How do I stop my baby scratching their face at night?

Keep the bedroom cool, moisturise well before bed, keep nails short and smooth, and use soft scratch sleeves or an eczema-friendly sleeping bag to gently limit scratching while your baby sleeps. These steps work together to protect the skin overnight, since babies scratch unconsciously and cannot stop themselves.

Why does my baby scratch more at night than during the day?

At night the bed is warm, there is nothing to distract from the itch, and babies often scratch in their sleep without waking. Itch also tends to feel stronger in the evening as part of the body's natural rhythm, and broken skin from earlier scratching itches as it heals.

Is it safe to use mittens or sleeves to stop night scratching?

Yes. Soft mittens and scratch sleeves are a gentle, widely used way to protect the skin overnight. Sleeves that extend up the arm tend to stay on better than loose mittens that slip off. In a warm climate, choose a breathable fabric so the protection does not overheat your child.

How can I help my child with eczema sleep better?

Keep the room cool, follow a calm and consistent bedtime routine, moisturise before bed, and protect the skin from scratching with breathable sleepwear or a sleeping bag with scratch sleeves. Reducing overheating and reducing scratching are the two biggest levers for more settled sleep.

When should I see a doctor about night scratching?

See your doctor if the skin becomes broken and shows signs of infection (increasing redness, warmth, weeping or yellow crusting), if your child seems unwell, or if the eczema and disrupted sleep are not improving despite your efforts. A doctor can review the skincare plan and check for infection.

How to Stop Your Baby Scratching at Night: A Guide for Singapore Parents

By Kelly Northey, Certified Postpartum Nutrition Professional

Founder of Nella Vosk • 14+ years supporting families across motherhood, feeding, and early childhood wellbeing

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How to Stop Your Baby Scratching at Night: A Guide for Singapore Parents

This article is part of the Nella Vosk Baby Eczema resource for families in Singapore — our gentle, practical guide to caring for sensitive, eczema-prone skin in a warm, humid climate.

It is the sound you now hear even in your own sleep. That soft, frantic scratching through the monitor. You go in, you gently uncurl the little fingers, you settle them, and twenty minutes later it starts again. By morning there are fresh scratches, maybe blood on the sheet, and you are running on almost nothing.

You have done the cream. You have tried the mittens that fall off. You have followed every instruction from every doctor and every well-meaning relative, and your baby is still scratching. Before anything else: you have not failed. Night scratching is one of the very hardest parts of caring for eczema-prone skin, and in Singapore's warmth it is harder still. This is a thorough, practical guide to what actually helps.

Why babies scratch more at night

It genuinely is worse at night, and understanding why helps you target the right things. Several factors stack up after dark:

The bed warms the skin. Warm skin itches more, and a cot or bed quickly becomes a warm pocket, especially in a humid climate where the body struggles to cool itself.
There is nothing to distract from the itch. During the day there is play, movement and stimulation. At night there is only the sensation, and it takes over.
They scratch in their sleep. Much night scratching happens without your baby fully waking, so they cannot stop themselves, and you cannot reason with a sleeping child.
The body's own rhythm. Itch tends to feel stronger in the evening and overnight as part of the skin's natural daily cycle.
Broken skin itches as it heals. Last night's scratches are today's itch, so the cycle keeps feeding itself unless something interrupts it.

Gentle ways to help at night

No single change fixes night scratching alone. Layered together, these steps give the skin its best chance of a settled night. Think of it as stacking small wins.

1. Keep the room genuinely cool

In Singapore this is one of the most powerful levers you have. Use air-conditioning or a fan to keep the bedroom comfortably cool, and keep bedding light. A cooler room directly reduces the overheating that drives the itch. If you air-condition, a light layer of moisturiser helps offset the drying effect of the cool air.

2. Protect the skin while they sleep

Because your baby scratches unconsciously, physically protecting the skin overnight is often the single most effective thing you can do. Soft scratch sleeves and eczema-friendly sleeping bags gently limit scratching, so broken skin is not reopened again and again, and gets a real chance to settle. The key is that the protection must also breathe, so it does not overheat the child in the process.

3. Get the pre-bed skincare right

Apply a generous layer of your usual moisturiser right before bed, onto slightly damp skin after a lukewarm bath, which holds moisture best. Well-moisturised skin is more comfortable and less itchy through the night. Use whatever your doctor has recommended, and make this the last calm step of the bedtime routine.

4. Keep nails short and smooth

Short, filed nails do far less damage on the nights scratching still happens. It is a tiny habit that genuinely reduces the morning mess and the risk of the skin breaking and becoming infected. File rather than just cut, so there are no sharp edges.

5. Choose soft, breathable sleepwear

Scratchy fabric or a seam sitting against the skin will undo a lot of your other efforts. Soft, breathable sleepwear that does not trap heat makes a real difference, particularly in Singapore. Natural fabrics like bamboo help keep the skin cool as well as comfortable.

6. Keep a calm, consistent wind-down

An overtired, overstimulated child scratches more. A predictable, calm bedtime routine, bath, moisturise, dress, quiet, helps your baby settle more deeply, which means less restless scratching in the lighter phases of sleep.

What to do when the skin is already broken

Some nights the damage is done before you can prevent it. When the skin is broken:

Keep protecting it gently to prevent further scratching while it heals.
Watch for signs of infection — increasing redness, warmth, weeping, yellow crusting, or your child seeming unwell. If you see these, see your doctor, as broken eczema skin can become infected and may need treatment.
Do not blame yourself. Broken skin on a scratching baby is not a sign you did something wrong. It is the nature of eczema, and you are doing the hard work of managing it.

How the right sleepwear helps

Bamboo Bubby was born out of exactly these nights. Kelly Northey created the sleeping bag with built-in scratch sleeves after 16 years of learning what actually helped her own child. The design solves the two problems that collide at bedtime in a warm climate: it protects and it breathes. The bamboo fabric is soft and temperature-regulating, so it does not overheat, and the covered scratch-sleeve design gently limits scratching through the night. It does not replace anything your doctor has recommended, it works alongside it, giving the skin a protected, cool, settled night so it can finally recover instead of being reopened at 3am.

Made for warm-climate nights. Our Bamboo Bubby sleeping bag with scratch sleeves and mitten sleeves ship right across Singapore by express post, usually within 2 to 10 business days, with prices shown in SGD at checkout.

Explore the Bamboo Bubby sleeping bag with scratch sleeves, the eczema mitten sleeves, or browse the full Bamboo Bubby range for Singapore.

Frequently Asked Questions

: Keep the bedroom cool, moisturise well before bed, keep nails short and smooth, and use soft scratch sleeves or an eczema-friendly sleeping bag to gently limit scratching while your baby sleeps. These steps work together to protect the skin overnight, since babies scratch unconsciously and cannot stop themselves.
: At night the bed is warm, there is nothing to distract from the itch, and babies often scratch in their sleep without waking. Itch also tends to feel stronger in the evening as part of the body's natural rhythm, and broken skin from earlier scratching itches as it heals.
: Yes. Soft mittens and scratch sleeves are a gentle, widely used way to protect the skin overnight. Sleeves that extend up the arm tend to stay on better than loose mittens that slip off. In a warm climate, choose a breathable fabric so the protection does not overheat your child.
: Keep the room cool, follow a calm and consistent bedtime routine, moisturise before bed, and protect the skin from scratching with breathable sleepwear or a sleeping bag with scratch sleeves. Reducing overheating and reducing scratching are the two biggest levers for more settled sleep.
: See your doctor if the skin becomes broken and shows signs of infection (increasing redness, warmth, weeping or yellow crusting), if your child seems unwell, or if the eczema and disrupted sleep are not improving despite your efforts. A doctor can review the skincare plan and check for infection.

About the Author

Kelly Northey is the founder of Nella Vosk and the creator of Bamboo Bubby. She is a Certified Postpartum Nutrition Professional (CPPNP) who spent more than 16 years learning what actually makes a difference for babies with eczema-prone skin, starting with her own child and the long nights that inspired the sleeping bag with scratch sleeves.

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