Children and Sleep – Ultimate Guide and Useful Tips
If you are a parent, you need to be aware of the importance of sleep in child development and focus on helping your kids establish a healthy routine and good habits.
If you are a parent, you need to be aware of the importance of sleep in child development and focus on helping your kids establish a healthy routine and good habits.
Children need to get plenty of sleep so that they can function properly. Rest is essential for their growth, development, health, and more. The responsibility of parents is to ensure that their kids get enough shut-eye on a daily basis. If you are a parent, you need to be aware of the importance of sleep in child development and focus on helping your kids establish a healthy routine and good habits. However, the sleep needs of children vary, depending on their age. Infants and preschoolers don’t have the same needs. If you want to help your kids stay healthy, you need to know how much rest they need, learn how to create a healthy environment that stimulates sleep, and more. All in all, no matter the age of your kids, benefits of sleep for child are numerous and it is your responsibility as a parent to ensure they get plenty of rest.
In general, newborns need the most shut-eye, but they sleep in short segments. As they get older, the amount of rest that they need slowly decreases. Newborns usually sleep about 8 or 9 hours during the day and about as much during the night, but their sleep segments usually don’t last more than a couple of hours. On the other hand, when a child is two years old, it needs around 10 to 11 hours of shut-eye at night and only 2 hours in the daytime. Here are the sleep requirements of infants:
| Age | Sleep Hours |
| Newborn | 16 hours |
| 3 months | 15 hours |
| 6 months | 14 hours |
| 1 year | 14 hours |
| 2 years | 13 hours |
You need to keep in mind that babies can’t establish their own waking and sleeping patterns. If you want to help your infant fall asleep, it is an excellent idea to establish a bedtime routine. However, it is important to note that you shouldn’t let your baby fall asleep in your arms as he or she may get used to it and expect to be in your arms to be able to drift off to dreamland. Developing a routine can sometimes require patience and persistence, but it is worth it. Your routine should include reading books, bath, rocking, playing soft music, and tucking your baby into bed. Recognizing the signs of sleep readiness is also essential. If you notice your baby yawning, fussing, rubbing eyes or looking away, it means that it is time for sleep.
If you want your baby to stay safe and get plenty of rest, you need to remember the following things:
Most toddlers need to get between 12 and 14 hours of sleep daily. They can sleep 12-14 hours during the night, or they can sleep less than that but take a nap during the day. The important thing is to ensure they get at least 12 hours of shut-eye during a 24-hour period. Of course, some things can disrupt your child’s sleep patterns, such as routine changes, illnesses, anxiety, and other stressful events. Even switching from a crib to a toddler bed can affect the sleep duration of your kid.
Toddlers usually don’t look forward to sleeping, as most of them would want to do other, fun things instead. As a parent, you can expect to face certain problems, such as bedtime resistance – when a child refuses to go to bed, troubles returning to sleep, and night awakenings. Sometimes, toddlers can’t get enough quality rest because of the nightmares and fears, but it is all normal. However, some situations may require contacting a doctor. For example, if you notice that your kid has unusual nighttime behaviors and significant fears, it may be a wise idea to get in touch with a doctor. The same applies if you notice an unexpected number of awakenings, or if you realize that your kid snores, has troubles breathing, or makes noise when breathing.
If you want to know how to get your toddler to sleep, and improve the rest quality and duration, the following things can help you:
If you are wondering how much sleep does a 4 year old need, the answer is between 11 and 13 hours, including night sleep and daytime naps, so that they can be healthy and grow strong. It is crucial for them to develop healthy and consistent sleep habits. Poor habits can contribute to frequent awakenings during the night and troubles falling asleep.
Some of the sleep problems that you can expect your child to face are nightmares and nighttime fears, but there is no need to worry as they are simply a normal part of the development. Sleepwalking also peaks in this age group. If you want to help your child with nighttime fears, you can place certain items near his or her bed for these times, such as a favorite stuffed toy, a CD player, a flashlight or similar items, and make sure your kid can get to them in the middle of the night. These things will help your child feel safe during the night. A favorite and soft blanket will also do the trick. You should avoid lying down next to your kid and wait for them to fall asleep. Although it may seem like a good idea, it won’t help them in the long run. Giving reassurance is good, but keep in mind that children need to get used to sleeping independently.
You can expect napping to begin trailing off with age as children need daytime naps less and less. However, preschoolers can still benefit a lot from naps, even very short ones. Kids at this age are simply very active as they run around, play, explore their surroundings and more, and they need rest to recover a bit and slow down. If you want to encourage napping, you can set an afternoon routine and stick to it. Your children will sometimes sleep during this period, and sometimes they won’t, but you need to be persistent. If they don’t fall asleep, they will at least enjoy some relaxing time.
If you want to help them sleep better, you should develop a pre-sleep routine, set limits to food and drink intake, make sure their bedroom stimulates sleep, and prevent them from using computers and watching TV close to bedtime. Playing relaxing music, tucking your child into bed, and avoiding stimulants near bedtime will also help.
School age sleep needs are between 10 and 11 hours of shut-eye during the night. However, it is not always easy because of the obligations that they have. They need to do their homework regularly, worry about other school tasks, do different evening activities, and go to bed later than when they were younger. Because of all these things, getting 11 hours of sleep can sometimes be impossible. They can also encounter various sleep problems, such as nighttime fears, sleepwalking, snoring, teeth grinding, noisy breathing, and more, but don’t worry as these issues are quite common.
You need to help your kids get enough quality sleep as they need to be well-rested. If they are sleep-deprived, their school performance will suffer, and they will have troubles concentrating. Their attention and problem-solving skills can also be impacted by the lack of sleep, and they can also be quite moody. If you want them to behave well, be happy and healthy, and able to concentrate properly, you need to ensure they sleep well.
If you notice that your kids lack rest, here is what you can do to ensure they get enough quality shut-eye:
Many teenagers love labeling themselves night owls, and they take pride in staying up late. However, this habit can have an adverse impact on their health and well-being. Teenagers need to get between 8 and 10 hours of shut-eye each night, and if they stay up late and need to get up early for school, it is impossible to get the amount of rest that they need. Lacking rest often doesn’t sound like a big deal for them but it is, especially if it becomes chronic. When they are deprived of sleep, teenagers tend to struggle in school, and they have troubles with concentration, memory, and motivation. As a result, their academic performance can suffer as they will get bad grades. Also, they can feel moody, depressed, and they are at a higher risk of being involved in a vehicular crash and other incidents. When they don’t sleep enough, the decision-making skills of teenagers are affected, physical reflexes are slower, and they are more prone to risk-taking behavior.
Some of the most common causes of sleep deprivation in teenagers include:
Renata is an economist who has always had a passion for writing. She is a dog lover, Netflix addict and a sleepaholic. When she is not busy doing sleep research, she spends her time reading books, hiking and playing video games.