Having enough sleep is an important aspect of a healthy lifestyle. Not getting enough sleep can be be an issue for anyone much less a young child. A good sleep schedule should be the number one priority when it comes to kids. The American Academy of Paediatrics suggests that an infant (under 1 year) should have sleep 12-16 hours. Following along are children aged 1-2 years should have 11-14 hours of sleep.Children aged from 3-5 and 6-12 should have a sleeping schedule of 10-13hours and 9-12 hours respectively.
Similarly, it is recommended that teenagers should sleep 8-10 hours a day. Several studies indicate that having a good and consistent sleeping schedule can have several positive impacts on the child. Adequate sleep has resulted in improved psychological and mental health. Sleeping enough has will increased the attention span, learning capabilities, and memory of a child. An overall betterment is also seen in their behaviour. But we all know, getting those little ones to sleep can be a tough job. Following are many ways that can help you in putting these little munchkins get into bed in a timely schedule.
Firstly, having a fixed sleeping schedule even on weekends. As hard as it may sound but getting young children into bed at the same time for 7 days a week helps. Once the child gets in the loop and their sleeping pattern is according to the rhythm, they would automatically desire sleep and would wake up at the same time full of energy. Adding on, waking up and sleeping at the same time also ensures that body cycles and functions all operate efficiently. Not getting the right amount of sleep can negatively affect the aforementioned indicators of mental and physical health and can also result in obesity, high blood pressure, and depression.
Sleeping habits may vary for every child. This is why some children are tough to put to bed than others. Allow your children to wind down. Make them realize that it's bedtime without directly telling them so that they are mentally prepared to sleep when you ask them to. This can be done in several ways. As soon as the sun sets, dim your lights in the house. This can be done gradually or at a specific time, it works both ways. It signals their mind that it's time to sleep and their mind starts to produce the sleep hormones. Other activities for winding down include having a reading activity before bed or sitting in the room before going to bed. Unwinding allows the mind to relax from whatever you were doing throughout the day. Try to get children off screen a hour before winding down for bed.This somehow puts the mind in a calmer state and one can sleep easily.
It is advised that you stop the little ones from using any kind of electronics at least one hour before bed.
Don't be worried if your child gets up at night, try to get them back in their room with as little movement and noise as possible. This is because their body is not completely awake during this period.Try to get them to settle back into sleep. With a scheduled sleep time children will settle into a sleep pattern unless disrupted which will happen for many different reasons. When that does occur parents and guardians should make every effort to get back into the routine
I would love to hear from viewers what your sleep patterns are with your children and what has work and the ones that didn’t.
Happy Bedtime!
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