How to improve your children’s sleep routine

PIN FOR LATER

Many parents face the challenge of getting their children to bed on time and keeping them asleep throughout the night. Along with strengthening our immune systems and boosting heart health, the benefits of quality sleep extend far beyond physical health for children.

Sleep helps our brains process everything we experienced in a day, which helps our children to form new memories, improve their concentration, and therefore learn more effectively. Securing a good night’s sleep relies heavily on a calming bedtime routine, so here’s how to get it right.

1. Be consistent

A predictable sequence of activities before bedtime helps let your children know that it’s time to start winding down. Simple steps like brushing teeth or running a warm bath could help to start the process.

The next few steps will depend on your child’s specific needs, which are influenced by their age, developmental stage and interests. For younger children and toddlers, dimming the lights or using special sensory lamps could help to create a soothing and calming effect.

Older children might enjoy reading a bedtime story or improvising their own tales with you or their siblings.

2. Keep things dark

A child’s bedroom should be cool, quiet and dark to promote restful sleep.

This is because darkness helps to maintain our circadian rhythm, which controls our natural cycle of being asleep and awake. Before we had electricity, people would wake up with the sunrise and go to bed at dusk.

Try to choose blackout curtains to keep summer rays outside and maintain their sleep schedule year-round. If you’re struggling with noise pollution in your area, playing soft music or using a white noise machine could help to reduce distractions and improve sleep quality.

3. Make it comfortable

Maintaining a comfortable sleeping environment also involves more than keeping the daylight and street noise at bay. Children thrive when they have a bedroom and sleeping setup that they genuinely love and want to keep as their own.

If you’d like your children to love sleeping, investing in quality kids beds will be worthwhile. As for bedding, you can choose between soft, cosy fabrics like brushed cotton and jersey to make sure they feel just the right temperature before they drift off to sleep.

Don’t forget to choose the right pillows, too. Some children prefer firm and supportive pillows, while others like to sink into a soft, fluffy one instead.

4. Limit screen time

For adults and children alike, it’s worth trying to avoid exposure to screens for at least an hour before bedtime. This can interfere with the body’s natural production of melatonin, the chemical that makes us feel sleepy.

Instead, encouraging gentle activities like quiet reading or easy puzzles could help your child to start feeling sleepy more naturally. Screen time not only keeps children awake for longer but can become addictive, especially for older children and teenagers, who might start doomscrolling and find it hard to switch off.

5. Be mindful of your lifestyle

Finally, don’t forget that everyday choices like your diet and the amount of physical activity you do could play a huge role in your sleep quality.

Limiting your caffeine and sugar intake in the afternoons and evenings can help to support healthy sleep cycles. If you’re giving your children dessert after dinner, try to make sure that it’s at least a couple of hours before bedtime. And when they reach their basic exercise requirements during the day, children will feel naturally more tired and relaxed at bedtime.

From choosing the right bed to following consistent and calming rituals before sleep, the right tactics will help you and your children to enjoy better, more restful nights.