What if Baby gets sick?

One of the most frustrating situations I see parents face when they’re teaching their baby to sleep well, is right when they start to see progress, baby gets sick!

After months of sleep issues, parents finally decide to take the initiative and get serious about getting their baby onto a schedule. Baby starts mastering some great sleep skills, everyone is getting consolidated sleep, everyone’s ready to crack the champagne..

And then BAM!

Baby gets a cold, or an ear infection, or a bout of gastro, or one of the other seven thousand viruses that babies are prone to, and the whole thing goes off the rails.

I always recommend clients start their new sleep program when they know they have a few weeks that they can really devote to the training. However, you cannot schedule illness. Especially if your child goes to daycare!

So, I have a few suggestions for you in case this happens. Hopefully they can help you push through this trying situation and get you back on track.

Firstly, resist the temptation to bring baby into your bed. If you’re really concerned and want to be in the same room as bub through the night, I suggest you bring a mattress or some cushions into their room and sleep on the floor. Keeping them in their own room with familiar sleeping conditions will be much less disruptive than moving them into your room, and you don’t run the risk of them getting used to sleeping in your bed. This can happen very quickly!

Secondly, do NOT give in to the temptation to start offering any sleep props that you might have recently taken away. Feeding to sleep, rocking, patting, shhhing. I know it’s tough, because obviously you want to offer your baby any kind of comfort you can while they’re feeling miserable, but you really don’t want to reintroduce those things your little one depended on prior to starting sleep training. It can be really confusing for them, and it is often even more difficult to break the association the second time around.

Now, let me clear, I’m not saying that you can’t offer more nighttime comfort to your child while they are unwell. I totally recommend it. You should absolutely go in and check on them more often, give them pain relief, take their temperature, and give them a little cuddle to comfort them.

Just be vigilant and be sure to put them back into bed before they fall back to sleep.

Otherwise, you run the risk of them developing those associations where falling asleep requires being held, rocked, patted or fed. Then before you know it, you’re back to square one.

Once the sickness has been and gone, you may notice a slight regression in your baby’s sleep but don’t worry too much. Your baby has learned some great sleep skills and will probably only need a slight reminder of how things go.

Be consistent to your usual routines and responses and they’ll be back into their routine and sleeping soundly through the night again.

Contact our sleep consultant today to book your free introductory consultation.