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16th, Dec 2018
Help get your child to sleep in time for Santa - Kingsbridge Healthcare Group's Dr Deirdre Peake gives advice to parent's about how to establish a good sleeping pattern before Christmas helping get them and you rested.
Lack of sleep can be troublesome for children and exhausted parents.
Problems with sleep include:
Many of these can be improved with sleep hygiene.
Sleep hygiene is the term used to describe good sleep habits. Considerable research has gone into developing a set of tips which are designed to enhance good sleeping and they can work!
The Four Pillars of Good Sleep Hygiene:
1. Bedtime Schedule
2. Bedtime Routine
3. Environmental Conditions of the Bedroom
4. Daytime Behaviors and Habits
Create a bedtime routine that works for you and your child, and then stick to it. For this to work you must have 2 things
1. It must include both a regular bedtime and a regular waking time. Make sure the times you select are practical and realistic for you and your child's other life schedules.
2. Consistency is the Key! If you must adjust it for weekends, then don't adjust it by any more than an hour in either direction, or else you defeat the whole purpose. Their physiology simply will not know when it is time to sleep or be awake. And this goes double for teenagers.
Establish a regular bedtime routine for your child. A regular bedtime routine, about 1/2-hour long leading up to bedtime itself, is how you can best help your child to prepare for a good night's sleep.
Good Bedtime Routine:
Avoid:
Whatever activities you (and your child) decide upon, the cornerstone of your child’s bedtime routine is that he/she knows what time to get changed for bed and brush his teeth, what time to be in bed, and how much time he can spend on in-bed activities such as reading.
Set a bedroom temperature that's comfortable and will remain consistent throughout the night, erring on the cooler side. Keeping the temperature consistent throughout the night can help avert nighttime wakings
Make the room sufficiently dark; a small nightlight is okay, if needed, but too much brightness interferes with restful sleep
Provide your child a quiet sleeping environment
Take the television out of your child's bedroom; all television-viewing should cease at least 30 minutes before bedtime anyway
Keep the bed for sleeping. Don’t use the bed for playing, reading, eating, or watching TV
Dress your child in comfortable pyjamas/nightclothes
Encourage children to sleep alone and to fall asleep alone
Many good daytime behaviours influence good sleep hygiene:
Do not go to their room unless absolutely necessary. They need to learn to “self soothe”. It is normal for children to awaken and they need to learn to fall asleep on their own after these normal awakenings.
If upset go to your child soothe and comfort and leave again before the child is asleep.
If your child is never drowsy at the planned bedtime, you can delay bedtime by 30 minute increments until the child appears drowsy, so they experience falling asleep more quickly when they go to bed. Bedtime should then advance as a routine is established.
Improvements in your child's sleep patterns likely won't happen overnight, but once you begin implementing good sleep hygiene practices in your child's life you should see a result within a few weeks (in time for Santas arrival)
Keep a sleep diary to track naps, sleep times and activities to find patterns and target problem areas that are not working
On average a school age child sleeps 8 hours with teenagers needing 10 hours however recommendations are for even more sleep:
Infants (3 - 11 months) : 14 - 15 hours
Toddlers (1 - 3 years) : 12 - 14 hours
Preschoolers (3 - 5 years) : 11 - 13 hours
School age children : 8 - 10 hours
Teenagers : 10 - 11 hours
Written by Dr Deirdre Peake, General Paediatrics & Paediatric Neurology at Kingsbridge Private Hospital, Belfast.
For further information about the Paediatric Children's services at Kingsbridge Healthcare Group click here
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