Navigating Your Child's Sleep Over The Christmas Holidays

Christmas is such an exciting time for both adults and children. There are usually a lot of activities going on during the lead up to christmas & over the holidays, these activities can go one of two ways!

One - you all have a spectacular time with minimal outbursts such as tantrums, arguments or wrestling on the floor for particular toys.

OR

Two - there's tantrum after tantrum, followed by more tantrums which results in arguments and wrestling on the floor. Usually, these types of behaviours are exacerbated by hunger, overstimulation and overtiredness.

SO... how do we reduce the likelihood of every christmas outing being ruined by small demons with bags under their eyes? Quite simply, STAY INDOORS AND NEVER LEAVE!

Just kidding...my advice is to have contingency plans in place so you can at least try to prevent the overtiredness from kicking in. Most events tend to happen late in the evening (christmas carols, christmas lights, new years eve fireworks). On these days, depending on your childs age, you could schedule in an extra nap or try to nap an older toddler later in the evening. If this fails, again, depending on the age of your baby, bring a pram or a carrier so when they do get tired, theres somewhere for them to rest and zone out of the chaos for a bit.

Realistically, sleep is very important for babies to rest and recover. Advocating for your babies best interest is priority over attending activities or functions. If you feel your baby needs to go home, or they are so tired that they are not enjoying the experience, then I give you full permission to call it a day and tend to their needs. Aunt Karen that you only see once a year might say "she's a spoilt brat" or "come on its only one night", but you tell her to mind her own business. She is not the one who will have to deal with a fussy toddler for the entire day tomorrow.

In saying that, most babies and toddlers are quite flexiible so long as it's not an everyday occurance. I like to tell my clients to follow the 80/20 rule, follow their sleep schedule for 80% of the time and allow for outings and unexpected events 20% of the time.

Or simply do one day on track with sleep and one day off track. So if you have two activities on two consecutive days, it might be wise to only choose one and if possible have a break between them so your baby can have a day of great sleep to recover. Dont forget to enjoy every precious moment with your little ones. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas 🎄