Solving Your Child’s Sleep Problem

Before moving on to the task of solving your child’s sleep problems, stop and explore the common causes of kid sleep problems. These include sleep waking, separation anxiety, settling problems, sleep deprivation, parasomnias and resistance to sleep. Some of these sort themselves out as kids grow older while others require medical treatment to get under control.

So how do you go about solving your Child’s sleep problems? Below are some suggestions.

* Develop a bedtime routine – reading a story, cuddling or a warm bath, AND sticking to it. * Never use their bed as punishment for whatever the kids did wrong. * Another trick is to put the children to bed before they grow overly tired. * Discourage excessive fluid intake in the evening. * In solving your child’s sleep problems, consider medical issues like asthma and allergies as possible causes of disrupted sleep and deal with them. * One way of solving your child’s sleep problems is to establish limits on attention-getting behavior and objects at night. * Avoid sleep medications for kids. Drugs lose effectiveness over time and can affect kids’ daytime attentiveness. * Charting your children’s progress is another way of solving your child’s sleep problems. In giving them mild praise for successful restful sleep nights, they’re encouraged to do better next time. * Make bedrooms sleep-only zones. Get rid of TV, games, radios, computers and toys if your kids are having trouble getting to sleep. * Set daytime routines. Regular activity and meal times help “solidify” sleep times. Routines offer excellent ways of solving your child’s sleep problems. * Establishing consistent rising times will go far toward sleep issues with kids as this helps initiate sleep rhythms. * Assess the sleep environment. Dark, cool, quiet rooms are best for sleep. Teaching kids to soothe themselves will also work. Avoid holding, rocking and other touchy-feely activities that rely on parental presence.

The key to successfully solving your child’s sleep problems is perseverance. If you heed the above tips and follow them to the letter, your kids’ sleeping issues ought to be resolved in no time. Remember, solving your kid’s sleep issues means you too will be able to enjoy some much-need shuteye.