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Do you think your child will never have a sleep problem after having problems during his toddler years? Did you think you would wake up in the early morning hours and the nightmares would stop?
Did your child in primary school find it difficult to sleep? Is your teenager tired every morning by an apparent lack of sleep?
These problems are not unusual. In fact, up to 40% of children and adolescents have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep.
The good news is that there are simple lifestyle changes and behavioral strategies that you can use to help your child or teen improve sleep.
Have the basics
As mentioned in the previous columns, the bedtime routine and the environment are crucial factors in encouraging good sleep habits.
Perhaps you have addressed these problems when they were young children, but bad habits have followed one another over time, disrupting the routine or changing the environment around your child.
Take a moment to determine if these could be problems that could lead to sleep problems.
Do you allow your child to stay up later? Are they over-excited on TV or at the time of the tablet? Has their room changed significantly? Is there too much light? Is it too cold or too hot?
It is worth exploring these questions, as a simple adjustment may be enough.
The day activity influences the sleep of the evening
Your child's or teen's activities during the day have a significant influence on their sleep patterns and behavior. Healthy eating and physical activity are the two key influences.
Your child should eat healthy during the day and avoid consuming too much caffeine.
Planning the evening meal is also important. If your child does not eat enough, he will be hungry at bedtime or, if he eats too much, he may also feel uncomfortable and unable to fall asleep.
Physical activity is also important. Your child must use his energy reserves and move during the day, otherwise his body will not want to fall asleep because he will not be tired enough!
Does anxiety prevent your child from sleeping?
Sometimes your child's sleep problems have nothing to do with the physical health routine or with the family environment, but rather with an event that worries them.
If your child is anxious or worried about something, it may be hard to fall asleep. While they are in bed, they have no toys, no games, no friends to distract them, it's the perfect time for their worries to worry them.
It is worth asking your child if something is bothering him or worrying about it immediately. It can be as simple as recognizing it and reassuring that you will help them in the morning to solve the problem.
Knowing that their parents will help them resolve their morning concerns is usually enough for the child to feel better and stop worrying.
If you would like to talk to a medical specialist about this or any other child health problem, you can go to the Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service Infant Health Center located at Margaret Rose Center, 312 Bourbong St, Bundaberg; The village, 34 Torquay Road, Hervey Bay; or the Bauer-Wiles Community Health Center, 167 Neptune Street, Maryborough. You can also call your local WBHHS child's health team:
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