The Perfect Sleeping Space

Setting the perfect sleeping space can be challenging especially when it is in summer. The weather is starting to change again in the Middle East, the heat is slowly creeping in, and we have to wave goodbye to the wonderful 3 months of cooler weather we had. The air conditioning is being switched on and I am switching my hot coffee to iced coffee. Winter pajamas are being packed away and summer bedding are being put on the bed.

Sleeping at night feels like a story of Goldilocks and the three bears in the hotter months in the Middle East. When the temperature is just right in the bedroom, my clothes are too hot. When my clothes are perfect the room is too light during the morning hours and waking us up earlier. Getting everything just right seems like the work of a magician.

Setting up the perfect sleeping space can have a major impact on the quality of everyone’s sleep. I always suggest going with the “Tripple D’s”, and I am not talking about the food show of Guy Fieri.

The triple D stands for Darkness, Degrees, and Dress.

Darkness

We all have an internal clock in our bodies that tells us to wake up in the morning and go to sleep at night, this is called our Circadian Rhythm.

The Circadian Rhythm are made up from stimuli and hormones. One of those hormones are called Melatonin.

Melatonin is the hormone that is helping us relax, physically and mentally, and it helps us get to sleep and stay asleep. Being exposed to the sun can help stimulate melatonin production. That’s why children are sleeping so well when they have played outside in the sun during the day.

At night, when the sun is going down, our brains are “collecting” the melatonin that’s been build up during the day and releasing it so we can have a good night’s sleep. When daylight comes sweeping in, our melatonin is getting less, and we are ready to get up and start our day.

In the summer months the sun is rising earlier and can disturb our sleep if it can peak it’s face into our bedrooms through the curtains. If it cannot peak through those curtains, we can extend our sleep. That’s the reason why I always suggest to my clients to have the bedroom for baby as dark as possible. Invest in black out curtains and get the extra hour or 2 of sleep.

These curtains below are great, and you have the option of buying portable curtains when you are travelling.

The Sleepout Portable Blackout Curtain 2.0 (sleepoutcurtains.com)

I always suggest to my clients to have the bedroom as dark as an 8/9 on the bedroom darkness scale. For older children we can go down a little bit to a 7/8 if higher is not possible.

Degrees

Degrees and Dress goes hand in hand together. Depending on the temperature of the room you are going to decide how to dress baby.

Keeping baby’s room at a comfortable temperature between 18-22’C and making sure the AC or fan is not blowing on them directly.

The body temperature will drop around 4 AM so some babies will wake up because they are cold.  To prevent this, you can put socks on their feet under their pajamas.

Dress

Avoid covering your baby’s head as this can lead to overheating.

You can always touch baby’s chest, back or tummy to feel if they are too hot or cold. They should feel warm and dry, not cold or sweaty. Hands and feet are normally cold in infants.

Click the link below to download my Baby Dressing guide according to the room temperature

Baby dressing guide – Unplug Sleep Solutions

All children are different, some of them tend to run a little hotter and some a little bit colder. Find the perfect temperature for your baby, even if it feels like you have to test it out like Goldilocks. You will find what is working best for your baby.

I can think of a couple of other things to add to the “DDD” list to set up a perfect sleeping space. What are some of the things you implement to make sure you have a perfect sleeping space for your little one?

Hop over to my website to download my 5 Tips To Get Your Child Sleeping Through The Night.

Unplug Sleep Solutions