Your Child’s Sleep and Dealing with Time Changes
By Michael Perisa, MD, Zest Pediatrics of Solon
As a pediatrician, I’m often asked questions around the topic of sleep. There are so many wonderful health benefits we get from an appropriate night’s sleep and this tends to be one of the more anxiety provoking topics for families when their children are having issues in this area. With daylight saving on the horizon, It’s a great time to discuss some common sleep questions and some tips on how to help your child adjust to the upcoming time change.
Let’s start with some sleep basics. The amount of sleep your child needs in a 24-hour period varies based on their age and includes naptimes.
Newborns require the most amount of sleep (around 16-17 hours), then infants up to 12 months (~12-16 hours a day), followed by toddlers up to 2 years old (11-14 hours), preschool up to 5 years old (10-13 hours), grade-schoolers (9-12 hours), to teens and beyond (8-10 hours). Knowing these requirements help to frame when we are setting up bedtimes to ensure our little ones can meet these numbers.
Like anything kid related, establishing consistent, regular daily routines is so important to help them develop good sleep habits but everyone’s bedtime routines might look a little different. Brushing teeth, reading books, then into bed is a common order and combination for a solid bedtime routine. It doesn’t necessarily matter the order or number of activities, just ensure to keep it on the shorter side (less than 30 minutes) and be consistent so that our little ones body’s can start to anticipate winding down for sleep.
Speaking of winding down, it’s important for kids to get regular exercise and activity during the day but starting about 1 hour prior to bedtime, we want to start playing calmer games and turn off and avoid ALL screentime. Their rooms should be darkened (night lights are fine) and on the cooler side, if able. White noise can sometimes be helpful especially for younger kids.
With these guides in place, we can help to create good sleep practices for our kids that we too can embrace to improve our sleep.
With time changes, it’s best to start preparing your kids about a week prior to the day of adjusting the clocks. For younger kids who still are napping, start by shifting their nap times and bedtimes in the direction that the clocks will be changing by a few minutes each day. Slightly older kids would see just an adjustment in their bedtime a 5-10 minutes each day. For the smoothest transition with time changes, it can be helpful to shift daytime activities like wake-up times, mealtimes, and exercise/play too. With these tips in mind, I hope the time change goes smoothly for you all.
