How To Get Your Child To Sleep Through The Night

Some good tips on how to get your child to sleep through the night.

A child that wakes frequently during the night disrupts the entire household. It doesn't matter if your little insomniac is an infant, a toddler, or an older child; frequent sleep interruptions are unhealthy. Intervention is necessary.

Make Sleep a Priority

Most children under the age of 12 need 10 to 12 hours of sleep a night. If your child does not get adequate rest, sleeping disorders quickly develop. One way to prevent issues with sleep patterns is to make sleep a priority.

• Decrease physical and mental stimulation as bedtime approaches.

• Set a bedtime and stick to it. Do not alter the bedtime on the weekends or as a special reward.

• If your child appears tired during the day, allow them to nap for a few minutes until they establish a healthy sleep pattern.

• A daily routine that includes regular exercise and a set start time for each day encourages healthy sleep habits.

Preparing for Bedtime

A bedtime routine helps your child gear down for the evening.

• Decrease the amount of fluid consumed two hours before bedtime to eliminate potty-breaks during the night. Avoid caffeine and sugar at least five hours before bed as well.

• Encourage your child to choose a stuffed animal or blanket to take to bed every evening for comfort.

• Play soothing music, watch a few minutes of non-stimulating television in the evening, or read a book at bedtime.

• Draw the shades and use a white noise machine or a rhythmic nature sounds tape. Turn on nightlights while your child is still awake.

It is important for your child to learn to fall asleep on his own. If he relies on you to initiate sleep by nursing him, rocking him or singing to him, you must intervene every time your child awakes during the night.

Put your baby to bed while he is drowsy but still awake. You may stay in the room and gently pat his back or speak softly to reassure him of your presence, but allows him to learn to fall asleep on his own. This is an important life skill.

Many parents resort to co-sleeping with their child when the child wakes up frequently at night. This works for some families. Most parents eventually regret resorting to co-sleeping, as it fosters a continual need in the child to sleep with a person. Unless you are prepared to share your bed with your child for several years, co-sleeping is not a good strategy to choose.
Changing sleeping patterns requires small adjustments over many nights. If your child expects you to rock him to sleep every night, decrease the period of rocking by two minutes each night, progress to a few minutes of walking around the room before bed, and finally place him in the crib while he is drowsy but awake.

Children do not like change. Any change – no matter how small - is often met with strong protests and extended crying. It is important to check on the child often and reassure him that you are nearby. Do make it clear that he is to stay in his bed or crib.

Getting your child to sleep through the night may seem like an impossible task. With patience, determination, and vigilance, you and your child really can both get more rest.

About the Author, Lily Morgan: Find helpful and creative ideas for parents and grandparents while you shop a great selection of kids furniture and classic toys. Visit us online at http://www.themagicalrockinghorse.com/ today!

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Co-Sleeping: Is It For You? By Lily Morgan

Many new parents prepare for a baby's arrival by purchasing a crib. Some children, though, never seem to be able to sleep well in the crib. They fuss, they cry, and the only place they seem able to sleep is in a parents arms or lying next to them in a bed. That's the point where parents start to look for any solution to get some rest. Co-sleeping may be the answer.

Co-sleeping isn't a new concept. Many other countries have parents bringing their children to sleep in their own bed. Babies sleep better and longer, and parents do as well. Some cultures are even a little amazed that the Western world puts their children in "cages" to sleep. Our society waffles between experts who claim co-sleeping is a bad habit that will be difficult to break and experts who believe co-sleeping to be the best arrangement for all.

The benefits of co-sleeping have been proven. For breastfeeding mothers, co-sleeping with a child allows for easier feeding. Both mother and child can attend to needs while resting without much disturbance. There is no full waking with a need to cry for the child to receive attention. For tired parents, co-sleeping creates harmonized sleep patterns in which baby and mother tend to slumber and wake at the same periods. The increased contact of a familial bed also promotes attachment parenting, reassurance and comfort. Co-sleeping may also help prevent SIDS.

A familial bed is just as safe as having babies sleep in a crib. Of course, it is important for parents to ensure maximum safety by choosing a firm mattress, removing loose, fluffy bedding and installing a baby gate or setting the bed next to a wall. These safety precautions are the same for children who sleep in a crib; there is a gate, mattresses are firm, and there is often little bedding involved. In either case of crib-sleeping or co-sleeping, pillows are removed.

Co-sleeping should only be practiced in a household where parents are non-smoking and do not abuse drugs or alcohol. It is a myth that children who co-sleep with parents are at a greater risk of suffocation.

It is also a myth that children who co-sleep won't leave the family bed to gain independence. Think about this: How many teens do you know that sleep with their parents? Children will want to leave the family bed. Most parents report that children are more than willing to have their own bed at around ages two to three, when they are ready, physically, emotionally and mentally.

The point is to establish a situation that ensures the best rest possible for all involved, whether it be co-sleeping or crib sleeping. If the situation isn't working for one or all, change it. Being close to the people we love most isn't a habit
that needs to be broken, nor is getting a good night's sleep supposed to be a struggle. What's important is a trusting, harmonious relationship at all times, during waking hours or sleeping ones!

About the Author: Find helpful and creative ideas for parents and grandparents while you shop a great selection of kids furniture and classic toys. Visit us online at http://www.themagicalrockinghorse.com/ today!

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