How to help your child get a good night’s sleep?
1. Soundproof the nursery. This is one of the most effective ways to get your child to sleep undisturbed. Children are known to cycle into light sleep far more often than adults. Since the sleeping pattern is different in children, an ill-timed sneeze, for example, has the potential to wake him or her up. Obviously, this is not what you want. Besides, it is difficult to tell when your child is in deep sleep. If you think that they are in deep sleep when they are not, you can wake them up with general household noises (when they have cycled into light sleep), especially if there are more than two people in the house. So, if you soundproof the nursery, this will provide a quiet place for your baby to sleep without forcing everyone in the house to be totally silent.
2. Use white noise machines and amps. This is also another sure way to help your child to get a good night’s sleep. If you didn’t go with the first one, you might want to try white noise machines and amps to get your child to sleep undisturbed. Do you know that specific sound could be used to help encourage your child to sleep regardless of environmental noises? That’s right. That is what this is all about. White noise machines are known to be effective in this regard.
Wonder what white noise is? White noise refers to sound that are meant to mask other sound (or noise), that might occur naturally from the environment. Traffic noise, for example, can be blocked out from waking your child up from sleep–for those who live in cities, of course. With that said, you can tell what white noise machines does, right? In addition to that, some of these white noise machines are specifically designed for infants. A good example would be a soothing beach or rainforest sound.
3. Lose the games. It is no news that children love video games. And although some studies have shown that certain video games could improve hand-eye coordination, the mind’s ability to process information, and problem solving skills; they can deprive your child from getting a good night’s sleep (if left unsupervised) among other undesirable effects in children (and young adults). You do not want this to happen. So, you have to do something about this: you should supervise them.
It is recommended that game plays should stop a few hours before bedtime. Why? Because children who played an hour of video games 1 hour before bedtime showed significant sleep disruption, according to a study published in Pediatrics in 2007. Although your kids may not like it when you disrupt “game time,” it will help them to get a good night sleep if the time that they are allowed to play game is supervised properly. And make sure all devices are kept off limit when they are on the bed. Games are very accessible on smartphones nowadays. It could be a huge distraction for them.
4. Lights out: switch-off the lights. Do not underestimate this: It is also an effective way to help your kids to get a good night sleep. It is easy to “rationalize” this, yes, but very effective nonetheless. Want to know why? The healthiest way to sleep is when the lights are switched-off. It could get scary for most kids sometimes, but it is the only way to avoid light pollution during bedtime. Because if very bright light disrupts hormone regulations, it will affect sleep significantly–not to mention immune system functions. You can solve the problem of being afraid of the dark by putting the light in the hallway. It should be turned-off when they are fast asleep.
5. Encourage physical activities. Several studies have shown that increased physical activities during daytime can lead to better sleep. So, they should be discouraged from spending an awful amount of screen time during the day. Besides, physical activities improve the overall health of your child. A good way is to encourage jumping exercises. They help with cardiovascular health and give the kids stronger legs. Plus, you can do it too!
Author BIO
June is a stay-at-home mom who has an interest in soundproofing her house so that her family can have a peaceful day after work and school. Sometimes, it is to lower the volume when her teenage son has band practice in the garage. She blogs at A Quiet Refuge (https://aquietrefuge.com).
Highly appreciated. A great content indeed.