Your baby’s sleep may get disrupted when sick and if you’re a parent to young kids right now, you’re likely in the thick of cold/flu season! Our household has navigated sleep hiccups related to sickness a few times recently (thank you, daycare germs!) and I know how overwhelming it can feel to navigate sleep and sickness, especially if you’ve made progress on your sleep journey recently. Let’s dive deeper on how to navigate this frequent sleep challenge!
As a little disclaimer, this blog is meant for general information and not specific to your child and their sickness. This is also not to replace medical advice from your child’s primary care provider. Please check-in with your child’s primary care provider if your child is excessively sleepy, lethargic or difficult to rouse. You know your child best!
What you’ll learn from this blog:
- How to support your baby’s sleep when sick
- What to expect when your baby is sick
- What to do if your baby is congested
- How to survive (maybe thrive?) when your baby is sick
- How to get sleep back on track
How to support your baby’s sleep when sick
When your baby is sick, the best thing to do is prioritize sleep and if need be, treat the symptoms your child is experiencing to promote sleep. Sleep is restorative and healing and your baby is likely to need a lot more of it when sick! Be flexible and release the worry about a wonky schedule, it will get back on track.
When your baby is sick, we try our best to stay consistent with strategies you are familiar with but with a few revisions.
- If you typically pause briefly before entering their sleep space, you would want to respond faster to ensure they are comfortable or needing support with their sickness symptoms.
- Your baby may need extra contact naps or support for sleep as a result of feeling unwell/uncomfortable. Depending on age, they may want skin-to-skin or snuggle naps, too!
- Maintain your routines for nap and bedtime, they may need to be shortened if your child is not feeling well and just needs to sleep.
- It’s ok if your child’s sleep needs increase and they have more daytime sleep. This is a temporary change. Use your best judgement in terms of how much daytime sleep is happening, because this may still impact their night sleep if they’re not well. You can choose to cap a nap or not.
- If your child has recently dropped a nap (or their only nap), you may see this nap come back temporarily when they are unwell.
- Have fluids and hydrating snacks readily available for your child to consume as often as possible during the day. Seek guidance from your child’s primary care provider for further recommendations for hydration and eating.
- Provide symptom relief as required and directed by your child’s primary care provider.
What to expect for your baby’s sleep when they’re sick
Depending on the type of sickness your baby is fighting, your baby’s age and your baby’s temperament, they will respond differently to sickness.
For some babies, they may require a bit of extra snuggle before bed and settle to sleep easily. For others, they may require significantly more support than previously needed.
Some sleep hiccups you may experience during sickness include:
- More night sleep disruptions as a result of being uncomfortable and unwell
- Earlier bedtime
- Longer daytime sleep or more frequent daytime naps
- May be more restless during sleep than previously observed (e.g., increase in noises, readjusting to get comfortable, movement from coughing, etc.)
What to do if your baby is congested
Having a congested baby is stressful and tiring!
Here’s a few tips for you to consider during this phase:
- In collaboration with your baby’s doctor, you may consider using a saline solution (or breastmilk) to rinse their nasal passages and use gentle suction to remove excess mucus.
- A steam shower with you to help loosen their congestion. Bonus points for feeding (breast or bottle) in a steam environment.
- Keep their mattress/crib/bassinet level and avoid propping them up in any way (this includes sleeping in a swing or baby lounger pillow).
- When you are able to stay seated, awake and alert, you can support them with contact sleep upright. This may mean you and your partner switch off to ensure everyone gets some rest and then is able to stay alert. Tapping into your support system (e.g., postpartum doula) will also be helpful during this phase.
- A humidifier can be helpful in the room to break up the dry air through the winter months.
How to survive (and thrive?) when your baby is sick
Parenting sick kids can feel daunting and oftentimes, your basic needs get pushed aside to accommodate their increased needs.
A few tips to navigate life with a sick baby:
- Know you’re only one human and can’t balance everything during these intense times. If you can, release control of previous expectations and surrender to the current time. It won’t be this way forever.
- Grocery delivery can be helpful to lessen load.
- Ask for help. Your support system (either in-person or virtual) will be there to cheer you on, provide a listening ear or maybe drop-off a meal or coffee for you!
- Communicate with your partner where you need more help or what they can do to lessen your load. They can’t read your mind (despite really wishing for that).
- Rest when you can. Take an extra 5-minutes in the shower while your partner tags in to give yourself a few minutes of quiet and relaxation.
- Sprinkle in moments of joy for yourself through the day. Favourite tea? Now is the time to drink it! (One of my favourite treat teas is Blume – Blue Lavender). Cue up your favourite podcast when you’re nap trapped.
How to get sleep back on track when sickness is over
So the sickness has run its course, and now sleep is a dumpster fire. Now what?
As quickly as possible, get back to your basics. This looks different for every family. For many, this may mean back to their regular nap schedule, your previous sleep support methods and firming up boundaries you previously had in place.
For example, if you had previously night-weaned and introduced a nursing session to make it through the sickness, if you’re not looking to keep the night feed, you’ll want to support your baby’s sleep in an alternative way through this change again.
If you were previously camping out in their room to offer immediate night support, you can begin to reduce your presence out of the room.
If you had to offer a lot of sleep support to ride the sickness wave, it may take a bit of time for them to understand the change in expectations. Stay consistent on your approach and things will settle back to their normal.
Morning tip
You can also get back to basics by waking them in the morning at a desired wake time (e.g., 6:30am-7:00am) and anchoring nap 1 from the wake time to start the day. This will take a few days to get back on track, especially if they’ve been sleeping in and nap schedule was super wonky due to shorter awake time.
You can do this!
Sickness is an unfortunate part of the fall/winter season with young kids. It’s a difficult phase that can impact everyone’s sleep. There is no right or wrong way to approach sleep and sickness, just responding to what your baby needs and how you are able to cope as a parent. Once healthy, follow the tips provided to get sleep back on track. You’re not alone on this sickness journey.
Wishing you a healthy winter season!
Chelsea
Chelsea is Mom of 2 young kids and a Sleep Consultant supporting families within Hamilton and beyond using hands-on, effective, evidence-based strategies. She has a Master’s of Professional Education and over 10 years of professional experience in parent coaching. She works collaboratively with families to empower them with the confidence and tools they need to reach their unique sleep goals. Hear what other rested families are saying about the process and Book a free call with Chelsea to discuss how she can support your family’s sleep journey.
