Creating a Sleep Supportive Environment

A good night’s sleep is essential for children’s physical, emotional, and cognitive development. But achieving restful sleep isn’t just about nap structures or wind-down routines - it also involves creating a healthy sleep environment that supports and promotes optimal sleep quality. Creating a sleep supportive environment is crucial when aiming to assist your child in achieving healthy sleep. Overall, it helps to improve their overall sleep quality, aids in easier sleep transitions, supports better health and development and reduces bedtimes struggles.

In this blog, I’ll cover what constitutes a sleep-supportive environment for children, why it’s important, and how you can establish one in your home.

What Constitutes a Sleep-Supportive Environment?

A sleep-supportive environment is one that is conducive to relaxation, comfort, and uninterrupted sleep. It should be free of any element which interferres with the production of hormones and neurotransmitters and the circadian rhythm. 

There are several key elements which can be assessed to ensure your child’s sleep environment is supportive of sleep:

Room Temperature

The temperature of your child’s bedroom can significantly impact their ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. If the room is too hot or too cold, it can cause discomfort and lead to restless sleep. There are no safe sleep guidelines around the ideal temperature, but what we do know is that a sleep environment is well balanced between 18-22°C). You can use fans, air conditioning, or heaters to maintain a consistent temperature. Lightweight, breathable bedding can also help regulate your child’s body temperature during the night.

Your child should be them dressed accordingly to the room temperature; sleep suits and sleeping bags provide recommendations of tog according to room temperature. However, do keep in mind that extremely cold or extremely warm rooms will affect your child’s ability to sleep, no matter how they are dressed. 

Never use electric blankets, wheat bags, heat packs, or hot water bottles for babies. 

Darkness

Natural darkness signals the brain to produce melatonin, the hormone responsible for sleep. Melatonin is only produced at night time, and is not triggered through synthetic darkness. Also, one component that sets the circadian rhythm (internal body clock) is light, and too much light in the room can interfere with these bodily processes and disrupt your child’s sleep cycle. It is important that your child’s sleep space is dark both day and night, to support the body clock and the production of melatonin.

Ideally, the room should be dark enough so that you can’t read the words on the page of a book. For example, if broad daylight is 0 and pitch black is 10, the room should sit at around 8 in darkness. 

To achieve a darkened room, you can ue blackout curtains or shades to block out external light. Remove or dim any sources of artificial light, such as nightlights or electronic devices, or even the stand by lights on appliances. . If your child is afraid of the dark, or you would like to use a night light, consider using a dim, red night light but keep it positioned out of direct view of your child. 

Quiet and Calm

Noise can be a significant disruptor of sleep, especially for light sleepers. A calm and quiet environment helps your child relax and drift off to sleep more easily.

You can minimise noise by using white noise machines, fans, or soft background sounds like nature noises to drown out external disturbances. Encourage a calm household as bedtime approaches but continue to  keep your household sounds as usual, as many children find comfort in hearing their parents move about the house. 

Reduce Overstimulation 

Overstimulation, (also known as a sensory overload) happens when a baby or child is flooded by more experiences, sensations, noise, and activity than the developing brain can cope with. While sensory stimulation is an important way babies learn about themselves and the world around them, some babies will be easily overstimulated. 

Environmental overstimulation can be triggered by anything that is in the cot, on the headspace of the cot, mobiles, lights, music and swinging toys, overly patterned sheets, toys on display, as examples. Try to keep the room free from overstimulating objects, and maintain the sleep space as calm and boring. 

White Noise

White noise is the only non-addictive sleep association, and is most effectively used in babies under the age of 10-12 months of age. For babies, white noise helps to trigger the calming reflex, and can be used for the whole sleep window, or just at times of settling, and then be switched off once asleep. 

As mentioned, it also helps to drown out any environmental sounds that may be disrupting your child’s sleep. Keep in mind that some babies and children don’t like the white noise, so if you feel like it’s not helping, try turning it off and see if this makes a positive difference for your child.

Humidifiers

The right level of humidity in your child’s bedroom can prevent discomfort caused by dry air, such as dry skin, irritated nasal passages, and coughing. Proper humidity can also improve breathing, especially during colder months when indoor air tends to be drier.

You can use a cool-mist humidifier to maintain an ideal humidity level of around 40-60%. Ensure the humidifier is cleaned regularly to prevent mold and bacteria buildup. Adding moisture to the air can make your child’s sleep environment more comfortable and supportive of restful sleep.

Conclusion

A sleep-supportive environment is essential for ensuring your child gets the quality rest they need to grow, learn, and thrive. By paying attention to factors like temperature, comfort, light, and noise, and by establishing consistent bedtime patterns, you can create a space where your child feels safe, secure, and ready to sleep. And as part of your establishment of a healthy sleep environment, please educate yourself around Red Nose safe sleeping guidelines to upskill yourself around safe sleep – rednose.org.au 

Remember, while a supportive environment is crucial, it’s just one piece of the puzzle and is not the basis for improved sleep. However, with these strategies in place, your child will be on the path to healthier sleep.

If you’d like to connect and discuss your child’s sleep concerns, please book in for a free 15 minute Discovery Call. You can also come and join my Facebook sleep support group for free sleep advice.

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Shereen x

I'm Shereen Nielsen, a certified Sleep Consultant specialising in infants and children from birth to 15 years old. With over seven years of experience, I've assisted over 4000 families in achieving better sleep. Additionally, I serve as a lecturer and mentor, guiding aspiring sleep consultants on their path to certification through my internationally recognised online Sleep Consultant Course.

Phone: +61419820474

Email: hello@shereennielsen.com 

Website: www.shereennielsen.com

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