KEEP YOUR CHILD’S HEALTH: ENCOURAGING GOOD SLEEP HABITS
There is much that you as parents can do to foster good sleep patterns. This can start as early as infancy, when babies should be allowed to develop their own sleep rhythms. Do not wake your baby for a feed, and do not worry about imposing rigid feeding schedules. Let him fall into a cycle of feeding and sleeping — this is usually evident by 6 months of age, though it is often earlier and sometimes later.
It is from the toddler period onwards that parents can actively do things to encourage good sleep habits.
1. Avoid exciting or very active games>just before bedtime. It is very difficult for a child to quickly switch from an exciting activity which has the adrenaline flowing to a quiet state conducive to sleep.
2. Develop a regular bedtime routine (see p. 132) and precede this with a period of quiet activity.
3. Sometimes daytime naps mean the child is not tired at bedtime. If this is the case with your child, you may want to limit the amount of daytime sleep.
4. Try to be flexible about the exact time of going to bed. It may be a little later in summer, where darkness descends much later than in winter, or if the child obviously is not tired, or where there is a special occasion.
5. Avoid staying with the child until he falls asleep, or he will never learn to fall asleep by himself. At the end of the bedtime ritual, kiss your child goodnight and leave the room.
6. Night waking should not be reinforced by giving your child a drink or cuddle in the middle of the night. If he wakes, just ensure that he is alright, then make it clear that you expect him to go back to sleep.
*153\90\8*
Random Posts
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.