How To Help Kids With Sleeping Issues

Many parents experience the struggle of their kids not falling or staying asleep easily. There are numerous reasons, from anxiety to changes in their daily life to other more severe disorders.

Additionally, the recent pandemic has also harmed many kids as well as adults. Those kids who’d had trouble with their sleep before then had the unfortunate luck of dealing with worse sleeping issues after that. 

Fortunately, there are ways to help kids fall asleep and stay asleep, which we’d like to share in this article.

First, we suggest identifying the issues, as there are many reasons why they can happen to your child. Talk to your child, take them to your GP or analyse their habits, daily routines and recent changes in their life and try to understand the underlying issue.  

Validate Your Child’s Fears

In most cases, you can identify the root cause of the sleeping issues after talking to your child. Take time to discover what’s happening in their life, and listen. Validate their fears or concerns, encourage them to be brave and explain the steps you as a family will take to help the situation. 

Therapy

If you feel like talking to your child isn’t giving good results, then having a professional talk to them may be the help you as a family need. Some kids feel more comfortable speaking to someone who isn’t directly involved with the family and open up to them more. Additionally, you get professional advice and help, which can work wonders.  

Sleeping Routine

A sleeping routine can create the initial comfort your child needs to help them regain that confidence. So anything from a better night light, a special sleeping toy or white noise can make them feel better about going to sleep. You can also create a sleeping chart and reward them each morning or at the end of the week. A consistent sleeping routine can be all your child needs to fall asleep quickly. We suggest using these as a temporary or initial plan and not creating this as their permanent environment. The key is to use the available tools to help children but then minimise their dependency on time so that they are independent and don’t rely on anything but themselves in the future.   

Meditation And Breathing Techniques

This is often overlooked; however, it is a great skill to have from a very early age. Teaching your child some basic breathing techniques to help them relax can help them regain their confidence and know how to control their body. There are numerous relaxation techniques for kids that can be found online. 

Make Some Lifestyle Or Environmental Changes

Ensure your child doesn’t exercise in the evening or before bedtime. They don’t eat lots of processed sugar during the day or closer to bedtime. Check that their room’s temperature is not overly hot or cold. Having block-out curtains can aid good sleep as well. Check their environment and daily habits and evaluate what needs to be changed.

Magnesium

Magnesium is known for being an excellent muscle relaxant. Both adults and kids widely use it. Childlife Essentials Liquid Calcium with Magnesium is perfect for kids to take before their bedtime; it doesn’t just support bone health and it can help kids fall asleep too.