Summer Heat Sleep

There’s nothing Brits love more than a summer heatwave, but hot weather at night can be more of a nightmare than a dream when you have little ones struggling to sleep in the heat.  

For Aisha’s Child Development Expert, Emily Salter, details her top tips and tricks for ensuring a great night’s sleep for your child when the temperatures start to rise this week. 

Splish Splash: Take a cool bath

Typically parents are told that a warm bath is a good idea before bedtime to help your child sleep. While this is true, a cooler bath is much better in warm weather as it will help to reduce your child’s body temperature before bed. Aim to bath your child right before putting them to sleep to ensure they are as cool and comfortable as possible.

Cover up or strip off?

Naturally, when we’re warm we like to wear less clothes to feel less hot. However, when it comes to sleep it’s actually better to wear very lightweight cotton pyjamas as a little bit of sweat helps to cool the body down naturally, without overheating from warm clothing. The optimum temperature for a child’s sleeping environment is between 16-20c, so bear this in mind when dressing your baby or child for sleep. 

Hydration station

When you start weaning your baby (typically from around six to seven months of age), it is then time to introduce water – but only a few sips here and there. If you are concerned about their hydration or the weather is warm, offer water-rich foods; such as melon, carrots, apples, berries, cucumber, grapes and oranges as well as yoghurt.

Frozen fans

Fans are our go to cooling agent, but an electric fan tends to just blow warm air around the room the longer you leave it on. Instead, place some frozen water in bowls around the room to keep cool air moving all night long.

Feeding times

We all know the feeling of needing a nap after a big meal or hitting the buffet! Try to feed your child a little later than normal and encourage them to snack on something before bedtime. The best foods for a great night’s sleep include anything that contains tryptophan, an amino acid that supports the production of the sleep hormone melatonin. So opt for Chicken, Turkey or Salmon based dishes with sweet potato and wholegrain snacks. For Aisha’s exotic range offers a variety of dishes that can provide just the thing:

Why not try:

• Salmon and sweet potato mash (£1.50) This yummy blend of salmon with mild herbs from For Aisha introduces little ones to important foods like parsnips and peas so they’ll love family dinners as they grow.

• Chicken and sweet potato curry (£1.90) For Aisha’s authentic Indian recipe fuses vegetables with sweet potato and the finest halal chicken, in an exciting dish that’s bursting with flavour.

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