adjustment and may affect everyone’s enjoyment at Christmas time and may affect their sleep ability, specifically if they are used to using the dummy or bottle at sleep time. Save big changes like this for the New Year.
Don't work on your child’s sleep this time of year, unless you will be able to be home on time for bedtime, won’t miss daytime sleep and if you are not planning on staying away from home, even if just for a night or two. Any of these elements will affect your efforts and may make it hard to establish different sleep practices so are best addressed in 2019.
Above all, have a wonderful Christmas time with your family and friends and kick off 2020 feeling rested.
