As we all know, a good night’s sleep is important for both a child’s physical and mental wellbeing. IslandFamilies has put together a wealth of information and advice on sleep, bedtime routines, napping, dental care, night terrors and nightmares, bedwetting as well as both online and local support.
A lot of parents are probably guilty of comparing their child’s sleep to their peers but just how much sleep do children need? The NHS recommends the below amounts by age:
Babies-12 months 12-16 hours including naps
1-2 years old 11-14 hours including naps
3-5 years old 10-13 hours including naps
6-12 years old 9-12 hours
13-18 years old 8-10 hours
Sleep can be aided by the bedroom environment and there’s a few things that parents/carers can do to help. A dark environment, such as a bedroom with blackout blinds, can assist with production of melatonin which helps you to feel drowsy at bedtime. Temperature can also play a big part n sleep disturbance whether too hot or cold – a temperature of 18 degrees is ideal.
When it comes to babies, please be sure to follow the Safe Sleeping Guidance from The Lullaby Trust.
A child’s diet can also play a part in their ability to sleep well with some foods aiding the production of melatonin whilst others, such as calcium, can aid stress reduction. More advice on diet and sleep can be found here.
If your child is having sleep issues, keeping a diary could help to identify whether there is a pattern. A sleep diary can be a valuable way of recording data for a health professional. You can download a free sleep diary here. The Sleep Charity has a list of Common Sleep Problems in Children that might also be useful including self-settling, discomfort and sensory issues.
When it comes to teenagers, there plenty of resources covering healthy eating, exercise and mental health but there’s often not enough conversation around the importance of a good night’s sleep. It’s fair to say that we all know the use of electronics before bed isn’t recommended but it’s not always easy to explain to teenagers. Here are some top tips from the Teen Sleep Hub:
- Emphasise the importance of sleep and that it improves memory and performance. Teens need at least eight hours’ sleep on school nights.
- Encourage regular exercise – 20 minutes three times a week will help.
- Suggest they drink less caffeine (in cola and energy drinks as well as tea and coffee). Too much caffeine stops them falling asleep and prevents deep sleep.
- Point out that eating too much or too little close to bedtime – an over full or empty stomach – may prevent sleep onset, or cause discomfort throughout the night.
- Try and get your teen into a good bed routine – suggest that doing the same things in the same order before going to sleep can help.
- Avoid using electronic devices (TVs, gaming machines and more importantly, tablets and smartphones) in the hour before bedtime. Blue light emitting from these gadgets stimulates the brain and may inhibit melatonin production – the hormone you need to sleep.
- Eliminate electronic devices from the bedroom. If this isn’t possible, try to zone areas of the room for work, leisure and sleep.
- Ensure a good sleep environment – a room that is dark, cool, quiet, safe and comfortable.
- Make sure your teenager has a comfortable bed. It may be time to get a new one – and encourage him or her to choose it themselves.
- Don’t give teenagers hand-me-down beds. A good rule of thumb: if the bed’s no longer good for its first user it’s not good enough for them either.
Remember, habits learned in adolescence often become lifetime habits – so make sure good sleep habits are learned early.
Local support
If you require any advice/support with regards to sleep, the island’s health visitors should be your first port of call – we are lucky to have one of the health visiting team members trained by the Millpond Children’s Sleep Clinic on island. For those with children of school age (including teenagers), the school nurses. Health visitors and school nurses can be contacted on 01481 222011.
Online support
If your teenager is having trouble with sleep, the Teen Sleep Hub is a great source of information and advice and has a fabulous resource library that can be found here.
Bedtime routine
There’s unlikely a single parent who doesn’t wonder if they’re doing the best by their child and a bedtime routine is no different. Just like reading in bed might help you feel sleepy, a good bedtime routine can help your child to learn to be sleepy too.
Consistency is key and babies in particular love repetition so a bedtime routine should be made up of a repetitive set of activities (ideally three or four) that take place every night before bed. Suggestions for these activities are reading a book, singing a song together, bath/nappy change, cuddling, massage and the brushing of teeth.
Benefits of a good bedtime include longer sleep, falling to sleep more quickly and less frequent waking during the night as well as teaching self-care and laying foundations for memory, attention and other cognitive skills.
Consistent routines help your child understand when bedtime is coming. Here Millpond’s founder, Mandy Gurney explains how to come up with a good routine:
Napping
Most children under the age of one take two naps per day (usually one in the morning and one in the afternoon). By the age of two, most toddlers will drop the morning nap but are still in need of an afternoon one. Don’t worry about creating a nap routine in the early months though, just let baby sleep as much as they need to – they will wake then they want. Babies under three months old need about 14-16 hours of sleep within a 24-hour period. You can learn more about your child’s sleep and naps timeline here.
Dental care
A regular cleaning routine is essential for good dental health and youngsters should be brushing their teeth before bed every night as well as once more each day. You can start brushing your baby’s teeth as soon as the first milk tooth breaks through by the time a child is over the age of seven, they should be able to brush their own teeth but it’s always worth watching them to make sure they’re doing a good job.
Local support
Children should have regular check-ups every six months and the Guernsey Dental Association has some advice for taking care of youngsters’ teeth. As of 1 January 2022, Bailiwick children will receive one free annual dental check-up along with free dental health education in schools. To claim this free appointment, your dentist’s office will need to know which school your child attends as well as their GY number.
Online resources
The British Society of Paediatric Dentistry If you’re struggling to get children to brush for the full two minutes, perhaps try an egg timer or there’s a great selection of apps that have been designed to help including Disney’s Magic Timer by OralB, Aquafresh Brush Time, Colgate Magik and Pokémon Smile, or younger children might enjoy The Tooth Brushing Song by Hey Duggee.
Night terrors and nightmares
Night terrors and nightmares are not the same thing though both can be equally distressing for parents. Neither will cause any long-term psychological harm to your child.
Nightmares are very common in children aged between three and six years old and most children will grow out of them. They usually occur later into the night, can cause strong feelings of terror, fear or distress, and children can often recount what they dreamt about upon waking. Nightmares are unpleasant dreams that cause emotional distress and can be triggered by frightening experience such as a scary movie, though it’s a good idea to talk to your child and see whether there is anything worrying them that could be triggering them.
Night terrors are a type of parasomnia (classed as an arousal disorder) that occur during the first 3-4 hours of the night can be triggered by anything that increases how deeply a child is sleeping (such as over tiredness, fever or certain types of medication) or makes your child more likely to wake from a deep sleep (such as a full bladder, overheating, anxiety and a sudden noise).
Perhaps start a diary so that you can track when it’s happening and see if you can identify any triggers they have in common. A relaxing bedtime routine can help both night terrors and nightmares
Local support
Most children will eventually grow out of night terrors but it’s worth talking to your GP if they are happening frequently. Also, it’s a good idea to take your child to the GP if they are having repeated nightmares or a series of them with a recurring theme, or you believe that your child’s nightmares are caused by a stressful experience.
Online resources
Action for Children provides ideas on what to do if your child is having a night terror as well as preventing night terrors. You can view this advice here. The Sleep Charity also has advice on how to determine whether they are Nightmares or Night Terrors here.
Bedwetting in children (sometimes referred to as nocturnal enuresis) is pretty common and can often run in families. Many children under the age of five wet the bed and it can sometimes take time for a child to learn to stay dry throughout the night.
There are two main reasons why children wet the bed; either they produce too much urine at night, or they have an issue with their bladder storage. Constipation can be another cause of bedwetting even if the child or their family aren’t aware of the constipation.
Please do not be embarrassed to seek professional help.
Local support
School Nurses provide a link between school, home and community, and are a fantastic resource for parents/carers of children aged 4-18. School nurses can offer advice and support for a multitude of things including bed wetting. You can contact the school nurses on 01481 222011.
Online resources
Bladder & Bowel UK has plenty of resources to help raise awareness of the issue and empower families with the knowledge they need to tackle bedwetting. Eric, the Children’s Bowel & Bladder Charity, is a fantastic resource of information and advice as well as support for children and teenagers alike.