How Sensory Input During the Day and At Bedtime Can Improve Infant, Toddler, and Child Sleep
How Sensory Input During the Day and At Bedtime Can Improve Infant, Toddler, and Child Sleep
We all have sensory needs and preferences. Think about how you like your sleep environment and what makes you feel calm. Maybe it’s a cold room, cotton sheets, or an eye mask for total darkness. Those are all sensory preferences. Some people are more sensory seeking, meaning they need extra feedback from their environment (movement, touch, etc.) to feel regulated, while others are more sensory avoiding, meaning that they prefer reduced stimuli (noise, touch/ texture, light etc.) to feel regulated.
Whether your baby is a seeker or avoider (or a mix like many of us!), you want to set up their bedtime routine and environment to be as conducive to sleep as possible.
Knowing your baby’s sensory threshold is important for setting up their environment. Sensory threshold is part of baby’s temperament, and describes how much sensory information a child needs before he reacts. Many newborns have a high threshold for sensory stimuli and can sleep through anything! As they get older though, this barrier, or veil, for stimuli may get thinner, and baby might require certain conditions for sleep like a dim room, limited noise and activity, etc. Other babies are totally happy to nap whenever, wherever, throughout infancy and even through toddlerhood. This is partially determined by a little one’s temperament.
A child’s sensory system and self-regulation abilities play a significant role in shaping their sleep patterns and quality. Sensory processing and self-regulation are skills that are ongoing throughout childhood. One systemic review found that sensory-processing and sleep problems go hand in hand. Sensory issues can predict sleep issues in about 25% of all children, and in sensory-seekers these issues accounted for about 42% of the sleep problems.
It’s important to note that everyone has sensory needs and preferences, and we don’t need to over pathologize them. However, there are some cases where sensory problems and, therefore, sleep problems, can be a symptom of something deeper going on. If your child’s sensory needs impact aspects of daily living, a consultation with an Occupational Therapist can be very helpful. Even if your child doesn’t have a neurodivergent brain or a sensory processing disorder, however, sensory can have a big impact on how well they sleep, partially depending on whether they are an avoider or seeker.
Sensory Avoiders and Seekers
Sensory Avoiders
Children with heightened sensory sensitivities often struggle with sleep due to over-responsiveness to environmental stimuli, such as noise, light, textures (sheets or pajamas), or temperature. These sensitivities can lead to hyperarousal, making it difficult for the child to relax and transition into sleep.
Children who actively avoid sensory input due to a low neurological threshold may experience increased night wakings, parasomnias (e.g., nightmares), and sleep anxiety. Their heightened awareness of sensory stimuli can interfere with both sleep initiation and maintenance.
Examples of sensory avoidance include bristling or flinching at unexpected touch, heightened pain response, avoiding play with certain materials (sand, slime etc.), disliking certain clothing types or fabrics, becoming distressed during activities like bathing, brushing teeth/ hair or diaper changes, squirming away from kisses, cuddles or hugs, avoiding certain tastes, smells or textures in food, avoiding certain play equipment or being very cautious on playgrounds, disliking sudden or loud sounds, disliking bright lights, and frequent tantrums.
Sensory Seekers
Conversely, children who seek sensory input may also have disrupted sleep patterns, as their need for stimulation can prevent them from calming down enough to fall asleep.
Because sensory seekers may struggle with the lack of stimuli that comes with sleep, and avoiders may struggle due to inability to block things out, there are a few things we can do regardless of your child’s sensory needs and temperament that are helpful for most.
Examples of sensory seeking behaviors include seeking out movement like rocking, swinging, going upside down, or jumping from high places, making lots of noises with their mouth or hands and seeking out loud sounds, wanting to suck continuously (breast, bottle, pacifier, clothing), craves motion like bouncing to fall asleep, enjoys strongly flavored foods such as pickles, lemons, garlic etc., likes tightly fitting clothing or wraps themselves up in blankets, covers themselves in pillows or stuffies, etc., bumps or runs/ crashes into things or people, touches everything.
Two types of sensory input that activate our proprioceptive sense and are calming to most people are deep pressure and heavy work.
Sensory Supporting Tips for Bed Time: Deep Pressure
“Deep pressure” refers to firm, sustained pressure on the body, which activates proprioceptors (sensory receptors in muscles and joints) to provide information to the brain about the body’s position and movement. Deep pressure input can calm and help regulate by activating the parasympathetic nervous system, allowing for rest and digest. You can provide deep pressure in lots of ways:
- “Arm squeezies” or squeezing up and down legs or feet
- Massage with lotion or oil using slow, firm strokes
- Warm bath/ water play
- Compression fort- make a fort out of a Nugget/ play couch, sofa cushions, pillows etc. for child to crawl and “squeeze” through
- Bear hugs/ snuggles- you can do while reading or listening to a calming story like Goldminds’ audio stories
- Pillow presses- child lays down or sits and you take a pillow or cushion to gently press on top of them (never cover face/ airway)
- Rough and tumble play with parent
A note here on weighted objects and blankets. These items are often recommended as a tool for getting deep pressure input, but they are not safe for infants or young children. Never use a weighted sleep sack, blanket or vest for your child unless under direct supervision from your healthcare provider.
Sensory Supporting Tips for Bedtime: Heavy Work
“Heavy Work” refers to activities that provide proprioceptive input to the body, meaning that they engage muscles and joints in a way that helps the body tell the brain where it is in space. This type of input can be very regulating and calming, especially to children.
You may notice that your child naturally tries to give themselves this type of input. They may enjoy pushing or pulling heavy objects or gravitate towards activities where they are climbing, jumping, squeezing etc. Here are a few ideas to provide this “heavy work” during the evening or even as part of your bedtime routine:
- Pushing/ pulling heavy box, laundry basket, pretend stroller/ shopping cart, push walker toy etc.
- Rolling heavy medicine ball back and forth on the floor
- Push a yoga ball or medicine ball across the room
- Having a pillow fight
- Jumping & crashing onto beanbag or pillow/ cushion pile
- Army crawling through tunnel, under table etc.
- Wheelbarrow walking (holding child’s feet, have them walk around on hands – could pretend they are a vacuum cleaner etc.)
- Chewy or crunchy bedtime snack, water bottle with straw, nursing or bottle feeding
- For crawlers: try getting them to crawl with a lightly weighted object on their back (like a stuffed animal)
To accomplish lots of these activities at once, try setting up an “obstacle course” for your child to complete before beginning the bedtime routine. Having adequate time to get this sensory input in and enough time to wind down after all the silliness is key to a smooth, quick bedtime.
Bedtime Games for Sensory Input for Babies and Toddlers
Roller Ball
For this game you’ll need a large yoga ball.
Place your child on top of the yoga ball, belly down, with just their chest and tummy on the ball so that their face is clear.
Supporting them with one hand on their upper back and the other on their bottom, slowly rock them back and forth on the ball. Repetitive rocking is calming to the body.
Make Me a Pizza
This game comes from the book Pete’s Pizza and is always a favorite! You are essentially making your child into a pizza.
To start, have them lay down flat on their bellies. Pretend to roll, “knead” and stretch the dough by massaging them deeply, starting at the middle of their body and moving out towards their limbs. You can also roll their body from side to side.
After massaging or “kneading” the dough, spread on the sauce. Again use long and deep strokes along their back body.
Next you can ask them what toppings they’d like, or make it up yourself. Plop toppings along their back.
Finally, the “pizza” goes into the oven- you can act out moving them into their bed, or another spot, or just keep them in place and pretend they’re going in an oven. Wait a second, then say “pizza is ready!” and pretend to eat them all up!
Variation: Make me a cake! Same idea as above, except you’d add icing, candy, sprinkles etc. to the cake.
Garbage Truck
This is a great bang for your buck activity! Get a large laundry basket or cardboard box. Tell your child you’re going to act as the “garbage truck” to gather up all the toys and other things left on the floor.
They “drive” around the room or house, picking up items to put in the bin. As they keep going, the bin gets heavier and heavier.
Pushing the full bin is great heavy work, and now your house is clean!
Variation: Instead of calling this “garbage truck” you can call it anything like “feeding the hippo” and pretending the bin is the hippo’s mouth. Whatever your child is into, you can use that!
Sensory Toys for Babies and Toddlers
1. Squigs– endless uses for these! Stick them to windows, the wall of the bath tub, the dresser or bed, etc. The push/pull required is great deep pressure.
2. Sensory Tubes– these can be used to pull and push to turn into rings that you can jump in and out of as part of an obstacle course. You can also use them to blow bubbles in the bath, which is awesome for regulation.
3. Bubble Blower– along with being a great tool for regulation (taking deep breaths!), blowing bubbles can help in their motor development, visual skills, oral language development, and more.
4. Breathing Ball– this can be a great way for little ones to visualize taking deeeeep breaths in and out as they move the ball in and out along with their breath.
5. Calm down timer– if your child gets extra silly after these games, have them lie down on a pillow or beanbag and watch these timers while taking deep breaths.
6. Weighted sensory balls or medicine balls can be great for rolling back and forth on the floor.
7. Sensory body sock– this tight fabric is like a big hug and offers awesome calming properties- giving the body deep pressure. Be sure to always use this under supervision, and not with infants.
8. Stepping stones– these are awesome for balance and work great for games like floor is lava or for obstacle courses.
9. Crawling tunnel– these allow little ones to crawl through, giving heavy work to the body, and are perfect to include in an obstacle course.
10. Nice Cube– these sensory cubes are great for little hands to squeeze while listening to bedtime stories.