Children with Sleep Issues? How to Help Your Child Sleep Through the Night

You care about your child, and you want to do everything you can to keep your child happy, but how do you beat occasional sleeplessness? Statistics show that many children are affected by this issue, so you are not alone. Here are a few tips to help get your child get through the night.

Temperature Changes

The brain starts to produce melatonin when the temperature drops to 20 degrees, which helps the body get a little sleepy. Dropping the temperature in your home before bedtime will tell the body to produce melatonin and cause your child to get sleepy, hopefully falling asleep faster.

Artificial Light

Darkness also tells the brain to start producing melatonin, which means that artificial light keeps your child awake. This doesn’t mean you should shut off all the lights in your home to help your child prepare to sleep, but it does mean that you should limit their time on electronics. The harsh blue light emitted from TVs and smart devices keep your body awake. Make sure your child stops watching or playing with electronics at least an hour before bedtime. This will help your child’s brain know that it’s time to go to sleep.

Sleepy Oils

Natural oils are commonly used for their aromatic properties, but they have many more functions. Lavender, for example, triggers a calming and relaxing sensation, helping your child fall asleep. Other possible oils to help with sleep are vanilla, vetiver and cedarwood. Some essential oils companies even provide sleeping blends of a few different oils that can help. You should use high quality oils such as doTERRA oils to get the best results.

Warm Bath

Try to get your child to take a warm bath about an hour or two before going to sleep. This will bring down your child’s body temperature, because while a warm bath warms up the body during the bath, it will feel a drop in temperature the moment your child comes out of the bath. This temperature drop will have a similar effect to that of dropping your home’s temperature. This is not a guarantee, but it is something that normally works.

Parents should also consider talking to their child’s doctor about any other methods that could help your child sleep through the night. Try to be open to the doctor’s suggestions because you never know what might work for your child.