Sleep Expert’s Tips To Get Children Back Into Sleep Routine
A Sleep Expert’s Top 7 Tips To Get your Children Back Into a Good Sleep Routine Before School Starts
While longer-than-normal sleep ins and a-bit-more-than-usual access to the Playstation has been a wonderful part of the school holidays for most children, the looming school term means that parents need to think about re-setting those little body clocks so that they are primed for the start of the school year.
Holidays can induce jet-lag-like symptoms in children as well as in adults, brought on by late nights, sleep-ins, afternoon naps and overseas travel for some. Luckily, just like with jet lag, there are plenty of easy interventions that can help reset little bodies and re-establish a healthy rhythm.
Sydney’s Cheryl Fingleson of Cheryl The Sleep Coach offers some great tips on how to achieve this.
“It can take three to four days to set up a good sleep schedule so I advise all parents to start a week or so before school goes back, and to be patient with their children as this is not always a smooth process, Cheryl says."
1. Rise with the light
Firstly, its important to use nature’s built in cues. Go into the children’s bedrooms in the early morning and open the drapes or blinds to let in the early sunlight. If its practical, outdoor exercise on a sunny morning is an optimum way to get the day started.
2. Slow down at night
The opposite applies at night. Cheryl Fingleson advises parents to use the darkness to let their children’s bodies’ know that it is time wind down. Switch off the TV and games at least an hour before bed, if not sooner. Allow children to bath at leisure, read alone or together, and put them to bed in a dark, cool, quiet room.
3. Re-establish regular bed and wake times
For the first few nights after a holiday it may still be hard to go to sleep and wake up at the optimum times. But it’s important for parents to enforce a regular bed and wakeup time, similar to the one they use in the school term.
“Little people who are tired from an early start will go to bed a little easier that night," Cheryl says.
4. Ban the afternoon nap
She also advises against allowing daytime naps for school aged children.
“In the post-holiday adjustment period, taking naps may actually leave children quite groggy and disoriented,” she says.
“Try to keep the children awake through outside play, craft, an afternoon swim or a story.”
5. Clear up the bedroom clutter
It’s also a good idea to pay attention to the child’s sleep environment. Clear any holiday clutter including lingering Christmas presents and strewn clothing. A tidy bedroom is more conducive to relaxation, a bed that has been well-made will be more comfortable, and the lack of piles of toys and books will help alleviate any underlying anxieties.
6. Eat well, eat together
Cheryl Fingleson’s final tips to tired clients recovering from the silly season, is to pay attention to healthy and regular meals.
“There are many great ways to encourage your child’s body to relax and re-set” she says. “Healthy, regular meals are a great bonding and balancing tool. You can also encourage quiet baths, essential oils, meditation or solitary reading, especially since we all know that rejuvenation involves a lot more than just sleep. As the school year approaches, one of the best gifts we can give these young people is a rested, prepared and energised state of mind.”
7. Set a good example
Its not just the children who need to recalibrate after the holidays. Cheryl advises parents to set the tone in the home by modelling wellness and embracing good sleep habits as part of their post-holiday resolutions. By employing some or all of these techniques, clients both big and small will notice a healthy change in their sleep quality and they should be able to return to regular work and school patterns quite quickly.
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