Overtiredness

I always say, if there can be such a thing as an enemy for sleep, it’d be overtiredness and drowsiness (we’ll save drowsiness for another day!). Without a doubt though, if there is anything that can send your child’s sleep off the rails – whether they are sleep trained or not – it’s your little one being overtired.

Kids, just like all other people, have a natural rhythm within their body when it comes to day to day tasks such as eating or moving bowels, and even more so with sleep. Our bodies secrete hormones throughout the day to keep us up and running, and different ones throughout the night that help us to rest. Many factors come into play when it comes to the secretion of these hormones, but timing is the most prevalent.

So what happens when your little one stay awake past the time when these natural cues for sleep are activated? Simply put, the body assumes there is a reason it hasn’t been allowed to get to sleep which then leads to the assumption that the body NEEDS to stay awake, which in turn causes the body to pump out those daytime hormones again.

And that’s when the trouble begins.

Once those signals to stay awake start firing up, they’re pretty tough to shut down. And baby is already tired! So less sleep (or no sleep) leads to more daytime hormones, and the cycle ends up perpetuating itself.

What’s the best way to prevent this situation from occurring?

Get baby to sleep BEFORE their window of opportunity is up.

But babies, especially newborns, can be a little bit cryptic when it comes to signaling when they’re actually ready for sleep. If you know what to look for though, it will work wonders in figuring out the right time to put baby down.

Some good signs to look out for include: tugging at the ears, rubbing of the eyes/nose, arching of the back, or turning of face into chest.

Now, these are all strong signs that baby is ready for bed, but they can also easily be mistaken for signs that baby is hungry (particularly with a newborn). SO, combine your keen eye for these sleep cues with a keen eye for that clock.

Wake windows should become your new friend!

Essentially, what I want you to do is utilize both the average amount of awake time a baby can manage at a given age AND the signals you’re seeing in order to PREVENT overtiredness from settling in.

And in general, I’d always say it’s better to err on the side of MORE sleep rather than less.

Remember that with newborns, they can usually only handle about an hour of awake time in a given stretch, so make a note of what time baby wakes up and set a reminder to get baby back down for a sleep around 45-60 minutes after that. (I know that this may seem a little rigid to parents who aren’t used to it… an hour seems like barely enough time to feed, change diaper and play before baby has to be back down for sleep. BUT I highly doubt you’re going to come back to me and say “I think my baby is getting too much sleep.”!!)

As baby gets older, they will be able to start staying awake for longer and longer stretches, but even with toddlers, we want to be vigilant that they’re not up for longer than they can handle.

What are some signs that your baby is overtired?

• If baby falls asleep in under 5 minutes… Although it seems like it’s great that baby is falling asleep so quickly, this is often a sign of overtiredness. Try putting baby down 10-15 minutes sooner.

• If baby falls asleep at random times/places throughout the day… Baby is tired and will get some rest whenever they get a chance (in the car seat, stroller or high chair for example). These little catnaps will prevent baby from being able to get in good quality, restful sleeps.

• If baby is acting hyper/manic/silly… That sudden influx of daytime hormones can actually cause baby to become super happy and giggly (just the opposite of what you’d expect from a child who needs to get to bed!). You’ll quickly see that it won’t be too long before their good mood shifts to crankiness and bedtime is an even tougher battle.

• If baby has a hard time settling into sleep… An overtired baby has a hard time settling into sleep and may even appear restless throughout the night.

• If baby (toddler!) tells you, “I’m tired”… If this happens, yay to your little one for knowing their body’s own signals, but at this point, it’s probably way past bedtime!

Overtiredness can be really tricky, but the light at the end of the tunnel is that once baby is on a consistent schedule OR routine, it’s much much easier to see the signs of overtiredness through the signals baby is showing you and to then PREVENT baby from getting to the point of no return… or a really difficult return ;)