The Confident Curious Socialite......& How To Get Them To Go To Sleep!

You might recognise this little one as being that baby who is super curious, determined and ready to grab anything that sparks their interest. They love interactions with others and thrive on attention and action. ⠀⠀

These little ones love music and sound and bright colours and movement and demonstrate their glee and excitement through their bodies flailing their limbs excitedly and smiling and giggling. These babies are having a great experience and it’s a joy to observe them exploring and experiencing new things. ⠀⠀

Anecdotally I have found with these little confident curious socialites they often “don’t want to leave the party” even though, they’ve spent their energy, are overwhelmed from the excitement of a new or thrilling experience and no doubt tired. They do not want the experience to be over.⠀

With these little people no matter how tired or sleepy they may be, when it comes to the battle of curiosity & fun VS sleep these little ones will choose fun every single time until exhaustion forces them to sleep (very badly as well usually.) ⠀

If you’re the parent of this little one you might find that getting this one down for a nap is almost impossible. ⠀

& while Bedtimes are usually easier, sometimes they can put up a fight and not settle to sleep for 30-40 mins or wake up after an hour and you have to work hard to get them back to sleep! ⠀

⠀If this is you and your bubba I have some tips to help you settle your confident and curious socialite to sleep a little more easily.⠀⠀

1. Darkness is your friend. Make the room they sleep in as dark as you possibly can, and get in the habit of winding them down & settling them to sleep in that room. ⠀

The CCS is a nosy little thing and anything that’s sparks their interest when it’s time to sleep will distract them. Having a dark room (read almost pitch black if you can) eliminates are visual distractions and you can then focus on calming and relaxing them to sleep. ⠀

1. B) use white/pink noise as well if you find your little one is easily distracted by sounds as well. It helps to drown out sounds you have no control over such as the doorbells/barking dogs etc⠀

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2. Have a bedtime/pre-nap ritual that really dials down stimulation with each step. Dial down your own interaction and communication whilst getting baby ready for bed. For example at the start of the ritual, you might say “time to get ready for bed/nap” then after that you say nothing further other but then smiling when baby tries to interact and ssshhhing them and cuddling them if they get upset as you settle them. Basically modelling calm and relaxing energy for your baby so they calm and relax too! If you start your pre-nap/bedtime routines at the right time you’ll find they’re less resistant to falling asleep especially if you follow step 3⠀⠀

3. Try to avoid overtiredness as much as possible? I find these little ones are high energy, dive headfirst into fun types can get tired and overwhelmed quite quickly. Be aware of their awake windows and how long they’ve been awake since their last nap. With these little ones if you to start winding them down for sleep at least 15/20 mins before the end of their awake window they should fall asleep with ease (see highlighted stories or previous post for your babies approx wake windows for their age) ⠀⠀

Do you suspect that your little one is a Confident curious socialite? Let me know in the comments ⠀

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