Archive for the 'Sleep & Children' Category

Children to have occasional nightmares and fears that surface at bedtime are not an unusual act.

Children during emotionally sensitive periods in their lives often experience anxiety.

The most cited distressing period for a child include the first days of daycare or nursery school.

Kids experience some type of separation anxiety as they’re left off at school. Such anxieties often surface at bedtime, when the child is lying quietly in bed.

The signs of these anxieties are strange noises, monsters, and the dark. Accordingly, children may have trouble falling asleep. They may get out of bed and tell you that they are scared or ask for another bedtime story.

They may refuse to sleep alone or may resist going to bed altogether. These are normal consequences resulting in normal anxieties experienced by small children.

Often these bedtime difficulties can be resolved without professional help. The following are some steps for reducing separation anxiety in children.

Reassurance

Parents can talk to their children about the issues responsible for their anxiety. Sometimes, it is just simple reassurance, which is required. The child might need to hear that Mommy or Daddy will pick them up after school or daycare.

There are six common causes of disruptive sleep in children and these include

• Sleep deprivation
• Resistance to sleep/settling problems
• Parasomnias
• Night walking
• Sleep-onset associations
• Separation issues

Sleep Deprivation

Any sleep disorder can lead to sleep deprivation. This sleep deprivation can affect a physical and mental health of the children and also has an effect on his/her performance in school and in other social activities.

Sleep deprivation among children is becoming more and more commonplace in our society, to its detriment as it has many debilitating effects on an otherwise healthy child’s life.

Resistance to Sleep/settling Problems

Sometimes children have a resistance to what is known as sleep/settling. Basically this means a child who for one reason or another doesn’t want to sleep and shows this by throwing a tantrum complete with screaming and feet stamping, or constantly thinks of excuses for why he or she is not ready for bed just yet. This can also be seen by kids who simply say to their mothers, I’m not going to bed because I don’t want to.

Parasomnias

Parasomnias are one of the main reasons of disruptive sleep in children. Parasomnias are sleep-related problems that interrupt proper sleep patterns and include

There are numerous ways to talk to your children about sleep habits.

Good sleep habits should be created early in life so they become regular instinct early and potential troubles can be prevented later on in life.

Sleep routines started as a child usually carry over into adolescent and adult life.

It is your job as a parent to infuse in your children a sense of good sleep habits now, so they will have them for life.

Why Do Children Doesn’t Want To Sleep

Most of the children try to fight it, when they hear it is time for bed. You ever observe a small child when she is tired, starts crying and getting irritable. Her body is telling her it is time for sleep, but she does not want to. She fights it as long as she can.

Sometimes they feel like they are being treated unfair because their older siblings and the adults don’t have to go to sleep, so they fight it. Sometimes children are afraid that if they go to sleep, they will miss out on something. They don’t want to go to bed, even if they are sleepy and tired.

Bed wetting or nocturnal enuresis can be a distressing problem for both children and adults in a similar way.

Bed wetting is a sensitive topic that is usually regarded as a taboo, and one needs to take extreme caution when talking to their child about a bed wetting problem.

It can be hard as a parent to decide what you should and shouldn’t say to your child about bed wetting.

About 40% of all children that are three years old, and roughly five million children that are over age five are affected with bed wetting. While the problem bed wetting generally disappears on its own, there are some things to consider when helping your child to get through the problem.

Discuss With Your Child about Bed Wetting

Children can be very embarrassed about their bed wetting problem, but it’s significant to talk about the issue so that you can have a clear line of communication when it comes to solving the problem.

One significant thing to note is to tell your child that it is not their fault that they wet the bed. Parents may be doing more harm than good when trying to help bed wetting if they attack their children with harsh words.

This interesting article addresses some of the key issues regarding healthy sleep habits.

A careful reading of this material could make a big difference in how you think about healthy sleep habits to children.

Healthy sleep habits for children are as significant as they are a necessary for health, proper growth and well-being.

Children, who get sufficient amount sleep every night function better throughout the day, are more alert, and their concentration, performance and memory are better than those who don’t sleep well.

As well children with sleep problems are less likely to develop behavioral problems of any kind, moodiness, anxiety or depression.

The needs of sleep differ from child to child but school age children in general require in the area of nine to twelve hours of sleep per night. Consider these things if you are unsure whether or not your child is getting enough sleep every night.

• If he/she wakes up easily in the morning that is a good sign
• If he/she is wide awake, energetic and alert throughout the school day then the nighttime sleep is sufficient.
• If a child can fall asleep within a period of fifteen minutes to a half an hour than he or she is getting enough sleep