Getting your child to have a great night’s sleep, especially without being disturbed can sometimes be extremely difficult. With many children protesting about going to bed, as a parent it can be extremely difficult to get them to settle down and actually get them off to sleep. The post below is going to help you re-evaluate your bedtime strategy and see if you can make any improvements to have a more positive outcome at bedtime.
Have A Clutter Free Room
The most important thing for any child’s bedroom is that it should be clean and without a lot of clutter. Many experts have said that having mess and an unorganised room will not only serve as a distraction but, it will cause an excitatory sensory input. This means that it makes it slower for the body to transition into a relaxed and sleepy state.
Ensuring that you room is clean and tidy will help to give a calming effect and ultimately meaning that you child can easily get into a sleepy state. If your children are playing during the day or early evening, it is a good idea to make sure that your children pick up their toys afterwards. This will not only help to promote a positive behaviour but, it will also help to have a clutter-free space before your child’s bedtime.
Ensure The Temperature Is Just Right
Many parents worry about what they are dressing their child in and making sure that they have the thermostat set to the best temperature at night. There is a good reason for putting time into this area, the main one being that studies have shown that having the correct room temperature can have a positive impact on a person’s ability to sleep and have a good night’s rest. With a number of experts suggesting that a cool room of around 16-18 degrees celsius is the perfect temperature to help with a good night’s sleep.
With many studies showing that a person’s internal body temperature fluctuates slightly throughout the day and drops lower at night. If the room is either too hot or too cold, it will cause interference with the body’s natural sleep cycle, which can cause restlessness and 3am wake ups.
Darkness Is The Best Option
With most children, they want to have some form of light within their bedroom during the night. Whilst many of them will settle for something like a nightlight, others will want to have a hallway or bedside light to be left on. Although you may be tempted to give them these options, due to their worries about being in the dark, having too much light can cause interference with your natural body rhythms which help trigger sleep.
When darkness begins to come around, the pineal gland within your brain starts to release the hormone melatonin, this helps to regulate your sleepiness.This function is one of the main reasons why children shouldn’t be allowed on electronic devices or allowed to watch television at least an hour before they sleep. Not only will the content they are consuming stimulate their brain, but the blue light which is emitted from the screen causes the melatonin not to release, causing lack of sleep.
A great way to ensure that minimal outdoor light enters your child’s bedroom would be to install blackout roller blinds. These will help to stop any unwanted light from outside your windows from entering the room. Helping to create a darkness filled room, which will be ideal to sleep in.
Practice Calmness And Relaxation
When it comes to bedtime, it should be a calming and peaceful experience your children. It is important to make sure that you give positive associations with the whole bedtime routine, their bedroom and their sleep. Some parents tend to use bedtime as a punishment to bad choices however, this can have a huge impact on their children’s bedtime in the future. With their child associating their bedroom as a place for punishments and not relaxing.
A good idea would be to add in some relaxing activities in the build up to your child’s bedtime. A few examples could be reading a book together, listening to an audio book etc. Doing this will help to create a feeling of relaxation and will continue to do so for each bedtime.
To conclude, making sure that your child’s room is clutter free is a great and simple start. If you can control the temperature within their room, then you should try to get it to the recommended 16-18 degrees celsius. Having the right amount of darkness and promoting a relaxed environment before bedtime will help your child achieve a great night’s sleep.
