Preventing Overtiredness

The dreaded term “overtired”, we’ve all heard about, experienced it, but how in the world can we prevent it?

Adults and children alike have a natural rhythm when it comes to sleep. Our bodies produce a hormone called cortisol that keep us going throughout the day and the hormone called melatonin that help us sleep at night. These hormones are dependent on a few factors, but timing is the most important when we talk about how to prevent overtiredness.

What happens if the timing is off?

When you miss the opportunity to put your child to sleep when their body is releasing melatonin (signalling them to go to sleep), their body assumes there is a reason it’s being deprived the opportunity for sleep. In response to this assumption, the body starts creating the daytime hormone, cortisol, again to keep the body going. You’ve probably heard of this before as “getting their second wind”, and it really is just that. When your child is deprived of their biological timing for sleep, they get a gust of cortisol that tells their body they must keep going!

This my friends, means your child is already overtired and that is where the trouble starts.

Once those daytime hormones get fired up again, they are hard to shut down! This leads to your little one becoming increasingly more tired because not only are they already overtired, but a child who is overtired also has a harder time falling asleep and staying asleep.

So how do we avoid this?

The best way to avoid having a child become overtired is to put them down for sleep before they reach the point of overtired. I know! Easier said than done!

Babies, especially newborns, are a little tough to read when it comes to signalling when they’re tired. It may take a few weeks, but once you know what to look for it can work wonders in assessing when it is time for sleep.  

Some good signals to watch for include rubbing their eyes and nose, arching their back, tugging at their ears, or turning their heads away from stimuli.

Some sleepy cues, especially in young babies, can also look a lot like hunger cues. Implement a eat, play, sleep routine in your day and this will give you the confidence to be able to distinguish the two. Let’s say you just finished feeding your two-month-old an hour ago, if they start fussing, your routine tells you that the next thing to do is lay your sweet baby down for sleep, not to feed them again. We want to feed hungry babies, and let tired babies sleep. You’ll want to keep one eye on the baby, and one eye on the clock.

Newborns can only handle about 45-60 minutes of time awake before they need to sleep again. This includes a feed, diaper change, and playtime. So you’ll want to make a note of the time when they woke up and make sure that you are putting baby back down for sleep in about 45-60 minutes of that time. Even if they are seemingly happy and alert, you really do want to follow the age-appropriate wake window for child. This is where the “one eye on the baby, one eye on the clock” comes in! Here are the wake-window ranges for each age category:

Age	Wake Window
0-3 Months	45-60 Minutes
3-6 Months	1.5-2 Hours
6-13 Months	2.5-3.5 Hours
13-36 Months	4-5.5 Hours

You can see that as your baby ages their wake window will lengthen allowing them to go longer stretches in between sleep. Throughout the baby and toddler years, overtiredness is always something parents and caregivers will need to be aware of.

Toddlers react very strongly to the condition of being overtired (because they react strongly to everything). They can become quite manic when overtiredness strikes! They might appear to be super happy and giggly; acting in the exact opposite of someone who needs to go to bed. But that happy, giggly little kid can quickly flip their mood into extreme crankiness, and then you’re probably in for a bedtime battle!

Give it a try!

I know that following a schedule can sound a little rigid for parents who aren’t used to it, but I like to think of it as more of a routine than a schedule. Most children can tolerate a little flexibility in the day; about 30 minutes. You know your child best and will quickly learn their tolerance level. I promise you that having a child on a timely routine who is happy and well rested is much better than having a lot of flexibility in your days but with a child who is often cranky and overtired.

So try following the wake windows for your child’s age for a solid two weeks and I’m sure you will see a noticeable difference in your child’s mood!