10 TIPS FOR GETTING KIP
Mum-of-four Lucy teamed up with Apta club with her top tips on how to cope with sleep challenges as the clocks go back.
1. For the established sleeper
Stick to your original schedule. If your child historically wakes at 7am and goes to bed around 7pm, the day the clock changes it will say 6am, but it is no different to the day before. Stick to the same schedule and put him or her to bed when the clock says 7pm, but that will really be 8pm.
2 . For the lighter sleeper
Make a slow change. Slowly change your child’s schedule over the course of a few days before the time change. For example, on Wednesday 25 October, four days prior to the time change, put your child to bed 15 minutes later than normal in the hope that they wake 15 minutes later in the morning this is determined by our internal clock, so may not always happen. Also, offer him or her naps 15 minutes later.
3. For the unpredictable
Be Flexible. Alter the schedule as much as your child can handle. I often find splitting the difference between the “old” time and the “new” time works well. On the first night they would go to bed at 7pm and this would have been 7.30pm on the day before, so 30 minutes beyond their typical bedtime and then adjust the rest of schedule accordingly.
4. Biological timekeeping
Setting your child’s biological clock can help adjust them to the time change. Lucy said: “Sleep is underpinned by biological timekeeping, the time change can undermine things a little bit. “We try to match the biological rhythm, then we know we’re maximising their sleep potential overnight.”
5. The right time to nap
Napping too late in the day accounts for many sleep problems. Lucy said: “The last nap should finish about 3.30pm and then the child should be asleep within four hours of that last nap finishing, which would be the perfect alignment with the natural body clock.
6. Getting your child to sleep in longer blocks
Lucy says: “If you’re looking to help your baby or toddler get through longer periods of sleep at night then change the dynamic of the day and you can unlock more of your child’s ability.” Timekeeping takes up about 60% of the challenges parents have with sleep. Rocking them or bobbing them etc can play a part but not as big a part as people expect. Lucy explains: “The first nap ideally should be within two to three hours of waking and then that first nap I’d limit it to an hour, nap two should be bulked out a bit. “The most important gap is between the last nap and bedtime, we don’t want that to be more than four hours.”
7. Both parents agree on a sleep plan
Sleep can become a bit of an obsession, it becomes important when you’re not getting enough and Lucy encourages both mum and dad to agree on a plan and stick to it, with realistic expectations on how long sleep training should last.
8. The importance of a regular wake time
In the first six months, sleep expert Lucy does not subscribe to any bad habits. But behind the scenes there are a few things you can do such as have a regular wake time, no later than 7.30am, so you set your child’s body clock. Most children benefit from a bedtime between 7pm and 8pm. And balance between last nap and bedtime is important.
9. Don’t blame teething for everything
Teething only lasts between five and eight days, you’d want to see symptoms, red bottoms, dirty nappies, flushed cheeks with loads of drooling then you know your lack of sleep is pain orientated. A lot of parents put 12 months of sleep disturbance down to teething which is not always the case. Most children get all their teeth by two-and-a-half years.
10. Don’t compare
Don’t compare your babies, or set yourself up for failure by comparing yourself to the person next door, everyone has a different perception and it’s important to plough your own furrow.