Holidays, visitors, and a routine in ruins

This guide is general information only and isn't a substitute for medical advice. If you're concerned about your child's health, or they're unwell, please see a doctor.

Christmas, birthdays, a week of relatives, late barbecues and overexcited cousins. Nothing dismantles a carefully built sleep routine quite like a happy occasion. The trick is knowing what to protect and what to let go.

Decide what's non-negotiable

You cannot hold every part of the routine through a festive season, and trying to will make you miserable. Pick two or three anchors and defend those: usually the wind-down sequence, the sleep space, and roughly where bedtime lands. Everything else, including the exact timing, can flex.

For babies under 12 months, the Red Nose safe sleep basics are not on the flexible list: back to sleep, own safe sleep space, clear cot, wherever you are.

Managing visitors

• Be direct and early: tell people the bedtime, and that you'll disappear for 20 minutes to do it. Most people are fine with a plan and annoyed by a surprise.
• Do the wind-down away from the noise, in the room where your child will sleep.
• Ask visitors not to wake a sleeping baby for a cuddle. It sounds obvious. It happens constantly.
• Keep the same person doing bedtime where you can, and keep the settling approach the same (see our guide on keeping other carers consistent).

Overexcitement is the real enemy

Big days mean stimulation, sugar, noise and missed naps, and the result is an overtired child who cannot switch off. Watch tired signs rather than the clock, protect at least one decent sleep during the day, and build in a genuine quiet period before bed, even if it's just twenty minutes in a dim room with a book.

An earlier bedtime on the big days is your best tool, not a later one.

The recovery

Expect a few rough nights, then go straight back to normal. Don't drag the holiday version of bedtime into February. Return to your usual routine and timings promptly once things settle, accept a few nights of protest, and it typically sorts itself out before long.

And keep some perspective: a fortnight of ordinary chaos, in a child who is otherwise sleeping well, is a blip, not a setback.

It also helps to plan one boring day at the end. A day with no outings, no visitors and an early night resets more than you would expect, and it gives your child a chance to catch up before normal life resumes. If you can, avoid going straight from a chaotic week into the first day back at childcare or school.

Sources

• Raising Children Network, Tired signs in babies and toddlers
• Red Nose Australia, Six safe sleep recommendations
• Raising Children Network, Toddler sleep

Last updated: July 2026. Sources include Red Nose Australia and Raising Children Network where cited above. This guide is general information only. For individual concerns, see your GP or child health nurse.