Tips & tricks to help your child sleep.

Sleep is not only key, but in fact foundational to our children’s growth and development. Studies have shown that children who get sufficient sleep see an improvement in behaviour, learning and overall physical/mental health. Parents may however face difficulties in helping their children gain the amount and quality of sleep their children need. In this article, let’s take a look at some tips on how to help your child sleep well. 

Setup a bedtime routine: 

This is a great tip many adults use for themselves, but in fact is also great for children! Establish a set routine of tasks for the night-time such as taking a bath, changing into pyjamas, having a quick chat about how their day was, etc. Establishing this as a regular, predictable routine helps ease children from being awake and energised, to becoming sleepy and ready for bed. Children will eventually become conditioned to feeling relaxed with these regular cues, ensuring that they gain abundant, great quality sleep every night. 

Sleep hygiene: 

Sleep hygiene is about making sure that we’re following the right practises and moulding our environment to promote good sleep. This includes a variety of things, such as ensuring your child’s room is dark and quiet to minimise any distraction. Having them avoid screen time for an hour before bed time is also key - as our screens emit blue light. This inhibits the production of melatonin – which is responsible for controlling our sleep patterns. Furthermore, other stimuli such as caffeine, chocolate, sodas, and in fact even exercise should be avoided near bed time. 

Adjusting eating times appropriately: 

Ensuring that your child eats a well-satiating meal at a sensible time before bed will prevent any feeling of hunger or fullness. This is important as this can make children feel more alert and uncomfortable, making it of course harder to sleep.  

Gradual progress: 

The human body is very sophisticated, in that we all have our own natural internal body clocks which help regulate the sleep-wake cycle. If kids are adjusted to sleeping a few hours later than they should be, the process of shifting this to an earlier time can be difficult. There will be days when the kids will be frustrated and tired, and so they key is to have patience with the process – that’s the best way to help your child sleep well. 

Sleep is absolutely key not only for our optimal daily function, but also for our general health. Kids especially require a sufficient quantity and quality of sleep to facilitate their growth and development. We hope this article provided useful information in allowing you to help your child sleep well and facilitate their optimal growth and development. 

ActiKid – Nourishing the next generation.    

This article contains general information regarding health and well-being. This information is not intended as advice and should not be treated as such. You must not rely on the information on this website as an alternative to advice from medical or educational professionals.