Up to 40 percent of young children have problems with sleeping. If parents avoid common mistakes, their child's sleeping habits stand a much better chance of becoming normal and manageable. These are six major sleeping mistakes that parents make:
Late bedtimes: If your routine involves late bedtimes, your child will be over-tired and become slightly hyperactive. Adjust your routine so that your child goes to bed early – even 20 minutes extra sleep makes a lot of difference. Due to busy schedules and activities, children sleep about 40 minutes less per day, in comparison to children from two generations ago. Toddlers need between nine and 12 hours sleep per day, depending on daytime napping. Older children need between 10 and 11 hours per day.
Using motion to induce sleep: Use an infant swing, or rock your child only when soothing or calming is needed. Once your child is asleep, cease any motion. Sleeping in motion for children does not allow for deep sleep, but is more like the kind of light sleep adults experience when sleeping on a long bus or train journey.
Stimulation and distraction at bedtime: Avoid using mobiles and gadgets that light up at night and make sounds. Very often they don't calm or soothe you child, but become distractions to sleeping instead. Keep your child's room dark at night and use a white noise generator to drown out the household sounds. Avoid using a television or DVD player to put your child to sleep. Very often this distraction will keep your child awake for almost an hour longer per night.
Deviating from the set bedtime routine: You should have a set routine for bedtime and not deviate from it. If you get your child used to having a bath, having a story read and then going to bed, do not suddenly leave out the story reading. Changes in routine will make your child anxious or confused, due to the instilled routine being used as sleeping cues. Your child associates the things you do before bed every day as part of going to sleep. Make sure the activities you do with your child before bed are comforting and calming, allowing for a gradual winding down of energy.
Inconsistent sleeping arrangements: Once your child has been put to bed, do not allow them to come to your bed afterwards. Avoid lying down with your child on their bed before they sleep. These inconsistencies start becoming the norm in your child's mind. If your child is ill, or is terrified of something, such as stormy weather, then you can make an exception, but go back to the usual routine once the problem has passed.
Migrating from a cot to a bed too soon: Some children are not ready for a bed before the age of three. The confines of a cot or crib are part of what helps little children sleep. Some children are just not ready to deal with the freedom of movement associated with sleeping on a bed. Do not get rid of the cot after buying a bed for your child, in case it is still needed for a while. Even if your child takes a bit long to get used to a bed, the migration will happen and may even be prompted by your child's request for a bed.
