Healthy Sleep habits.

A child with healthy sleep habits can easily overcome an illness, new tooth, developmental changes without their sleep becoming affected for more than a few days.   However if a child does not have healthy sleep habits any little change can totally upset sleep and parents can find it very difficult to get it back on track.

Here are some good sleep habits for all the family

• Ensure everyone gets the sleep they need. Try not to do things that interfere with the natural sleep process.

• We all know naps are important to keep our little ones happy but they are also important for child development and learning. The time of day when the nap occurs is also important. Long naps occurring at the right time help the child feel well rested.

• Let sleeping babies lie. If at all possible do not wake a sleeping baby as breaking up their sleep can be unhealthy. Natural arousals from sleep are normal between sleep cycles but problems occur when children have difficulty returning to sleep by themselves as they have not learned how to self soothe.

• Don’t allow your child to become overtired – have a good sleep routine and be their time keeper. When a child is not sleeping or awake when they are supposed to be they will become overtired and their attentiveness and task performance will not be as good as when they have slept well.  Moods are also altered.

• The best time for a child to fall asleep at night is when they are just starting to become drowsy, before they becomes over tired. Even if the bedtime is later, a regular bedtime is better than an irregular bedtime.