How To Get Sleep Back on Track Post The Holiday?

It’s September already!

One more summer down with kids. Children needed a break outside in nature after a long time of being locked in homes with screens and online learning. But like everything in life, everything comes to an end, summer is over now and school/nursery is just around the corner.

So, if sleep has been off track this summer, this blog post is for you.

1- Start with managing the wake-up uptime

It is very normal that things could have been relaxed this summer for your little one and the schedule of the day is pushed later now, so let’s start by starting the day right early on (around 7ish). You can do that gradually (15-30 minutes earlier every day) or cold turkey (one time), depending on how late things are now and whether you have the luxury of time to bring things gradually. Starting the day early will set the tone and structure of the rest of the day. 

2- Bring bedtime earlier

Same as for the wake-up time, bedtime might have become later during summer and that is why the wake-up time became later too. 

Depending on your wake-up strategy you can work on your bedtime strategy too, if you are going with the gradual wake-up time, you can do the same for bedtime. If you are doing it cold turkey so same timings apply to the new bedtime. 

Depending on the age, we aim to bring bedtime to the best restorative timings, around 6 - 7 pm for younger toddlers and 7-8 pm for older toddlers and preschoolers. 

You can always check exact sleep needs in this blog post. 

3- Help the body to regulate the hormones of sleep to get back to its natural schedule

So sleeping and waking up at certain times of the day go back to different biological and hormonal functions in our bodies, along with the natural biological clock of the body. 

Having said so, so we need to eliminate screen time and getting exposure to too much light before bedtime as the blue light of the screen suppresses the release of our sleep hormone (melatonin) which is released in the darkness. 

Second, we need to maintain getting exposed to daylight as much as possible to set the regulation of other hormones and our circadian rhythms.

4-Bring the sleep routine back

Routines!!! I can’t talk enough about how routines matter for children. They love them and thrive on them. It helps them to know what to expect and this makes them feel secure and calmer. 

Bring back your child’s relaxing routine. Don’t forget to keep it simple and quiet. 

5-Re-introduce the nap(s) or quiet time

It may have happened that your child was so busy this summer jumping into the waves instead of napping or even having a late nap on the day that is not really restorative for the body. So it’s time to bring the nap back on schedule if the child is within nap age, or introduce “quiet time” if they dropped the nap. 

For more details, you can get our Travel Guide to help you navigate from planning your trip, to getting things back on track.

I hope this was useful for you, if you are struggling and need professional help, feel free to book a free assessment call. I would love to help you have a rested school season. 

May you have a safe quiet school/nursery season.