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July 22, 2015 by Angela Walsh Leave a Comment

Vacation Sleep Solutions for Children

 

Cute little boy, sleeping on a picnic blanket, outdoors in a summer sunny afternoon

August is a busy month for family summer vacations, and vacations are a wonderful time for families to experience new adventures and build precious memories.  Whether you are visiting family from out of state, or touring a foreign country, taking your child out of their natural surroundings can create sleep difficulties. 

Ease into the time change
Switching over to a new time zone can be very difficult for both child and family. I always suggest to my parents to start changing the time gradually, while they are still at home. Progressively pushing sleep time slightly ahead or behind, will make the transition much less abrupt once you arrive.

If you are only away for two or three days, I recommend sticking with your home time zone. Otherwise, by the time your child adjusts to the new time, you will be working to correct them back. Do your best to keep nap times on schedule so your child is not overtired, or too alert for bed. Use blinds to create a dark room at your child’s bedtime to help induce relaxation, and promote the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone.

Don’t skip nap time
Do your best to stick to your nap time schedule when you are on vacation. If you are able, I suggest to my parents to try and fit travel in when it suits the child’s nap schedule. This will prevent the child from missing a nap and becoming overtired, making time changes even more difficult. Once at your destination, do your best to make your daily itinerary nap friendly. It can be tempting to try and get as much touring as possible in during the day, but an overtired child will not be much fun in a museum or restaurant.

Some kids may have a difficult time settling down if they are not in their own bed. Give yourself and your child extra time for a bedtime soothing routine. This will help them relax and fall asleep much easier.

Your little one doesn’t want to fall asleep for fear of missing out on the fun
Once your child reaches toddler age they may become aware that their bedtime does not mean everyone else is going to sleep. If you are vacationing with family who have older children, your child may resist bedtime for fear of missing out on fun to be had with their cousins. Help your child ease into sleep by taking your time with your bedtime routine. Read them a story and let them know that everyone else will be going to bed soon.  And don’t be shy about asking people to keep the noise down, so as not to wake your child. This is also a perfect time to have your white noise machine or fan. This will help buffer the noise in and outside of the house.

Scent is important to relaxation 
According to the National Sleep Foundation, https://sleep.org/articles/scents-for-relaxation/ “there is some evidence that certain smells may have an effect on your sleep. For example, lavender has been shown to decrease heart rate and blood pressure, potentially putting you in a more relaxed state. Another study of infants found that they cried less and slept more deeply after a bath with lavender scented oils.”

Your child’s sense of smell can also be a very important factor in their ability to feel comfortable at bedtime. If your child’s room or bed does not smell like home it could potentially create anxiety, causing it difficult to settle into sleep. Bring along a well-worn pair of pajamas, a stuffed animal, or even their bedding- anything that smells like home. This may help soothe feelings of home sickness that could create issues at bedtime.

Bring a night light
Sometimes a night light can help a child feel more comfortable in an unfamiliar room. Even if your child is no longer afraid of the dark, a dark, unknown room can be scary to most. Think about bringing a night light along with you to help navigate a strange room.

I tell my parents not to be too concerned if their child experiences some change to their sleep routine during a vacation. It can sometimes be unavoidable to get the same quality of sleep that you get at home, on days you are traveling. However, try not to let your little one get too far off track. An overtired child can be cranky, and have more difficulty falling asleep at night.

Was this information helpful? Contact me and let me know what issues your child is experiencing with their sleep this summer.

Angela Walsh is a Family Sleep Institute, Certified Infant and Child Sleep Consultant and the founder of Babes in Sleepland. She helps sleep deprived babies, children and families, get back on track and get the sleep they need and desire. To learn more about Angela and how she can help you, visit her website: babesinsleepland.com.  Also get sleep tips, the latest research on baby and child products, and be part of her weekly Q and A at her Facebook page: Babes in Sleepland.

Filed Under: Adjusting a child's bedtime, baby sleep difficulties, child sleep expert, How to adjust sleep schedules to time changes, How to enjoy the summer, Summer Sleep Tips, Vacation Sleep Tips

March 3, 2015 by Angela Walsh Leave a Comment

Daylight Saving-Time to Spring Ahead

 After working with Angela our whole household is so much happier. Angela thank you for your support. Your business fills a gap for all those sleep-deprived families. I truly appreciate what you do and how you have made a difference in my family's life.

I’m just wondering if you were as surprised as I was when I discovered Daylight Saving Times (DST) takes place this Sunday, March 8th?  I have never known it to be so early, and I’m not really sure if I am ready to get up in the dark again, and to loose an hour.  But in any event, it is what it is, and the longer evenings are definitely a bonus!

So what should you do to prepare your children for the time change?  Starting tomorrow night begin putting them to bed 15 minutes earlier than usual. So if they always went to bed at 7, tomorrow it will be 6:45.  The following night make it another 15 minutes earlier and so on, until they are going to bed, one full hour earlier than when you started .

For adults and children it can take our bodies a few days to adjust to time changes, so it’s good to get an early start on Daylight Saving.  Initially your child may not feel sleepy or be able to settle and fall asleep as easily with this change, so make sure all the other household activities are changing as well.  For example, meals should be earlier, turning the lights down in the house, turning off electronics, starting the bedtime routine.  These are all the things that act as cues for your baby or child to know it’s getting close to bedtime.  By dimming rooms in the house, and turning off TV’s, computers, and other such type of devices, will allow your child’s body to begin the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone. 

Our child’s internal sleep clock is set by light and dark, so not only do you want to make the house dark at night in preparation for sleep, you also want to expose your child to as much sunshine and daylight as possible.  This will reprogram your child’s clock and get her adjusted to this new time change. 

Let me know if you have other tips to help kids adjust to the time change.

 

Angela Walsh is a Family Sleep Institute, Certified Infant and Child Sleep Consultant and the founder of Babes in Sleepland. She helps sleep deprived babies, children and families, get back on track and get the sleep they need and desire. To learn more about Angela and how she can help you, visit her website: babesinsleepland.com Also get sleep tips, the latest research on baby and child products, and be part of her weekly Q and A at her Facebook page: Babes in Sleepland.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Adjusting a child's bedtime, Baby Sleep, certified child sleep consultant, Child Sleep, child sleep expert, How to adjust sleep schedules to time changes

October 9, 2014 by Angela Walsh Leave a Comment

Adjusting Your Child’s Sleep With the End of Daylight Saving

Fall Back DayLight Savings

Sadly the dog days of summer with the nice light evenings have ended.  The days and nights are cooling down and the leaves are beginning to change (at least in the northeast) as we harken in the end of Daylight Savings.

Beginning on November 2nd we will gain an hour. Who doesn’t love that?  Just think, you get to sleep in an hour later. But wait this may not be true for parents of young children.  Children don’t know the time has changed.  They don’t care about sleeping later. They want to get up and see mom and dad and play no matter what time it is.  So how best can we adjust our child’s sleep schedule that causes the least disruption?  The best way to do this is gradually.

Starting as early as a week before (depending on your child’s age) start changing your child’s eating and sleeping schedule by 15 minutes each day or every other day.  Then by the time you actually put your clocks back, you are ahead of the game. Your child already will have fully adjusted and transitioned smoothly to this new time.

Before implementing this strategy make sure your child already has a good bedtime routine and a consistent bedtime. Both these are crucial to a good night’s sleep and in turn, healthy sleep habits.  They are even more important when you are making changes to your child’s schedule.  We know ourselves how much better we are at handling changes when we are well rested; children are exactly like us in this regard.

The good and the bad of this time change is that we get nice light mornings, but dark early evenings.  So in terms of bedtime, things shouldn’t be a problem because when it’s dark out we are able to fall asleep much easier.  However, as nice as light mornings are, it could mean your child begins to rise earlier.  The best way to combat this is with “black out blinds.”   Use blinds that fully cover your windows and be sure to pull them down or across at bedtime.  You can even make this step all part of your child’s bedtime routine.  If you don’t have black out blinds you can easily make them using large black or green garbage bags and heavy duty tape.  Simply put the garbage bags over the entire window and window frames and secure with the tape.

With the lighter mornings there might be a bit more activity outside making the early mornings, noisy mornings.  You can easily combat this possibility with a white noise machine.  Turn this on before your child goes to bed, blocking out household noises in the evening as well as those loud early birds.

If you take all these steps and your child is still waking early you may want to invest in a toddler clock.  This can be set up so your child knows when they are allowed to get up in the morning.

Here are the adjustments you would make:

October 25 and 26: Make child’s mealtimes and bedtimes 15 minutes later than normal.

October 27 and 28: Adjust mealtimes and bedtime by another 15 minutes.

October 29 and 30: Adjust mealtimes and bedtime by another 15 minutes.

October 31 and November 1: Adjust mealtimes and bedtime by another 15 minutes.

You have now fully adjusted your child’s schedule by one hour just in time for the end of Daylight Savings!

And don’t forget the things you need for your child’s room:

Black out blinds

White noise machine

Toddler clock (if child is still waking too early)

Hopefully with all these tips, you will all get the luxury of having one more hour of sleep on November 2nd.

Don’t forget to turn those clocks back!!

 

Was this post beneficial to you?  Please share some of your sleep tips for time changes.

 

Angela Walsh is a Family Sleep Institute, Certified Infant and Child Sleep Consultant, and the founder of Babes in Sleepland. She helps sleep deprived babies, children and families, get back on track and get the sleep they need and desire. To learn more about Angela and how she can help you, visit her website: babesinsleepland.com. Also get sleep tips, the latest research on baby and child products, and be part of her weekly Q and A at her Facebook page: Babes in Sleepland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Adjusting a child's bedtime, Baby Sleep, certified child sleep consultant, child sleep advice, child sleep expert, How to adjust sleep schedules to time changes, Time changes

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Meet Angela

My name is Angela Walsh.  I am a Child Sleep Consultant Certified by the Family Sleep Institute, and the founder of Babes in Sleepland.  As the mother of four grown children (three boys and a girl), my mission is to help parents like you enjoy every … (READ MORE)

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