The Hot Weather Bedtime Mistakes You Might Be Making With Your Kids

If your family’s sleep routine has gone straight out of the window these past few weeks, welcome to the (very tired) club.

In fact, a new survey by vitamin brand CapyChews found almost half of parents (48%) said their child’s sleep worsens during hot weather, a figure which rises to a mammoth 71% when it comes to parents of four-year-olds.

I can attest: sleep has been especially hard to come by in my household of late – the week where we also experienced high humidity and red health alerts was particularly tricky, with the little ’uns not falling asleep until almost 10pm most nights. (As you can imagine, the following mornings were super fun!)

The ideal room temperature for the human body to sleep is around 18-20°C, according to the Sleep Foundation.

But the recent bout of hot weather has taken bedrooms way past that – and if our bodies can’t cool down, it’s a lot harder to drift off and stay asleep.

You might’ve been aiming to get the kids in bed earlier than normal owing to just how exhausting these heatwaves can be, but baby and child sleep consultant, Andrea Grace, suggested this is a common bedtime mistake parents make.

“While early bedtimes are usually recommended, a bedtime that comes before a child is genuinely ready for sleep can make falling asleep harder – and your child’s bed can become associated with wakefulness,” she explained.

“In these cases, a later bedtime for a few nights can help. Once your child is falling asleep easily, bedtime can be gradually moved earlier until you find their ideal sleep time.”

Rosey Davidson, a sleep consultant and founder of Just Chill Mama, agreed that bringing bedtime earlier won’t necessarily have the intended outcome – even if your kids seem more tired during the day.

“If bedtime is consistently before a child is actually ready for sleep, it can lead to longer periods of lying awake, frustration, and bedtime becoming more of a battle,” she said.

Noting that the heat makes it harder to fall asleep, she added that it “won’t cause any harm” if kids have later nights when it’s really hot.

Davidson suggested that during a heatwave, “keeping the room as cool as possible is more important than making it completely dark”.

“If opening the curtains or blinds slightly overnight allows cooler air to circulate, I’d prioritise that,” she said.

“If your child tends to wake early with the light, you can always close the blackout blinds again when you wake early in the morning (for example, around 4-5am) if that helps them settle back to sleep.”

You might worry your child will get cold overnight, but Davidson warns that overheating is far more likely in a heatwave.

“Keep clothing and bedding light, and follow safe sleep guidance for babies,” she added.

If sleep’s gone AWOL, it can be tempting to overhaul the evening routine completely but Davidson warns this could backfire as “children generally cope better with familiar, predictable bedtimes”.

“Keep the routine as consistent as you can, even if sleep takes a little longer than usual,” she said.

“Also do not panic that sleep has hit the rocks! You can work on improving it when the temperature is cooler.”

The sleep expert added that a few disrupted nights during very hot weather are “completely normal and don’t usually mean you’ve created a long-term sleep problem”.

She urges parents to let kids sleep in the coolest room in the house during the hotter temperatures – even if it’s just for a few nights.

“If your baby’s nursery or your child’s bedroom is unbearably hot, there’s nothing wrong with having a family sleepover in a cooler room,” she said.

“For babies, a travel cot is a great option if that room is cooler and you’re following safe sleep guidance.”

Ultimately she wants parents to not panic: “Sleep often settles again once the weather cools. A few difficult nights won’t undo good sleep habits, so focus on keeping your child as cool and comfortable as possible rather than aiming for perfect sleep.”