what is sleep hygiene?
So what exactly is sleep hygiene?
Sleep hygiene = healthy sleep habits
As parents, establishing healthy sleep hygiene habits for your little one can significantly contribute to their overall health and happiness and can set up the foundations for healthy and positive sleep outcomes. Healthy sleep habits are just as important for infants and children as they are for us adults. Our everyday activities impact sleep and this is also true for our little ones. To help assist infants and children in sleeping better there are a few simple things we can do to begin instilling healthy sleep habits from a young age.
Let’s explore essential sleep hygiene tips specifically tailored to infants, ensuring a peaceful slumber for both baby and parents.
Ensure their sleeping environment is calm and relaxing. It should be dark, a comfortable temperature and free from technology or anything that is likely to disturb sleep.
Play white noise continuously throughout sleep periods. This is very calming for our little one's as it replicates the sounds they heard in the womb and for our older children helps to block out any noise in the environment that may disturb their sleep.
Ensure their sleep space is dark and void of anything overstimulating. This will ensure that there are no unwanted distractions stopping them from falling or returning to sleep throughout the day or night.
Ensure their sleeping space is the right temperature - not too hot and not too cold!
Establish a relaxing bedtime routine that helps your little one to make the transition from wake time to sleep time. Starting this wind down routine about an hour before gives them plenty of time to prepare for sleep and avoids them becoming overtired in the process.
Tune in to your little ones' drowsy cues to identify when they are ready to go to sleep. Remember if they are not tired enough or are overtired it is going to be harder to get them to sleep
Take into account biological sleep windows. The timing of sleep is super important because it is much easier for a baby to fall asleep during these times. Their sleep will also be more restful and restorative
Get out and expose them to natural light throughout the day. This will ensure their internal body clock is kept on a healthy sleep/wake cycle
Ensure your little one has consistent sleep/wake schedules day to day. This means waking up and going to bed at around the same time each day. When sleep/wake schedules are inconsistent it can cause a lot of disruption to their internal body clocks
Ensure they have had nice full feeds and are not going to bed hungry
Remember you cannot control if your baby will sleep and how long they will sleep for but you can control those healthy sleep habits!