Dealing with sleep and illness in your baby

Help, my baby ist not sleeping well anymore!

Illness 🤧… they’re everywhere, and to a certain extent they’re hard to avoid. As if that wasn’t bad enough, disrupted sleep is often added to the mix (for the whole family!). I’m often asked how to deal with a sick baby to make sure they get enough rest and get better. Here are my tips on how to manage your babys sleep during an illness.

Maintain sleeping habits as far as possible

First of all, as far as sleeping habits are concerned: I wouldn’t rush things and think in advance: “Oh my poor baby is sick and needs to be carried to sleep or suddenly needs me to go back to sleep in his bed”. Do everything in terms of routines and procedures as you normally would. And see if he can’t fall asleep as usual.

👉🏻 Important: If you are in the process of improving/changing something in your sleep situation, I would recommend pausing the change in the event of illness, i.e. not introducing anything new.

As much as necessary - as little as possible

Don’t do anything differently and give your baby the chance to fall asleep as usual, even if they are sick. Sometimes 5 minutes of coaxing is enough. Some babies may only need a cuddle to calm down and then fall asleep on their own. Depending on the intense of illness. However, if your baby is upset or not feeling well and needs more support, you can of course help them, perhaps with an extra cuddle, and then lay them back down, put your hand on them, stroke their face, offer painkillers, offer a drink of water, etc.

If you pick them up for a cuddle and they unexpectedly fall asleep on you, just allow them to sleep! See how it goes. ☺️

At the next nap or sleep, see if he is ready to fall asleep on his own as usual. Maybe it will be easier for him this time.

Have the guiding principle in mind “As much as necessary – as little as possible”. Remember that small children or babies who are sick may need to go to sleep a little earlier. At the end of the day, sleep is sleep, and it’s crucial for your baby to recover, so give him what he needs and just let it happen!

How to accompany your baby at night

If your baby wakes up at night, you can give them a moment and then go in to see what kind of support they need and how they are doing. Don’t worry about habits, support is the most important thing.

A few things to keep in mind:

I swear by a humidifier in the room – especially for early morning coughs.

A bit of sun during the day works wonders.

Once your baby is healthy again...

Okay, what do you do when the illness is over and your baby is better? If your baby needed your support during the illness, that’s perfectly fine.

But as soon as he or she is well again, you will find that he or she will continue to want this support (e.g. cuddling, your presence). It’s important not to keep these habits longer than necessary! As soon as your baby is healthy again, I recommend changing these habits again. Start making changes right at the beginning of the night. Otherwise, something will creep in very quickly that you don’t actually want to keep. 🫣

Things you should keep in mind:

First check your baby’s waking times – do they need to be readjusted after recovery?

Has your baby become sleepy during mealtimes when this wasn’t the case before? Make sure he stays awake during mealtimes, especially if he suddenly has difficulty settling.

Sometimes “winding down” for too long before bedtime makes bedtime more difficult. Take a look at my blog post for a successful evening routine.

Remain self-confident. Support, but don’t “take over the sleeping”. Reduce the role you play in getting your baby to sleep. For example, would he be happy with you sitting in the room but not putting him to sleep? You can start there and then minimize that. Or can you offer a bit of comfort, even if it doesn’t necessarily stop the crying or get them to sleep, but supports them while they regain that skill themselves. For example, a quick ’stroke and shush‘ in bed.

Having a solid plan for dealing with resistance is really important. If you need a more individualized structured approach and support to get back on track, our individual baby sleep consultation or a refresher consultation is for you!