Close
How can I help my child sleep at night?

How can I help my child sleep at night?

My 11 year old has never been a great sleeper. I honestly think that she doesn’t need as much sleep as other children. However there are times when she is still awake in the early hours and I think how can I help my child sleep at night? Or even, what can help my child sleep? Some nights she is simply not tired. Despite some days attending a morning club, school, sports class after school. Followed by a 2 hour dance class she still can’t sleep. It absolutely baffles me. We are a really active family. We spend our weekends outdoors exploring. She exercises a lot. She just doesn’t seem to get tired. This has been going on for many years.

Of course there are times that she is tired but she just cannot settle. I feel so frustrated for her, there must be something I can do to help my child sleep.

After much research I have now discovered some ways in how I can help my child sleep at night. Whilst it is still a work in progress I can at times see some improvement in her sleep.

Tips on how to help my child sleep.

Bedtime routine.

Sounds simple and whilst my younger child has a bedtime routine, my older children have lost theirs a bit. Whilst the still do the obvious of wash their teeth and then have a read before bed I have tried to establish more of a routine. The last few nights I have encouraged my child to have a shower before changing into her pjs and start a bedtime routine again similar to when she was younger. I am also being consistent with sleep and wake up times. At a weekend she is eager to sleep for longer in the morning but I have found this is really detrimental to getting to sleep at night.

No Reading

Some nights I have suggested to my child that she doesn’t read before bed. Meme reads so much I am not sure if it preventing her from actually switching off. She begrudgingly does this. I have already noticed that she is able to switch off easier and then fall asleep faster. It goes against the rule of a read before bed to help relax and if Meme really wants to read before bed she of course can but she has to go to bed much earlier so she can have her read and then begin the switching off from the day. This has been a surprising move that can help my child sleep at night.

Pillow Spray

I have always been a little sceptical about using a pillow spray but It got to the point where I would try anything to help my child sleep. I have bought Lush Twighlight which is a lavender body and pillow spray. Whilst I don’t plan to use it on my child’s body I have been spraying it onto her pillow before bed. It costs £20 so it is not cheap however one spray seems to be enough so it should last a while. A mix of lavender, tonka and ylang ylang it smells lovely (although more than one spray I found a little overpowering). After using it for just a few days I have already noticed that she is much more calmer and sleepy. There are lots of pillow sprays out there and a few people have also recommended The Works Deep Pillow Spray.     

Clean Room and Bedding.

My eldest is quite a tidy anyway but i make sure she keeps her room uncluttered and tidy. We change her bedding often so it is fresh and clean. I also ensure a window is opened at some point in the day so her room is getting fresh air and is not stuffy.

Limit Sugar

I think because my children do so much after school activities they end up eating late and then having a biscuit or pudding even later. I have now set a time limit and they are not allowed to eat once this time as passed. This is the one I am struggling with most. However I do think the sugar has a huge effect on her sleep so I know once we get a handle on this it will help a lot.

 

So there are definitely a few little ways that you can try to help your child sleep at night. There is nothing worse than sleep deprivation so I am eager to find a sleep routine that works for us.

 

10 thoughts on “How can I help my child sleep at night?

  1. I was on the same page with your child and being a grown up now I still sleep very little. actually I do have headache if sleep over 7 hours a night. My regular norm is 5 or 5 and a half hours of sleep, I just do not need more. when I was little it was about the same. However your tips are very nice for better sleep, I’d go for it as well

  2. Great tips for tweens on getting to sleep comfortably and well. Make sure the room temperature is ideal and she might love soothing sleep sounds to ease her into slumber. Search for Calm or sleep sounds on Spotify or Pandora and she’ll be out!

  3. Nice tips and suggestions for a good nights sleep and yes early bed routine is good so that they can sleep better , cutting out sugar and a warm soothing bath can also help. It was interesting to read about the pillow sprays didn’t know about that .

  4. I agree with you that having bedtime routine is very important. We strictly follow this with my kids and this made bedtime easy for all of us. We also try to limit their sugar intake at night.

  5. These are some helpful tips. I liked the idea of lavender spray on the pillow. It is important to follow bedtime routine.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.