Baby Sleep and Sickness….

How to manage sleep when your baby is sick, by a holistic sleep coach & mum of 2!

Sleep is the best medicine for a sick baby, and all you want is for your baby to get well!

BUT you have worked so hard on improving their sleep! So what do you do?

So in this blog post I am going to talk about how to support your baby or toddler while they are sick. Whilst trying avoid sleep going backwards!

Should I keep my baby on their normal nap routine?

This depends very much on your baby…

If your baby has a cold or cough for example, but they are managing ok, they don’t seem more tired than usual, then I would recommend sticking with their regular routine.

If however your baby is struggling with being sick, they are more tired than usual, needing to nap for longer, struggling to stay awake the normal amount of wake time, then absolutely let them sleep all they need!

If your baby is under the weather, and needing more rest, it is vital they get this.

In my experience, we have to scrap the regular routine, and allow them to sleep as much as they need.

Will night sleep go backwards?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no….

I tend to find when a baby is poorly, they either sleep really well at night, or wake a lot more.

If your baby has a cough or cold, they are likely to wake more, as they cannot bring up mucus easily, they cannot blow their nose etc. Making it much tougher for them to stay asleep!

If you baby has a virus, often they will sleep longer periods of undisturbed sleep.

Will they need more night time support?

In many cases, your baby will feel sad and want to be close to you.

This many look like a baby that normally can go to sleep in their cot, needing cuddling to sleep…

Or you baby that usually sleeps in their own room, wanting to sleep close to you.

All of this is normal infant behaviour, when a baby feels unwell, they will need closeness and more regulation.

Will changing how I support my baby see sleep go backwards?

This is most parents biggest worry, and I get it!

You have finally got your baby’s sleeping well, and boom they get sick, and now they are up every hour….

Some babies will go back to sleeping as they did before, and some will struggle.

This is often led by 2 factors:

Temperament

More sensitive babies tend to need a lot more reassurance for longer after feeling unwell, so it is common for sleep to take a little longer to get back on track.

If they went through a recent change

If you recently made big changes to sleep, for example you went from co-sleeping to baby sleeping in their cot.

Or you night weaned, and began feeding again when they were unwell.

Neural pathways form in baby’s brain when we settle them in a particular way, repetition of the same settling method, reinforces this need to be settled in the same way.

It takes around 6 weeks of consistency for their brain to accept a new way of settling.

If you go back to settling how you did previously; co-sleeping, or feeding at night, then it is likely, your baby’s brain will have reverted back to this preferred settling method.

In this case, you will need to wait until they are better, and begin putting the boundary back in place.

Biggest mistake I see parents make

This is not a judgment by the way, as I am the queen of the easy route in the moment…

But I do know from my own errors, what will see sleep become pretty bad for much longer after a baby is poorly….

The moment baby gets sick, you take a full 360 and return to all the settling methods you worked hard to move away from…

For example baby is grizzly with a new tooth, and instead of being patient and trying to settle them in their cot with support, and accept a few more wakes, some parents jump straight back into co-sleeping, & feeding through the night etc.

There is nothing wrong with this at all, but let’s get real for a moment, we can’t do this and expect our baby to simply go back in their cot & have no night feeds a few weeks later…

What I recommend here

Apply common sense to the situation…

Try to stick to the normal routine in the day, if baby is more tired have some longer naps.

Try to settle them in their cot or floor bed as you would normally. This may mean it takes a little longer, or you need to help them to fall asleep and transfer them.

If they wake be patient and work on helping them get back to sleep. If they are struggling, and for example you recently stopped co-sleeping. Set up a camp bed in the same room, offer lots of reassurance, so they feel supported, but hold the boundary of keeping them in their own bed.

Once they are well again, get the routine back on track. For some babies this will be easy, others it may need more work.

For more guidance on changing how you settle your baby, or helping your little one fall asleep independently in a gentle way check out my baby sleep guide