So your baby is sick, and you see the snot running, the crankiness arises and you're thinking, "Oh, here we go..."
Let me start by saying that there are some benefits to your baby dealing with a cold; they need more cuddles (umm, okay!), it's good for their immune system, oh, and they need more cuddles.
When it comes to sleep, things can get a bit trickier. Stuffy noses, coughs, etc. can all impact your baby's quality of sleep (just like you or me!)
So here are my go-to's when it comes to managing sleep with a sick baby.
1) Continue with your sleep routines
Yup.
Still do your bedtime routine as you've been doing and continue to do your short and sweet naptime routine.
Chances are, you had to work to get a good routine in place and keeping it in place when your baby isn't feeling well will help them sleep better overall.
2) Add extra ______
They may need more time in the bath.
They may need more cuddles before being put in their crib.
They may need you to use the snot sucker one more time.
They may need some Tylenol/Advil (age-appropriate of course).
They will most certainly need more fluids, so you can expect to breastfeed or offer another bottle here and there.
3) Day and night
If your baby has a mild cold and doesn't seem too affected during the day, I would expect minimal disruption at night.
This of course can change with congestion or a cough.
If your baby is very unwell at night, you might have an extra night waking or two.
When you go in to check on your baby, help them out with the snot sucker, a feed and a cuddle, then back to bed! What they need is sleep and getting good nighttime sleep helps us all get over colds.
4) Regression (yikes!)
Let's say your baby was quite unwell for a period of them, and during that time you had to hold/rock/feed to sleep to just maintain some sanity, and now it's a habit.
With illness, there can be varying degrees of regression: mild, moderate, or severe.
If your baby has a mild regression, they will get back on the sleep train within a couple of nights of doing the old routine.
If it's moderate, you might need to dust off the sleep strategy for a week.
If it seems like a total and utter regression, dust off the strategy and begin from night 1 of your sleep plan.
Yup, night 1.
Sitting in the room, offering comfort and reassurance and doing a break at the one-hour mark if needed.
I have had clients say that their baby was sleeping well and then they got sick and that seemed to change everything.
So when I say that you might need to start again, it's a very real possibility!
Thankfully, most babies have massive improvement within the first week, and then others in the second week come around.
So hang in there!
Your sanity is worth it!
Melody Patton
P.s. Is your baby not sleeping well no matter what? Click the button below to get in touch!
Let's talk about how we can get your baby sleeping well asap!
Do we keep age appropriate wake times if they’re sick and have had massively disrupted nighttime sleep? Or is an earlier bedtime a must?