Sleep Tight This Christmas with The Little Cherry Tree
The festive period is an exciting time for us all, especially our little ones. There is nothing more magical then seeing their little faces light up when they see the bright lights, experience snow for the first time or when they wake up on Christmas morning. But this excitement can also lead to disruption to their routines and sleep.
Christine Hadfield from The Little Cherry Tree, shares her top tips for helping your children sleep through Christmas:
My tips are designed to give you some ideas on how to have less sleep stress over the festive period, by being realistic that routines are changing, but that there are things that you can do so that sleep does not go completely out of the window.
The bedroom environment is one of the biggest things to help sleep, if it is busy and chaotic, it won’t promote healthy calm sleep. Wherever you are spending Christmas, make sure you have those home comforts for your little humans. If they have a sleeping bag at home, take it with you. If they have a favourite teddy, make sure it is packed. If they have a dark room at home, then make sure the space they sleep in is dark. Keeping consistency with every aspect of your home bedtime routine will really help.
Bedtimes are bound to slip, with extra gatherings, and parties. It is all part of Christmas. If you know your social calendar has a few nights like this booked in, then it is good to have some calmer time in between. Not just for the little humans but for yourself too!!
Lack of sleep will just cause grumpy children and adults, and this is not on anyone’s festive agenda.
Lots of fresh air is needed so go out for crisp walks. Not only is this good to have as a break from the sometimes over stimulation of Christmas, but it also helps to burn off the over excitement and energy they have!
I am a big fan of calm time before bed and Christmas can make this really tricky, so try to plan some calm festive activities that don’t include any screen time.
Still try to get the naps in place as best as you can and try to avoid introducing the unwanted habits you wouldn’t normally allow. They may not nap as long as normal with everything going on, but some rest is by far better than none at all and will help you avoid the over tired child!
The Little Cherry Tree offers sleep support to families through 1:1 packages, online course and workshops and also provide a range of sleep themed gifts in their shop.
Visit www.thelittlecherrytreecompany.co.uk for further information and support.
