The following is a guest post by Tara D’Amico of D’Amico Dream Consulting. Enjoy!
Having a sick child is no fun, but unfortunately sickness does happen and is unavoidable. Looking for tips for handling when your baby is sick and won’t sleep. When sickness and sleep meet, here are a few things that are a must to keep in mind.
First, your baby will most likely wake in the night. When we are sick as adults, sleeping well throughout the night can also really be a struggle. The same applies for your child. Anyone who is ill does not sleep as well as they normally would. Numerous night wake-ups tend to happen. It is realistic to expect that your sick child is going to wake up during the night. How you handle those wake-ups will make a BIG difference with keeping things on track or possibly derailing the new sleep habits that you worked so hard to form.
One thing to really try to avoid is intervening in your child’s sleep skills. More specifically, going in to rock or feeding your child back to sleep. Also, trying to lull your baby to sleep in your arms or reintroducing their old sleep props can create a very confusing message. After just a day or two everything can be thrown off track in regards to their expectations surrounding sleep.
I sympathize and completely understand why parents do this and where that desire comes from. Of course we want to comfort our child when they are sick. I absolutely think you should..have a short cuddle, wipe his or her nose, and provide medicine or a drink of water if needed. Whatever you need to do to offer some comfort is fine, but you do not want to interfere with your child’s sleep skills.
In situations like this it is very easy to go back to the old way of rocking your baby back to sleep, feeding your baby back to sleep, or even bringing your child back to your bed. It is SO important to try to avoid any of the external factors that you have possibly worked so hard to get rid of so your child could learn internal, independent sleep skills.
In cases where your child has a serious illness or a high fever for several days, your pediatrician may recommend a nighttime feed if extra fluids are needed throughout the night. This is an exception and you should obviously in these cases provide a night time feed.
Be sure that the night time feed is only something you are offering when it is suggested by your pediatrician. If you can keep it to three nights or less there is a better chance it will not be a new habit that you will once again have to break. Three is a great rule of thumb. If anything happens for more than three nights, then there is the danger that your baby is going to now expect this and start waking up looking for feeds even after the sickness is gone.
If you are really concerned about your child through the night due to sickness, I always suggest to my clients that you go to your child rather than bring your child to you. Throw down an air mattress. Spend a night or two in their room to make sure they are ok and to give you peace of mind. Again, remembering my rule of threes, try not to do it for any longer than three nights or you might find yourself six months later still sleeping beside you child’s bed.
Cut yourself a bit of slack if everything should by chance fall apart. Sometimes it does happen. Know that as soon as your baby is well again, just get back on track with your strategies for independent sleep. It’s just a matter of proving to your child that they need to use their own skills once again.
If your child gets sick and you are finding it impossible to get sleep back on track, let’s set up a FREE consultation call. Sleep is so important when sickness is involved, it really is needed for a faster recovery! Please follow me on Facebook to schedule a FREE consultation call and also check out my website, D’Amico Dream Consulting, for more information on what is offered.
About Tara D'Amico
After 10 months of sleep challenges with my son, I truly understand what it feels like to be sleep deprived. After implementing the Sleep Sense Program, healthy sleep habits became a passion to me because of the difference it made for my family. I was selected by Dana Obleman to undergo a comprehensive training and mentoring program, welcoming the opportunity to become a Certified Sleep Sense Consultant. I have helped numerous parent's through this program, supporting them every step of the way. I would love the opportunity to do the same for you!
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