Hi, I’m Dana Obleman, creator of “The Sleep Sense Program.” This week’s question comes from Brenda, and she writes, “I had used The Sleep Sense Program and had gotten my child to sleep through the night, but then he got a cold and was up a lot. Now, he has gotten over his cold but he still wants to be up all night. How do I start to get him back on track or teach him the skills to sleep on his own?”

Well, that is a great question Brenda and that is one that is probably going to come up for everyone at some point. Sickness, colds, flus, can sometimes disrupt a baby’s sleep patterns. And absolutely if a baby is sick they are going to need your comfort and they are going to need your attention, but I always caution that you want to be fairly careful how you respond. You do not want to “rock the boat” too much that you undo all your hard work.

So the best advice if you are dealing with a child who is sick is definitely go in when you hear them in the night. If you need to, go ahead and take them out of the crib and have some cuddles and give them Tylenol, wipe their nose. Do all the things you need to do and once they are settled and calm again, go back to their crib and they should go in there awake.

The good news is that most babies — once they have their own skills for sleeping — they do not tend to like anyone to interfere with them. So even if you tried to rock your sick baby to sleep, they’ll probably accept the comfort but at some point they will indicate that they want to go back to their crib or start pushing away or arching their backs. And that is usually a good sign that they have had enough cuddling and now they would like to go back to sleep.

So just be really cautious that you do not try to interfere too much and definitely do not do things like bringing your sick baby to your bed or nursing again in the night if you have stopped. If you want to, offer them some water from a sippy cup just to calm their cough. If you are really concerned about your child, if there is some very serious illness, it is always better that you move to your child’s room rather than moving your child to yours… even if that meant you had to spend the couple of nights on the floor! That would be much less disruptive than having the baby come to your bed. Because a couple of nights in bed with you and she could decide that’s where she wants to be now from now on and six months later she is still on your bed.

So definitely offer comfort when your child is sick, but do not mess around with their “sleep strategies,” and if things totally fall apart through the illness just get right back on track. Start from day one with your program and within seven days you will probably be back on track again.

So thanks for your question, Brenda. I hope that helps, and sleep well!