This is HOW to keep sleep on track while your baby is SICK

Tis the season for the revolving door of germs and illnesses, especially if you have a child age school or a child in daycare or preschool; you’re going to be dealing with a lot of germs this year. A lot of parents question how they’re going to deal with sleep while their child is sick. I’m going to give you all of the answers.

First thing to understand is that sleep helps them heal, so they need to sleep as much as possible. The only rule that I have when your child is sick is that they need to sleep a lot, but they should not be sleeping just anywhere. This means they should be sleeping in their room with their white noise and their blackout curtains. You’re going to want to comfort your child while they fall back to sleep, and you can 110,000% give your child comfort when they’re sick. However, we should try not to comfort them all the way back to sleep. If you’re comforting your child all the way to sleep, then you might be creating new unwanted habits that you’re going to have to break later.

We don’t plan for our kids to be sick, but we still need to be prepared. You need to make sure that you have a good thermometer. I have a smart glow thermometers that you put on your child’s head and then you take their temperature, and it reads the temperature for you. I always do a couple different takes and I take the average. Another thing I recommend having are vapor pads. Some of the vapor pads particularly go in a humidifier, but they also have vapor pads that you can put in the shower. When your child is all congested, these make a world of difference. The vapor opens up your child’s nasal and lets them breathe, and sometimes drain a lot. I’ve been loving this little mini humidifier. We fill it up and then put the top on, and it changes colors through the night, and you can put essential oils in it too. Another thing my kids love, and would be great for you to have on hand, are Pedialyte Popsicles, you can get these in drink form or popsicle form. Then the other thing that you want to make sure you have is my free baby sleep guide.

Another really important thing about when your child is sick is that you have to make sure that your child is staying hydrated and that they’re eating enough and keeping it down. Now, if you have a baby who is nursing, or on a bottle, you can try and offer those fluids as often as you normally do, but probably more often, especially if you’re nursing. Some babies will want to sleep and sleep and sleep, but then they’re not going to feel better because they’re dehydrated and then it’s this whole cycle of sickness.

Another tip that I have for you is of course to practice handwashing. What you can do to make handwashing part of your child’s everyday routine, and to set times where your child is washing their hands. Wash your hands first every time before they eat a meal, wash your hands when they arrive somewhere or get home from going somewhere that has a lot of germs, like the library or the grocery store.

Once your child has been symptom free for 24-48 hours, then you should 110% snap right back to your normal sleep expectations, and things will just go straight back to normal.