It is estimated that a quarter of children experience symptoms of insomnia of some kind. This alarming percentage requires special review of how parents deal with children’s sleep problems.
According to the results of a study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, 43% of children who showed symptoms of insomnia suffered from a sleep disorder in their twenties and thirties.
Lack of sleep in children.. What are the risks?
Children need more hours of sleep than adults. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children need up to 16 hours per day during infancy; And up to 12 or 13 hours a day in preschool until completion of primary school, and up to 10 hours a day in adolescence.
Sleep touches every aspect of children’s health, from the function of their immune systems to their ability to pay attention, behavior and cognitive achievement. Children who do not get enough sleep suffer from behavioral problems as well as poor academic achievement.
A recent study also shows the importance of children getting enough sleep for their mental development, which continues for many years.
Therefore, the state of insomnia that the child suffers from during sleeping hours cannot be a normal problem, as it may be related to complex disorders whose causes are due to sleep apnea.
But sleep habits also play an important role. Things like changing bedtime schedules, screen use for special hours before bed, or even eating too late in the evening can affect children’s ability to fall asleep or stay asleep for hours at a time.
Find the reasons
Child sleep experts say that resistance to bedtime is common for young children, especially preschoolers, such as asking for a cup of water, urging the parent to tell a bedtime story, or asking unjustified questions just because he wants to talk, but it could be a sign of… Something more serious.
Pediatrician Dr. Krupa Playforth told HuffPost that resistance to sleep carries warning signs for parents, which are the following:
- A clear change in sleep pattern that lasts for more than two weeks (intermittent sleep or few hours of sleep).
- Snoring or other breathing changes during sleep.
- Excessive fatigue during the day.
Mood, social, or other changes in your child’s ability to function, interact with others, and achieve academically day after day.
Playforth explained that often times, parents do not feel that they should seek help for problems related to sleep or behavior, because they think that they should be able to manage these problems on their own, but if the matter becomes repetitive for long periods of time, the parents should then seek help from Specialists.
Children may benefit from simple changes to their routines or may need more intensive interventions, such as cognitive behavioral therapy strategies specifically aimed at treating insomnia, she continued.
As the study showed, insomnia will not go away on its own, as the habits children establish when they are young can have a lasting impact on their ability to get enough sleep.
If your child resists sleeping for hours, without a valid reason, you should follow the following tips to provide a suitable sleep environment:
- Avoid giving children large meals near bedtime.
- Make after-dinner playtime quiet without a lot of movement, because too much activity near bedtime can keep kids awake.
- There should be no television, computer, mobile phone, radio or music while the child is sleeping. The TV and video games should be turned off at least one hour before bedtime.
- Infants and children should be put to bed when they seem tired but are still awake (rather than sleeping in your arms or in another room).
- Avoid sleeping with your child in order to make him sleep.
