How Do I Make My Kids Room Sleep-Friendly?

How Do I Make My Kids Room Sleep-Friendly?

by | Apr 5, 2022 | Children's room

Arranging your child’s bedroom in a way that supports sleep can not only promote a more relaxing environment to fall asleep in but also an environment that supports resettling,  should your child wake during the night. You are aiming for the bedroom to be a calm, inviting space that your child associates with sleep.  

Let’s consider a range of strategies that can help you to create that for your child:

mum and dad reading story to their child at bedtime

Make The Children’s Bedroom A Screen Free Zone

  • Aim to make the bedroom, and especially the bed, a no-screen zone, even during the day. Research shows that TV watching in the bedroom impacts young children’s sleep. The artificial blue light emitted by screens of televisions, smartphones, tablets, computers and gaming systems promotes alertness and impacts our sleep-wake cycle or circadian rhythm.
  • Many parents find that using a nightlight emitting a red-light wavelength can support sleep by stimulating the production of the sleepy hormone, melatonin.  If your child is scared of the dark we recommend using a red night light, a lot of parents use soft glow room thermometers which have a gentle orange glow when the room is the right temperature. Try to avoid leaving the door open as this can be a fire hazard. Avoid being able to see blue lights as discussed here.
sleep friendly children's room

How Do I Make My Child’s Room Sleep Friendly?

  • Set the thermostat to a slightly cooler temperature to support your toddler to feel sleepy. Aim for between 16 – 18 degrees. Breathable cotton clothing can also help with keeping cool at night.
  • Top Tip – put socks on your baby, under their sleep clothes and the sleeping bag. Room temperature normally drops at around 5 am, this can  wake your child as their feet suddenly get cold. Often the extra pair of socks can help with early rising.
  • Keep the bedroom quiet or consider using a white noise machine to mask outside sounds – particularly if your child has been used to this as a baby. Use dark curtains to block out light.
little girl happy sleeping in her sleep friendly bedroom

What To Watch Out For In Older Child’s Bedroom? 

  • Attend to any objects that cast potentially frightening shadows at night. This could leave a child frightened. You can ask your child if there is anything they want to take out of their bedroom to get a sense of what may potentially scare them.
  • If your child plays in their bedroom, involve them in tidying away toys before bed, so there is a clear separation between “play time” and “sleep time”.
  • If your child shares their room with a sibling, ensure each child has a separate space to call their own.
family with a newborn baby in the moses basket

Bedroom Set Up For A Newborn To 1 Year Old

  • In the room you should have cot or Moses or travel cot or carry cot. Use a good quality, firm, flat and waterproof mattress covered with cotton sheet. You will need a sleeping bag for a baby and light cellular blankets (remember to tuck those in, never have them loose in the cot with a baby).
  • Avoid using sleep pods or nests, sleepyhead, sleep positioners, hammocks, cot bumpers, pillows, duvets, loose heavy, non-breathable blankets, comforters or soft toys for children under 1 year old. Make sure to always follow  Lullaby trust safety recommendations! to prevent your baby from SIDS.
children's bedroom shelves with soft toys

Bedroom Set Up For Older Child

  • Use comfortable bedding and pillows that are appropriate for the temperature of the room – don’t forget to let your child help select their bedding or make it relevant to their likes and interests.
  • The Lullaby Trust recommends no bedding until after 12 months and ideally not until the child is using a toddler bed as opposed to a cot with raised sides. In these sleep guides you will find great techniques that will help you with transitioning from co-sleeping, transitioning to the cot or how to transition to a toddler bed.

How To Avoid Any Bedroom  Anxieties:

  • You can leave an item or an object that reminds your child of you to support your child to manage any sense of separation anxiety. For example, they could place one of your pyjama tops under their pillow as a reminder that you are never far away. A photo could serve a similar purpose.
  • Many children have a transitional object: a particular favourite teddy or blanket that helps them to feel secure when you are not there. This can be a great support to a child. If your child has a transitional object, encourage them to take this into the bedroom at sleep time. You can use “teddy” as a means of talking about sleep needs. For example, “teddy has had a busy day, and wants to be quiet and calm now. Can you keep teddy company and help him drop to sleep?”

Have you downloaded your freebie yet? Top 10 Baby Sleep Coach Tips To Help Your Baby Sleep Better Guide! If not, then make sure to click here.


For more advice on how to help your baby sleep and find a baby sleep solution that works for you and your family, you can check out our  1 : 1 consultation services or our new baby sleep guides which come with free access to my Sleepy Village Facebook community for easy access to get your questions answered.

Tailored Sleep Plans with 1:1 support
Gentle Sleep Solution Guides for Instant Download

Frequently Asked Questions On How Can I Make My Child Sleep Better:

Can vitamin D help my baby sleep better?

What foods will help baby sleep better?

How to make kids room sleep friendly?

How does blue light affect your child’s sleep?

How to make going back to work after maternity leave easier?

How to adjust child’s routine when the clocks go back?

Advice and guidance of safer sleep for babies.

How to get babies and children to sleep when traveling?

Top 10 tips for traveling with a baby, toddler or a child.

How to help baby sleep in the heat?

How to adjust child’s routine when the clocks go forward?

Is it a good idea to give baby a dummy?

Breast pumping and sleep, when is best to breast pump. 

Will my baby sleep better if I give them a bottle?

Will my baby sleep better if I feed them every 4 hours?

Will my nursery/ childcare provider support my child’s sleep?

How can I enjoy the first Christmas with my baby?

Halloween sleepy food recipes and ideas to get your children sleeping well.

Clocks Go Back, What Now? How Do You Adjust Baby’s Routine?

Clocks Go Back, What Now? How Do You Adjust Baby’s Routine?

by | Apr 1, 2022 | Time change and child's routine

Every time the clocks go forwards or backwards, parents across the world whose baby has finally settled into a nice sleep schedule or sleep routine go into a panic. As parents, we begrudge the hour earlier wake up call but how do we get them to go to sleep an hour earlier too? It’s also a great time to adjust bedtimes and naptimes if needed or wanted, it all seems to be subject to change due to Day Light Saving Time – what can we expect?

Spring Forward, Fall Back

We are taught this saying to remember which way the clocks are going but, is it just us or can we also spring back and fall forwards meaning we still have to rack our baby-tired brains for the answer?

In October, the clocks go backwards an hour and as our Baby Sleep Coach inbox begins to fill with worried parents, we wanted to share some quick tips for ways you might want to adapt your routine.

BABY SLEEP COACH CLOCK CHANGE IN AUTUMN

Ways You Might Want To Adapt Your Routine:

1) Start Putting Your Baby To Bed Slightly Later

To help with the transition of an hour, start putting your child to bed slightly later from Thursday. We recommend just 15 minutes later on Thursday and then to keep increasing by 15 minutes nightly until Sunday when you can put them to bed at the normal time. This can help by allowing your child minor adaptions and hopefully, the small changes will mean the wake-up time isn’t disturbed. Make sure to stick to their usual bedtime routine at the later time.

2) If Your Baby Wakes Up An Hour Later Once The Times Have Changed, Gently Adjust Nap time

We all know the joy of trying to get baby to stay awake around nap time, but if your baby does wake up later in the morning try to adjust their naps by 20 minutes so that they falling into the ‘new time’ schedule throughout the day. This should only take a day or two to allow them to adjust. If baby tries to ‘catch up’ by stretching their nap or sleeping late, don’t be tempted to let them or you’ll have to continue the adjustment cycle for longer.

3) Go Outside!

The natural light/dark times affects our circadian rhythm which is a large factor in your body’s sleep preparation. Unsurprisingly, the ‘daylight savings time’ was created to capture the main hours of light! We have spoken about the positive effects of Vitamin D previously but it is definitely worth getting outside to let your baby soak up some natural light on the day the clocks move backwards.

4) Tire Them Out!

Most parents find a ‘later’ bedtime harder to achieve with little ones, the clocks moving in October are more difficult than in March time! If you try to do more physically exhausting activities, particularly outside, on those first few days following the clock change then this will greatly contribute to them settling.

Baby sleep coach clock change routine

6) Be A Rolemodel!

In addition to ‘practising what you preach’, make sure you look after your own schedule too. Remember, not only are they potentially going to get up at the same time as before (this will adjust in time), but you are losing an hour of your own bedtime too!

5) Don’t Adjust Anything.

A lot of parents just carry on with their normal routines when the clocks change, whilst mentally preparing to potentially struggle to stick to bedtimes. Just as our bodies naturally adapt, so do our little ones. This is the method we at Sleepy Angels will be using, but it’s all personal preference. With my own children, I sometimes haven’t even realised the clock has changed!

What About Feeding Times When The Clocks Go Back?

A lot of parents, particularly with babies that haven’t been weaned yet, find that the main adaption when the clocks move is feeding times. Unless medically advised due to What about feeding times when the clocks go backwards?

A lot of parents, particularly with babies that haven’t been weaned yet, find that the main adaption when the clocks move is feeding times. Unless medically advised due to weight issues or premature babies, our Baby Sleep Coach advises against trying to stick to the 4-hour feeding schedule (which you can read more about here) and trying to be responsive to the baby’s hunger and this is encouraged even more so with Daylight Savings Time adjustments. Our advice is to ‘be ready’ to feed the baby at the normal time but don’t be disappointed if they want to wait slightly, or feed earlier, it is best to feed when the baby starts to show signs of hunger.

The same applies with a weaned baby, try using sleepy foods! By giving foods that increase the production of Melatonin (the sleepy hormone!) can also encourage them to sleep better. Check out this blog on foods that will help baby sleep better. Otherwise, try to feed them at the correct time and be understanding and patient if they aren’t as readily hungry for a couple of days, you can always give a snack if they eat less at the mealtime’.

We really hope this advice has helped to ease any anxieties you might be experiencing around the upcoming Daylight Savings Time. It is so understandable that parents worry all their hard work around baby’s sleep will be ruined by this shift in time but we can reassure you that it won’t be, any adjustments will be minor and completely temporary!

If you have any further questions, or maybe you’re experiencing some other parenting anxieties you’d like to see a blog about please reach out to me in the comments below

References:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23910656/ – Entrainment of the human circadian clock to the natural light-dark cycle, The National Library of Medicine https://www.sleepfoundation.org/circadian-rhythm/daylight-saving-time – Daylight Saving Time, The Sleep Foundation

Have you downloaded your freebie yet? Top 10 Baby Sleep Coach Tips To Help Your Baby Sleep Better Guide! If not, then make sure to click here.

For more advice on how to help your baby sleep and find a baby sleep solution that works for you and your family, you can check out our  1 : 1 consultation services or our new baby sleep guides which come with free access to my Sleepy Village Facebook community for easy access to get your questions answered.

Tailored Sleep Plans with 1:1 support
Gentle Sleep Solution Guides for Instant Download

Frequently Asked Questions On How Can I Make My Child Sleep Better:

Can vitamin D help my baby sleep better?

What foods will help baby sleep better?

How to make kids room sleep friendly?

How does blue light affect your child’s sleep?

How to make going back to work after maternity leave easier?

How to adjust child’s routine when the clocks go back?

Advice and guidance of safer sleep for babies.

How to get babies and children to sleep when traveling?

Top 10 tips for traveling with a baby, toddler or a child.

How to help baby sleep in the heat?

How to adjust child’s routine when the clocks go forward?

Is it a good idea to give baby a dummy?

Breast pumping and sleep, when is best to breast pump. 

Will my baby sleep better if I give them a bottle?

Will my baby sleep better if I feed them every 4 hours?

Will my nursery/ childcare provider support my child’s sleep?

How can I enjoy the first Christmas with my baby?

Halloween sleepy food recipes and ideas to get your children sleeping well.

Clocks Go Forward, What Now? How Do You Adjust The Baby Routine?

Clocks Go Forward, What Now? How Do You Adjust The Baby Routine?

by | Mar 29, 2022 | Time change and child's routine

Every time the clocks go forwards or backwards, parents across the world whose baby has finally settled into a nice sleep schedule or sleep routine go into a panic. As parents, we will happily adjust to an hour-later wake-up call but does that mean they are going to stay up later too? It’s also a great time to adjust bedtimes and nap times if needed or wanted, it all seems to be subject to change due to Day Light Saving Time – what can we expect?

Spring Forward, Fall Back

We are taught this saying to remember which way the clocks are going but, is it just us or can we also spring back and fall forwards meaning we still have to rack our baby-tired brains for the answer?

In March, the clocks go forwards by an hour and as our Baby Sleep Coach inbox begins to fill with worried parents, we wanted to share some quick tips for ways you might want to adapt your routine.

Ways You Might Want To Adapt Your baby’s Routine:

little girl in bed playing with the clock

1) Start Putting Your Baby To Bed Slightly Earlier

To help with the transition of an hour, start putting your child to bed slightly earlier from Thursday. We recommend just 15 minutes early on Thursday and then to keep increasing by 15 minutes nightly until Sunday when you can put them to bed at the normal time. This can help by allowing your child minor adaptions and hopefully, the small changes will mean the wake-up time isn’t disturbed.

2) If your Baby wakes up an hour later once the times have changed, gently adjust naps

We all know the joy of trying to keep baby awake that little bit longer around nap time, but if your baby does wake up an hour later in the morning try to adjust their naps by 20 minutes so that they falling into the ‘new time’ schedule throughout the day. This should only take a day or two to allow them to adjust.

family walking outside getting vitamin D

3) Go Outside!

The natural light/dark times affects our circadian rhythm which is a large factor in your body’s sleep preparation. Unsurprisingly, the ‘daylight savings time’ was created to capture the main hours of light! We have spoken about the positive effects of Vitamin D previously but it is definitely worth getting outside to let your baby soak up some natural light on the day the clocks move forwards.

girl sleeping with her comforter teddy

4) Don’t adjust anything.


A lot of parents just carry on with their normal routines when the clocks change, whilst mentally preparing to potentially struggle to stick to bedtimes. Just as our bodies naturally adapt, so do our little ones. This is the method we at Sleepy Angels will be using, but it’s all personal preference. With my own children, I sometimes haven’t even realised the clock has changed!
girl eating broccoli

What About Feeding Times When The Clocks Go Forward?

  • A lot of parents, particularly with babies that haven’t been weaned yet, find that the main adaption when the clocks move is feeding times. Unless medically advised due to weight issues or premature babies, our Baby Sleep Coach advises against trying to stick to the 4-hour feeding schedule (which you can read more about here) and trying to be responsive to baby’s hunger and this is encouraged even more so with Daylight Savings Time adjustments.Our advice is to ‘be ready’ if you have to make a bottle up in advance but only to offer the milk feed earlier, aside from first milk on waking, if baby starts to show signs of hunger.
  • The same applies with a weaned baby, however, we would suggest having light, healthy snacks such as carrot sticks on hand for if they get hungry earlier than the usual family mealtime. That way they have had some additional vegetables that hopefully won’t spoil their appetite for the family mealtime.

References:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23910656/ – Entrainment of the human circadian clock to the natural light-dark cycle, The National Library of Medicine
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/circadian-rhythm/daylight-saving-time – Daylight Saving Time, The Sleep Foundation

We really hope this advice has helped to ease any anxieties you might be experiencing around the upcoming Daylight Savings Time. It is so understandable that parents worry all their hard-work around baby’s sleep will be ruined by this shift in time but we can reassure you that it won’t be, any adjustments will be minor and completely temporary!
If you have any further questions, or maybe you’re experiencing some other parenting anxieties you’d like to see a blog about please reach out to me.

Have you downloaded your freebie yet? Top 10 Baby Sleep Coach Tips To Help Your Baby Sleep Better Guide! If not, then make sure to click here.


For more advice on how to help your baby sleep and find a baby sleep solution that works for you and your family, you can check out our  1 : 1 consultation services or our new baby sleep guides which come with free access to my Sleepy Village Facebook community for easy access to get your questions answered.

Tailored Sleep Plans with 1:1 support
Gentle Sleep Solution Guides for Instant Download

Frequently Asked Questions On How Can I Make My Child Sleep Better:

Can vitamin D help my baby sleep better?

What foods will help baby sleep better?

How to make kids room sleep friendly?

How does blue light affect your child’s sleep?

How to make going back to work after maternity leave easier?

How to adjust child’s routine when the clocks go back?

Advice and guidance of safer sleep for babies.

How to get babies and children to sleep when traveling?

Top 10 tips for traveling with a baby, toddler or a child.

How to help baby sleep in the heat?

How to adjust child’s routine when the clocks go forward?

Is it a good idea to give baby a dummy?

Breast pumping and sleep, when is best to breast pump. 

Will my baby sleep better if I give them a bottle?

Will my baby sleep better if I feed them every 4 hours?

Will my nursery/ childcare provider support my child’s sleep?

How can I enjoy the first Christmas with my baby?

Halloween sleepy food recipes and ideas to get your children sleeping well.