At various times of year we have celebrations where fireworks play a part and often disrupt our pets and our sleeping children!
Here are 5 ways to help your little one sleep when there are fireworks banging outside:
- Get to sleep before it gets too noisy.
We enter our deepest phase of sleep right at the start of the night and this is when your child is able to sleep through the most noise. They go into deep sleep fairly quickly so once they are sound asleep for about 10 minutes, you should be in the clear.
2. Reassure your child and explain it if he’s old enough to understand
Your little one may need extra comfort if the noise is disturbing him. Depending on age this may come in the form of some shh-ing and gentle touch (patting/stroking) or a cuddle. If close to age two years or above, he will understand if you explain simply what the noise is and that it’s just people having fun. Using positive language here is important so talk about the noise in a positive light rather than suggesting it’s ‘nothing to be scared of’.
3. Don’t allow yourself to get frustrated
Your child will pick up on your emotions so if you are feeling frustrated, annoyed or anxious about the fireworks, he will too. It’s pretty hard to hide this as this sort of energy seems to seep out of us. Try to be genuinely calm about it and this will help your child feel the same.
4. It’s not a problem if it’s not a problem
Your little one might sleep soundly as though nothing is evening happening outside so don’t pre-empt a tough bedtime or a stressful time settling your child when it might not even happen. If you are getting worked up, this will feed into your little ones energy at bedtime as described in tip 3 above. You may be sat stressing over the noise waking your child while he is sleeping soundly so it’s not a problem unless it’s a problem.
5. Extra reassurance is fine but don’t drastically change your routine
Whilst you may need to offer some extra reassurance, don’t overcompensate and make major changes to your usual routine. If you bring your child in with you just once when that’s not usually what you do, this may take a week or more to undo! Likewise, staying up late and cuddling up with you on the sofa until it passes will not only cause over tiredness but it too could cause days or weeks of challenges around settling to sleep. Keep to routine as much as you can.
Whatever the occasion, enjoy and remember, they are not little for long and it’s probably just one night per year to put up with!
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