How to support baby, toddler, and parent sleep during social distancing
Supporting sleep with littles in the family is hard, even at the best of times. These are not the best of times.
Your whole routine has likely been thrown out. Work may or may not be happening or you may be attempting to work from home. Childcare may or may not be available. Even if you are normally home with a little one, your ability to move around the neighborhood and do your normal activities is definitely restricted. It’s hard! It’s stressful and disruptive!
Maybe you can relate to my family’s progression over the past few weeks…
Week one of social distancing, I was feeling pretty on top of things. I knew it would be a challenge, but I felt like I was coping well.
Week two of social distancing, my husband and I are both like OMG! The stress and struggle of work, home learning for our first grader, and toddler parenting has felt like just too much!
Week 3 of social distance and stay at home orders have us struggling to find some sort of balance we can maintain for the long hall.
My kids are anxious, wiggly, and missing their friends. My toddler’s naps are disrupted, and she’s waking more than normal. We are all thankful for conversation across porches and from opposite sides of the street. But it’s hard!
All the emotional demands and nighttime parenting needs have me extra tired. My patience is low. My frustration tolerance is low. My creative thinking is low.
So, how do you support sleep in all of this?
How do you maintain some sense of routine?
How do you keep your stress and anxiety from keeping you awake?
Here are a few tips
Get outside
I’m always recommending outside time, but it is more important now than ever. Natural sunlight is essential for maintaining your body’s circadian rhythm, your internal 24-hour body clock, and fresh air and sunlight are both vital for your mood. Do your best to get outside at least once a day.
Move your body
We are all sitting more and moving less. Whether it’s a social distance walk or a dance party in your living room, moving your body will support your sleep and your mood. Get your kids rough housing, set up safe climbing opportunities, and create obstacle courses with things you have around the house (even crawling babies can do this). Let your toddler push a box of stuff across the floor. Make play silly and goofy and full of laughter.
Stick to regular sleep times
It’s easy for the schedule to go out the window, but sticking to roughly regular wake, nap, and bedtimes will help you and your children sleep better. You may need less sleep due to less activity so be flexible enough to adjust to everyone’s needs.
Connection
Connection is always needed for little one’s to feel safe and secure enough to sleep well. With everything disrupted and changed, be prepared for more anxiety. Children pick up on our stress. They may need more touch, closeness, and reassurance, at bedtime or other times. They may want to sleep closer or struggle with separation. These are normal responses to a stressful and scary time.
Self-compassion
It’s so easy to be hard on yourself at times like these, but you need to be kind to yourself. You can’t do it all. You are doing the best you can in very difficult circumstances. I’ve rediscovered this self-compassion exercise I originally found through a peaceful parenting coach I follow, Sarah Rosensweet. I hope you find it helpful: http://www.selfhelp.on.ca/site/wp-content/uploads/Self-compassion-break-Handout.pdf
Whether you’ve been struggling with an ongoing sleep challenge or all this stress and uncertainty has disrupted your sleep, let me help you incorporate these tips and others to get you through the upcoming weeks with everyone’s sleep supported!
Over the next couple of weeks, I’m offering a limited number of one-off sleepy chat 50-minute sessions for $99 to help you figure out the top things you can do to support your and your littles sleep through this tricky time.
Grab your time here:
https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=17049377&appointmentType=13606428
If you know you want more support, check out my free family sleep intro calls to talk about my packages. All my sleep support is virtual so it’s already perfect for social distancing. Reach out to schedule a free, virtual family sleep intro conversation.