Top tips to help your baby sleep during warm summer weather
With the brighter, warmer and humid summer nights can make it more difficult to sleep, which can be especially more difficulty for your baby or toddlers. Below I shall give you some top tips to help your children sleep during the warmer weather.
1. Stick to regular bed and wake-up times
By having regular times for sleeping helps to synchronise your body clock and this is no exception as to when it comes to children. However the advice is to always make sure they go to bed and wake up within an hour of the same time every day. By doing this it will help everyone get into a healthy sleeping and waking up pattern.
2. Keep the bedroom cool
With the warmer temperatures this can result in more time awake. Therefore having a lighter sleep during the night. The advised temperature for a bedroom or nursery is around 18C. With the warm temperatures in the summer it can be difficult to keep the house cool, here are a few tips that may help:
- Use light or no bedding – Dress your baby in light cotton sleep wear.
- To stop the heat building up in the day keep all windows and blinds shut. During the night, if the outside temperature becomes cooler then open the windows.
- Use a fan, place it at a low level to help the air circulate around the room.
- Keeping your little one cool is imperative. Use a cold flannel on their forehead or feet. By cooling their feet this will help cool the rest of the body.
3. Choosing the right bedtime snack
If your little one wants a bedtime snack choose a food that has a amino acid called tryptophan as this encourages drowsiness. Foods like banana, warm milk, oat biscuits are some of the most advised to have.
4. Keep it dark
A persons biological clock is regulated by light and those bright summery nights can make it difficult to trigger sleep. It is advised that during the day your little one gets plenty of daylight, (try to avoid doing it through direct sunlight). Then make sure in the evening their room is as dark as possible. Darkness will trigger the “sleepy hormone” melatonin. A good investment is a blackout blind. They will help to block out the early evening and early morning light.
5. Relax
In the run up to bedtime encourage your little one to relax. Whether you sit and read a story or listen to one together. For instance this will chill them out before bedtime.
We hope you enjoyed our tips to help your baby sleep. Check out our Blog for more useful information.
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