How words and routines affect your child’s sleep.

When your son or daughter is whirling around the house and getting into places and things you wish they wouldn’t, it might be hard to remember their growing little bodies need rest to grow. Rest assured, they need sleep as much as play and you might be surprised to find out how much some experts suggest your little bundles of activity actually require.

Here’s a few statistics. Infants should have as much as 16 hours totaled each day to get the rest they need to develop and toddlers require as much as 12-14 hours of shuteye according to experts in the field. Even your school age dynamo should have ten to eleven hours to recharge. Parents should get involved and there’s lots more they can be doing than just supplying a cozy bed and soothing bedtime story. By establishing healthy sleeping habits when they are young, you can foster a rhythm that will help children as they grow and develop.

Regular naps

Making a regular schedule for naps even when he’s only four months and still splitting his sleeping patterns between day and night helps to build a routine. Remember, children love schedules and you don’t need to wait until your daughter is asleep before putting her to bed. In fact, it’s best for babies to soothe themselves to sleep so they’re not always looking to Mom and Dad for that kind of comfort.

A regular schedule and a routine your son or daughter can count on work together. Letting your little ones know that sleep time is approaching helps them to prepare and the three Bs of bath, books and bottle provides a familiar experience they can get used to.

Setting the tone

Setting the tone is important to make sure your child has a good night’s sleep and there’s more to that than warm blankets and favorite cuddly bears. It’s not only what you say but how you say it that affects how they feel when you’re sending them off to bed. Granted, you’ve more than likely had a harrowing day yourself whether you stay at home or send them off to daycare, but barking commands like: “Go to bed!” can cause undue anxiety that will only keep them awake longer. Watching not just what you say but how you say it makes all the difference and rounding off the sleep edges by calling it “sleep- time” makes it more appealing to even the most overstimulated child.

As far as those routines go, you should be looking at putting one together that has a solid base you can use for years. Although the initial details of something like bath and reading followed by a glass of water might change as they grow, the idea of bedtime being special and a time you share together should remain unchanged as you toddler gets older.

Read more info like this at All My Children.
Author: Rob Starr