How to get Children to Sleep at Night
Quality sleep can fill you with energy, and nobody needs more energy than a youngster does. Without enough nocturnal sleep, children can display behavioral problems, have trouble learning and experience health issues. Sleep problems in children are astonishingly frequent. Read on for more information on the symptoms of common sleep disorders in children, how they can impact their growth and the treatment options available.
When they are first born, children have irregular sleep patterns and might only sleep for one or two hours at any one time. However, over the period of twenty-four hours, they will average some 16 hours total sleep time. Once they start getting older, the amount of sleep young children need, will gradually decrease. While a pre school toddler might still require up to twelve hours sleep each day, once they start school, that number will reduce to roughly ten hours. Even so, no two youngsters are the same and each will have their own particular sleep pattern.
Studies have suggested that, as many as thirty seven percent of all youngsters suffer some type of major sleep issues including disrupted sleep, nightmares, sleepwalking and unwillingness to go to bed. Bedwetting is an additional problem in older children. The culmination of these issues can be the trigger of attention and behaviour problems as well as attention deficit hyperactive disorder or ADHD in some school age children. If your child has trouble getting off to sleep, it is important for you, as a parent, to work out if the cause may be the result or side effect of any ADHD medication he or she might be taking.
Children can resist their bedtime for various reasons. Nevertheless, establishing consistent bedtime rituals can serve to quash sleep problems in children. This can include bathing, teeth brushing, reading stories or saying prayers. This down time should be relaxing. If your child suffers from nightmares or nighttime terrors, then lay down with them in their bed until they fall asleep. Do not take them to your own bed, because doing so will not encourage them to feel safe and comfortable in their own bedroom. It also helps if you talk with your little one about why sleep is important. Tell them that sleep will help them to have more energy to play and grow up strong. This gives them an incentive to sleep more.
Kids learn from example, so stick to a regular sleep ritual yourself. If your child’s symptoms persist, then consider visiting a sleep specialist. On occasions sleep problems in children can be caused by depression or other anxiety disorders. Even so, remember that each child is different. If they are lively and active during the day, then do not worry if they are having occasional sleepless nights.
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