Essential Tips to Improve Your Children’s Sleep
By: Deep Meditate Team
Tags: Sleepless, Sleep, Kids, Insomnia, Parents

Parents go through multiple sleepless nights with their newborns. At times the struggles continue when children grow up as they experience problems with getting enough ZzZs during the night. While sleep disorders sometimes occur in the little ones, more often, it is the mistakes parents make in setting kids’ sleeping routines that cause insomnia.

Indeed, there is no uniform ideal sleep routine for every child, and a specific age and home environment require different adjustments. Still, any kid that is struggling with sleep would benefit from the advice listed below.

Find the Little Way to Relaxation

Usually, when we talk about healthy kids, we imagine active, bubbly, laughing boys and girls. And even if a child is naturally calm and reserved, it might seem like they do not get stressed whatsoever. After all, who has seen kids going around and complaining about how stressful their life is?

Depending on the age and level of self-awareness, kids are more or less aware of whether they are genuinely stressed or not. It is also important to remember that if children do not express negative emotions, any unresolved inner conflicts can manifest in bodily tightness just like they do in adults. Thus, relaxation techniques for kids are as important as for grown-ups.

Conscious belly breath is one of the best relaxation methods that help kids of any age and will serve them well later in life.

Start this yoga-inspired practice by sitting or lying down with your child. Let them place one hand on the belly and ask to imagine their stomach is a balloon. As they inhale slowly into the stomach, observe the balloon inflating and deflate it on the exhalation. Another option is to place a small toy on the belly and instruct the child to see the toy rise on the inhalation, descend as they exhale.

Another commonly used technique, greeting the moon, is more suitable for older children. Practice it with kids standing in front of the window. Inhaling through the nose, raise the hands up in the air, look up, exhale through the mouth as you fold forward, dropping the hands down. This is a great technique to release excess tension and negative emotions for adults and kids alike.

Bedtime Rituals Are Not Just for Adults

The importance of rituals for adults is undeniable and is talked about a lot. But the little humans are no different. Routines for children can provide a sense of security and stability that will, in turn, calm their nervous system and enhance sleep. Before suggesting some practices for kids’ sleep routine, it is worth mentioning the most essential difference from the rituals for adults: keeping it the same day-to-day.

Do not confuse this with consistency that is important for both adults and kids. Reading the exact same book, listening to one and the same lullaby, and even having an unchanging cuddling ritual will provide a much more significant effect, especially for younger children. The reason being children are faced with an enormous amount of new information and experiences daily. So, where adults try to escape the groundhog day and switch things up, kids will be grateful for some repetition.

Here are some ideas for activities for children’s evening rituals: a short conversation with parents summarising the kid’s day, acknowledging their most notable accomplishments, getting excited about tomorrow’s activities, setting an intention for pleasant dreams, or making bath time fun with some soothing music.

It is also great to have an object that a kid associates only with sleep. For smaller children, it can be a toy they can take to bed. A candle to light up before falling asleep or a crystal that can be placed next to the bed or held in hands is an excellent option for school-age children. Such a “sleep” object enhances the sense of security and eases the initial separation prom parents young kids experience when starting to sleep alone.

Overall, it is advised to keep the bedtime ritual short, sweet, and adjust it gradually as the kids get older.

Solutions to the Nightmares

One of the common causes of insomnia in children is nightmares, especially in younger kids. If bad dreams are not overly frequent, there is nothing to be worried about. Inconsistent sleep schedule as well as going to bed on a full stomach are some nightmare causes that can be easily fixed.

If bad dreams still persist, an effective long-term healing strategy is a technique from cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) called nightmare rescripting. Parents can do this technique together with younger children or present the following four questions to their adolescents as journaling cues:

What was the worst moment of the nightmare?

What emotions did you feel at this moment?

What emotions would you want to feel at this moment?

How would the story in your nightmare need to change for you to feel this way?

Another effective way to deal with nightmares is mantra repetition. Suggest an empowering affirmation your child can repeat while falling asleep as well as during the night when waking up from a nightmare. For small children, the mantra can have a fantasy note, like I have supernatural powers that defeat all monsters in my bad dreams, or My dreams get more colorful, inspiring, and peaceful daily.

Address the Fear of the Dark

Another common cause of sleepless nights for kids of different ages is the fear of the dark. It’s important to remember that it is not the darkness itself that a child is afraid of. Whatever they imagine hiding in this darkness causes the distress.

The first step to beat the fear is to materialize it. Drawing the monster or whatever it is, the child fears is an excellent technique for younger kids. They can then tear the drawing or burn it together with parents, symbolically destroying the monster.

Older kids can make a drawing as well, but it is good to ask them to elaborate on the meaning of darkness and their perception of it. There might be a metaphorical sense behind the fear. Perhaps the child associates darkness with overwhelming emotion or a mind-boggling personal issue they are trying to resolve.

Drive with Compassion and Knowledge

It is essential to keep in mind that there are multiple variables in the equation of a good night’s sleep for kids and adolescents alike. While some will never experience any sleeping issues for others, it would take a while to resolve them. During this process, it is essential to support a child and leave out any frustration or disappointment. A single sleepless person’s struggle can affect the entire family, but negative feedback will only make the child feel worse.

For older children, little research into the effects of sleep deprivation you do together can become a huge motivation. It is one thing to be told that lack of sleep is just unhealthy or “you won’t grow taller if you do not sleep well.” More specific facts on impaired school performance, memory issues, lack of energy, and a higher risk of getting flu (and taking bitter medicines) can encourage adolescents to take better care of their sleep.

Last but not least, remember that personal example is virtually the best way to encourage your kids to stick to a healthy evening routine and sleeping schedule. Share your experience of dealing with kids’ sleeping issues or, perhaps, your own childhood journey to tight z-z-zs.

What were the sleep improving techniques that worked for you? Are there any sleep disorders you’d like us to cover more in-depth? We cannot wait to hear your stories and suggestions in the comments!