Sleep is important for children’s learning and behaviour. Sleep helps to restore physical and mental health and keep our memory and immune system on track. Sleep also helps children’s brains grow. Lack of sleep can impact a child’s emotions, behaviour, thinking, and learning.
Preschoolers (ages 3-5 years) generally need between 10-13 hours of sleep per night, and school-age children (ages 6-13 years) need between 9-11 hours of sleep per night.
All children (and adults!) benefit form good sleep habits, also known as ‘sleep hygiene’. For any sleep problem, it is very important to make sure that good habits are in place before starting on your child’s sleep plan.
These habits should include:
- A regular bedtime e.g., 7:30 or 8pm each day
- Waking up at the same time every day (even on weekends!)
- Using the bed only for sleeping to help the brain associate the bed with sleep
- Avoiding caffeine (often in chocolate bars as well as Coke, tea and coffee) after 3pm
- Making sure the bedroom is cool, quiet, and relatively dark
- Having a bedtime routine that is calm and sleep inducing e.g., dinner, bath, quiet play or read and then into bed
- Avoiding all stimulating activities in the 1 hour before bed, such as computer games and TV
- Keeping bedtime checkups short and sweet – the briefer and less stimulating, the better
Progress and consistency are key. Over time, your child will learn to adopt these practices with your support so they can maintain healthy sleep patterns all the way through into adulthood.
Additional resources:
- Children and sleep: https://www.sleepfoundation.org/children-and-sleep
- Bedtime routine for kids: https://www.calm.com/blog/kids-bedtime-routine
- Sleep concerns in children: https://www.schn.health.nsw.gov.au/kids-health-hub/healthy-sleep-children/sleep-concerns-children
- Sleep Well Be Well video series: https://sleep.org.au/Public/Resource-Centre/F-HP-Info/F-Paed/Paed-sleep-ed.aspx
- Sleep with Kip bedtime books: https://sleepwithkip.com/
