How To Help Your Child Wake Up Happy

by Myra Hartzheim
A pediatric sleep consultant holds a baby that keeps waking in the night
Outline

Fussy, groggy, can’t stop crying…sound familiar? Here are some tried and true tips that could help your child never wake up fussy again!

1. Open the blinds and go outside. Darkness triggers your brain that it is time to sleep. Light does the opposite. Light tells your brain that its time to be awake.

2. Massage the body in an upward direction. The wonderful Amy Smith with Kids Play Smarter shared this pointer in our ‘Get The Sleep. Lose The Tears’ course: massaging the body in a downward direction will help the body help down-regulate, Massaging the body in an upward direction will help the body up-regulate.

3. Offer a protein snack. Opposite to what we do before bedtime by avoiding heavy, protein filled meals.

“protein helps your body to make important enzymes that send signals to your brain to wake up and get moving.” 1

So offer a protein shake, protein bar, or any other protein snacks your child enjoys.

4. Turn up the music. Studies have shown how music can help one wake up. You will want to find a song that is around 100-130 beats/min and starts more mellow and gradually becomes more energetic, or just find something that makes your child feel good and awake.

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5. Hold your child upright. An upright position will help tell your child’s body to “wake up.”

“Physical awareness, proprioception, is based in part on the sensation of gravity. Gravity is what tells your mind that you can’t sleep well sitting up or standing because you feel its force on different parts of your body in different positions.”2

6. Help your kid feel less cozy. Our circadian rhythm has multiple processes. One of those processes is to cool our bodies down when its time to sleep, which is why we love to get cozy at night; It allows our bodies to work less hard to keep us warm. So, if you get your kid less cozy, it will force, his/her body to warm up and ultimately wake up.

7. Diffuse some citrus oils. Has the scent of coffee ever make you want to wake up? It’s true that aromatherapy can be a powerful trigger in our brains. Citris, peppermint, rosemary, and eucalyptus are some energizing smells you can diffuse to help your little one wake up.

8. Honor your child’s sleep rhythm. We all have a unique sleep rhythm, and if we sleep during our bodies most optimal sleep times, we will feel most rested and wake up feeling refreshed!

  1. https://spoonuniversity.com/lifestyle/energizing-foods-to-eat-in-the-morning
  2. https://www.quora.com/Without-the-sensation-of-lying-down-is-it-harder-for-astronauts-to-get-to-sleep
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A pediatric sleep consultant holds a baby that keeps waking in the night

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