How To Get Kids To Sleep: Tips For Parents

How to get kids to sleep? This worries many parents. According to statistics, approximately 25% of children have sleep problems. This indicator covers all age groups from birth to 18 years, and the problem affects not only children, but also their parents. Be that a nightly tantrum of a preschooler, the restless sleep of a baby, or the exhausting owl mode in a teenager, adults constantly have to figure out how to put the child to sleep.

In our article, we will look at sleep disorders in children from different age groups, why do children avoid sleep, and advise you on what parents can do when they want to help their child.

Sleep disorders in babies

What is a sleep disorder in children? For a child of up to six month it is normal to stay asleep for 11-18 hours, and the average duration of a sleep cycle during the day is 3 hours, 4-5 hours during nighttime. Everything that falls within these numbers is considered an absolute norm. But what if your baby sleeps for no longer than an hour or cannot fall asleep for a long time? How to make a kid sleep instantly?

Parents should study the most common causes of sleep disturbance in babies under one year old:

1. Excess of impressions.

Occurs when the emotions received by the child during wakefulness are too vivid. They can be provoked by unfamiliar places and people, loud noises, unusual surroundings, long trips.

Try not to overload your baby with impressions during the day. If this is a hike, choose a calm, sparsely populated place. If you’re meeting with friends / relatives, try to limit the number of people, the time spent in company, and avoid noisy, crowded places.

2. Pain in the abdomen, teething, etc.

Babies can't tell their parents what's bothering them, so they signal pain by crying. The result of many hours of sobbing is a superficial and short sleep, or complete absence of.

To alleviate the condition of the baby you can use medications, but only after a consultation with your pediatrician. Herbal remedies, probiotics, enterosorbents can help with pains in the abdomen, gels with local anesthesia, painkillers in the form of syrup or suppositories can help with aching teeth. Monitor your child's body temperature, frequency and number of bowel movements – this will help your doctor get a correct diagnosis or adjust a previous prescription.

3. Sleep rituals are disrupted.

If the baby is accustomed to being cradled before going to bed, then it is unlikely that it will be possible to put him or her in a motionless bed.

It is not easy to break the existing habit of falling asleep under certain conditions, so it is better to avoid fixed bedtime rituals for babies. Ideally, the baby should fall asleep anywhere when he or she needs it. But once the habit is formed, don't switch to another sleep ritual too abruptly.

4. Failure of circadian rhythms.

Night sleep is normally naturally longer than daytime sleep, but illness or other factors can lead to a disruption of circadian rhythms in a child. During the day, he or she can sleep for a long time, and wake up every 2-3 hours at nighttime, or not sleep at all.

Start your morning by opening the curtains, turn on the lights and cheerful music. Show your baby that now is the time to play, eat and walk. Your task is to distract the child from long sleep during the day. But you should be prepared for possible tantrums from lack of sleep while your child adjusts.

Monitor your child's condition and respond to his or her needs, even if he or she chooses the wrong time for sleep. Over time the schedule of day and night will definitely improve.

5. The baby does not eat up.

The composition of breast milk varies with the mother's diet. If there is not enough protein in it, the child will have not enough useful substances. Also, the reason may lie in improper attachment: it is difficult to suck the breast, the baby quickly gets tired and falls asleep literally from fatigue, and not from a feeling of fullness.

Malnutrition has its symptoms – low dynamics of gaining weight or even weight loss, as well as a decrease in the daily amount of urine. Discuss this issue with your pediatrician or lactation consultant.

The same advice applies to children on artificial nutrition. Sometimes changing of formula or even bottle can help achieve better sleep.

How to make a toddler fall asleep instantly

How to make a toddler fall asleep instantly? The answer is obvious – no way. Preschoolers live in a state of increased physical activity and neverending discovery of the world around them. Their days are full of excitement, and it;s a shame to waste time on sleeping. That is, they might lie in bed, but not necessarily will instantly fall asleep.

Children run and jump throughout the day and become more calm only in the evening, and that’s if the appropriate conditions were created for this. Suggest quiet activities at evening: reading books, playing board games, creativity. It is also important to follow the diet: sweets increase blood sugar levels, excessive energy is produced, so even one candy for dinner can cause problems with bedtime.

But all these are just features of the age period, which do not indicate the presence of disorders. Real sleep problems always have a root cause. For example:

1. Emotional turmoil.

Children are very sensitive to any changes in their habitual environment and the emotional atmosphere in the family. They begin to act up, demand more attention from their parents, need attention and hugs in order to regain a sense of their former comfort. And, consequently, they fall asleep badly.

If you was not able to protect the child from being witness to your problems and life's troubles, at least try to soften the blow. Be there, explain to the baby that everything will be fine, protect him or her from further shocks.

2. The child was moved to his room.

Joint sleep of a child with his mother is a normal physiological need for children under 3 years old. However, in the fourth year of life it is already necessary to move the baby from the parent's bed to its own. And this can cause difficulties when going off to sleep.

A little trick will help you – stretch the process of "moving" in time. First, put the baby bed in the parents' room, let him sleep there. After a few weeks, put the baby in his room, but do not leave him alone until he falls asleep. Gradually, your baby will get accustomed to sleeping on its own.

3. The child is afraid to be alone.

Perhaps, your child has some irrational fear; for example that a monster will crawl out from under the bed and bite him. It's a great idea to have a stuffed toy friend as an amulet. Teddy bear will most surely protect your child from monsters while he or she sleeps.

How to get your child to sleep through the night? If a child of 6-7 years old has night fears, then parents should explain to him that there are no monsters, ghosts or zombies. Use a nice night light with soft glow to overcome the fear of dark, and a pleasant conversation with parents can help to overcome the fear of loneliness.

Is it necessary to put the child to daytime sleep

Many children sleep during the day until the first grade and even longer, but there are also those who reject daytime sleep as soon as in the age of 3 to 4 years.

It is difficult to say whether a particular child needs daytime sleep. If he or she is active during the day, been walking, playing, working out, engaging in outdoor activity and games, then a little rest around lunchtime will help relieve nervous and muscular tension, fill with energy until the evening.

Here are some tips for getting your baby to sleep:

• time of going off to sleep should be fixed, deviations of +/- 15 minutes are permissible;
• organize comfortable conditions for falling asleep: dim the lights in the room, reduce noises and distractions, pleasant light music can be beneficial to get in sleepy mood;
• be next to your child, lie down with him or her , tell your child something, read a story;
• do not force your baby to sleep if he or she protests, instead offer to simply lie down in silence for some time and recuperate.

By the way, some nations do not have a culture to pur children to sleep during daytime at all. For example, in UK most children do not sleep during the day, but in the evening they go to bed as early as at 7-8 pm.

How to get school-age kids to sleep

Most of the causes of sleep disorder in children are associated with mental overload during the day. Many parents are interested in how long should a 10 year old sleep and how to fall asleep fast for 13 year olds.

Nowadays, most children are not focused solely on studying – in addition to school they engage in sports, attend school clubs or extra classes, studies with the help of tutors.

A busy schedule leads to a lack of rest during the day, and in the evening the child might suffer from insomnia, he or she simply not being able to “turn off” his brain and relax. Here’s what parents can do:

• reconsider the number of extracurricular activities and leave only those that bring the most pleasure and/or are most necessary. At least weekends should be completely free of schooling;
• a warm bath and a glass of milk before bed will help falling asleep;
• limit physical and mental activity in the evening, it is better to do homework immediately after school;
• the child's room should have clean and cool air;
• cook light meals for dinner: a working gastrointestinal tract will not allow you to fall asleep quickly;
• before bed, read your child's favorite book or just chat about how their day went.

A teen sleeps too little: what's the problem

Most likely by this age parents have already figured out how to put their child to sleep. Developed rituals and the habit of living on a certain schedule. However, sleep disorders in adolescents happen at least as often as in younger children. Why?

1. Revolting against the rules.

The teenager understands that at 22:00 the life of adults does not stop: they watch movies, finish their business, read, and communicate. Why does the teenager need to go to bed?

To motivate the child to adhere to the daily routine you need to explain the age norms of sleep. While adult needs 7-8 hours for a good rest, children of 13-18 years need to get at least 9 hours of sleep.

2. Gaming disorder.

This is the scourge of modernity, and you most likely will not be able to protect your child from it. Computer games, hours spent in social media, chat rooms and messengers are not just a waste of time, but also the cause of difficulty falling asleep.

Not all the information your child gets from the Internet is always pleasant and positive. An agitated teenager will think about what he saw and heard for a long time, so he will not fall asleep, even if he goes to bed on time. Filtering network content and limiting the use of gadgets (for example, 1-2 hours a day) will help to cope with this problem.

3. Stress, anxiety, emotional outbursts.

Hormonal storms in adolescence can cause insomnia. The child wants to sleep, but simply cannot. In this case, you need to consult a therapist or neurologist about taking mild sedatives or sleeping pills.

Also, working with a psychologist, walking before bed, reading, yoga, and giving up gadgets in the evening will help. You need to stop drinking coffee, Coca-Cola and energy drinks.

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Experienced parents know how difficult it can be to put children to sleep. And also how much strength and nerves it takes to restore sleep and wakefulness. There is only one recipe here – try to find the cause of sleep disturbance and solve it pointwise. Good luck!