My Baby is Sick! What Do I Do About Sleep?

The most frequent question clients ask me when we finish our work together: What if my child gets sick? In today’s blog, I would like to answer this question since it’s “sickness season” and many children are getting sick nowadays. 

Before I dig into the details, I would like to take the opportunity to remind you of why sleep is important (check this blog for more details), and one of the benefits of healthy sleep is that it boosts the immune system. The better the sleep of the child the better is the immune system. You can refer back to this blog post in order to understand what are the sleep needs and what is meant by healthy sleep. 

That is also why we encourage early bedtime so that the body gets the most out of the benefits of deep sleep (The majority of sleep that happens before 12 am, is deep sleep) and deep sleep is a stage through which the immune system gets boosted through different functions happening in the body at this stage of sleep.

Let’s see what we can do when the child is sick when it comes to sleep: 

1- Flexibility: When the child is sick, you can be flexible when it comes to sleep and hold on to any sleep plans you had. Because a sick child needs sleep to get better and also a sick child is in discomfort and needs all the love and comfort. If your child is in another room, it’s easier that you to move to your child’s room instead of bringing the child to your room.

2- Sleep routines: You can maintain all sleep routines as they are: your bedtime and nap routine can stay as they are, to create this cue for sleep. You can use this as an opportunity for more cuddles and bonding to offer extra love and comfort to your child before sleep. 

3- More sleep: You can offer extra sleep if needed.  As mentioned earlier, sleep is a medicine for sickness, so if the child sleeps in a little longer or needed earlier bedtime, that is fine. Do what your child needs to get better. 

4- Extra night feeds: You may need extra night feeds, especially for young babies below one to help them stay hydrated during the night. 

5- Get back on track: Once your child recovers and be healthy again, you can go back to everything as they were before. 

If you think that your child is exhausted and not getting enough sleep and you want to help him/her sleeps longer for a better immune system, I can support you through this. Check out the 1-1 sleep programs to get you started.