Rest Easy

November 05, 2007

At the end of the day, when all your work is done, other responsibilities are taken care or, and dinner is finished and cleaned up, you may find yourself looking forward to a little bit of downtime before you head off to sleep. But then you realize there's one more thing you need to do. Before you can relax, you need to get your child to bed. Sometimes, that nightly task takes more out of you than you realize.

You may live with "the procrastinator": his favorite words are "just one more" .... One more of anything and everything is all he needs before he goes to bed. Whether it's a story, song, kiss, hug, or drink, he's not able to settle in to bed until there's been "just one more"... even if there have already been five books before the "last one"!

Maybe you have "the dawdler". While the family has a set routine and bedtime, his manner of completing the routine can drag on nightly. He takes his time in the tub, making sure every last spot, visible or invisible, is clean. He artfully prepares his toothbrush for the evening brushing. And picking out those few books in the slowest time possible is a skill that he's mastered.

Finally, you may have "the cautious child"... he wants to make sure all of the monsters are out of the closet, no longer under the bed, and not behind the door. This child may also want to cuddle with you for just a minute or two. He may ask you to make sure that the night lights are on and in working order.

No matter which child lives in your home, you may find yourself completely exhausted after these nightly rituals. This process may not just be exhausting for you. A survey conducted by the National Sleep Foundation has indicated that children, on average, are not getting enough sleep on a daily basis. In the survey, researchers found that depending on age, children are getting one half an hour up to almost two hours less sleep each night than what is recommended. These averages are from birth to school age children respectively.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, child sleep recommendations are as follows:

Age Hours of Sleep per Day
0-2 months 10.5-18
2-12 months 14-15
1-3 years 12-14
3-5 years 11-13

These recommendations are in hours of sleep per day. For children aged birth to 5, per day includes nap times. It is important to remember that these are recommendations and that each child is different.

You know how important sleep is for you. But take into consideration the impact of not getting a good night's sleep on your child's growth. Think about your productivity after a restless night's sleep. You may not feel "on track" for the tasks you need to get completed that day. You may be irritable or easily frustrated.

The same is true for your child. A good night's rest will impact your child's alertness, performance and memory, according to the NSF. In turn, these things impact your child's learning and developmental process. Regardless of whether or not your child fits any of the descriptions above, helping him get a good night's sleep is important. Keeping bedtime routines and remaining consistent with bedtime is very important to his development and growth.

For more information on children and sleep go to the National Sleep Foundation at www.sleepfoundation.org. They have a special section just for kids, too.

« Previous | All Articles | Next »