Clocks Go Back - Children's Sleep Tips

How to Help your Child Adjust to the Extra Hour

Many people will relish the thought of an extra hour in bed when the clocks go back this autumn. But for many parents with young children this is a far-flung dream! 7pm will become 6pm but worse still 6am will become 5am! Not a pretty thought.

Routine is key for children so making the transition as unnoticeable as possible is paramount.

So, as part of national Clocks Go Back Week, Warren Evans’ trusted Sleep Advisor has put some tips to help your child, toddler, and infant - as well as you moms and dads – manage the extra hour more easily and generally have a more relaxed bedtime.

1. Many parents have found success changing bedtime over the course of a week, or a weekend, depending on the age and temperament of your little one. For young children, it's often easiest to change the bedtime in 15-minute increments over a long weekend. If there is adjustment, then it won't interfere with waking up for school.

For babies and toddlers who nap, it's best to spread the change over a longer period of time. Depending on your child, you can change bedtime by 10 minutes per day over 6 days until you're on the right schedule.

2. Plan days with heavy activity in the morning, particularly physical activity, and then a more relaxed and calm afternoon for the days on which you are putting the bedtime later. If your young baby is particularly sleepy you may even need to introduce an extra power-nap in the late afternoon.

3. During the transition, keep lights bright and curtains open a little longer to encourage children to stay awake for longer. Make bath time a little longer to help stretch out the time.

4. Be sure that windows have black-out shades for the morning time so the light is blocked out and children are not woken up earlier than they should be.

5. Over the days you change bedtime, be sure to change bath time, naptime and mealtime to match the new routine. If the bedtime changes are gradual - say 10 minutes over 6 days - then change the other activities by 10 minutes as well.

6. Be sure to adjust your own schedule in the same way you change your children's. It will make the routine move more easily for everyone.

7. If you have a child who wakes up early naturally, then you may need to look at adjusting the bedtime over a longer period to ensure the extra hour is fully accounted for. Or if your child is a late sleeper, and you need more time to get ready in the mornings, then you may find moving the bedtime back a half hour rather than an hour will help.  

8. If your child is older, you can offer rules that support the change in routine. Some parents use clocks with a sun and a moon and tell the child that they must stay in bed as long as the moon is out. Some use this as a way of reinforcing the lesson of telling time with the rationale that certain times are for playing and others for staying cozy under the blankets.

9. To ensure a calm and peaceful bedtime, always be careful what your child eats close to bedtime. Do not allow children to have drinks that contain caffeine and or food and drinks that contain lots of sugar, especially late in the day, as they can effect the ability to fall asleep. Milk contains tryptophan, which increases the amount of serotonin a natural sedative. This is why a lot of old folk remedies include warm milk. A banana with milk provides vitamin B6, which helps convert the tryptophan to serotonin. Another fruit to consider is Cherries, which contain melatonin, which the body produces to regulate sleep.

10. If your child has difficulty going to sleep then try relaxation exercises to help your children to get themselves off to sleep more comfortably. For example try

tensing and relaxing each limb / muscle of the body in sequence to teach them how to let go of tension and bring their focus into their body. Also teach them to breath from their

diaphragm by placing you hand on their belly as the breath in and out. This will help them relax more easily. 

Regardless, any disruption tends to be temporary. Most infants and children get back on schedule within 3 days to a week.

Warren Evans, the London bed maker, has teamed up with Belsize Health, the complementary health centre, to bring you national Clocks Go Back Week, running from 21^st to 27^th October.

As part of this week, free, professional advice from holistic practitioners on how to sleep better throughout the autumn and winter months will be available at www.warrenevans.com/blog.

10 WAYS TO HELP CHILDREN SETTLE BACK IN TO THEIR USUAL SLEEP ROUTINE

Dave Gibson, sleep expert at London bed makers Warren Evans shares his sleep adjustment tips to help parents avoid the bedtime battle as the new term begins. “It’s likely that you are facing two issues when it comes to settling children back in to their usual sleep pattern for school. The first is that the brighter summer nights naturally encourage us to go to bed later (as we would have done prehistorically). The second is that you have probably let the normal bedtime curfew relax in the summer holidays and thus they are getting to bed later, and probably getting up later too.

Getting children back into their normal sleep cycle is vital in terms of making sure they get enough sleep, Recommendations from the National Bed Foundation in USA suggests that children from 5-11 years of age need 10-11 hours and from 11-17 need between 8 ∏ and 9 π hours. However, all kids are different and typically you know your child is getting enough sleep when it’s easy for them to wake up refreshed in the morning.

It’s been shown that children with chronic sleep deprivation are more likely to have difficulties learning, paying attention, and are even more likely to be overweight.

The following tips will help you get your child back into the correct routine and hopefully keep them sleeping well and for the correct amount of time.

1)   Adjust bedtime by 15 minutes each day until you reach the ideal time.  Once in this pattern it’s important to keep to the same time even at weekends.

2)   Make it easier for them to ease into night-time, reduce light towards the end of the day, tilting blinds and keep off any bright overhead lights.

3)   Develop a routine of 30 to 45 minutes of calm activities before bed, which can be repeated in the same order such as a bath or reading a story to cue your child’s mind that it is bedtime. One study in America showed that reading as part of a sleep routine got children to sleep faster and they had a better quality of sleep once asleep.

4)   Help them to switch off by limiting the amount of technology in the evening. Don’t let them use TV’s, mobiles, laptops and tablets within an hour of bed as our eyes are sensitive to the ‘blue-light’ they produce which affects our body clock and keeps us awake.

5)   Create the right environment in the bedroom by having it set up for good sleep, which is dark, quiet, and cool. Lower body temperatures indicate to the body that it is night-time (i.e. the sun has gone) however have extra blankets on hand in case they get cold in the night.

6)   Don’t allow mobile phones in the bedroom. One study of children between 13 and 16 found that 62% of them used their mobile phones in bed, and that even those who used phones in bed less than once a week doubled their chance that they would feel tired the next day.

7)   Get your kids to exercise more in the day, as it reduces the time it takes to get to sleep and increases the total time we sleep, although make sure it’s finished about 2 hours before bed, to allow time to settle down.

8)   Avoid heavy meals before bedtime and avoid caffeine; both will keep your child awake. If your child is allowed caffeinated drinks they should be avoided within six hours of bed.

9)   As soon as your child awakes try to encourage them to get out of bed and into bright light or opening the curtains as soon as possible. This quickly adjusts their melatonin levels and will make it far easier for them to get to sleep in the evening at the right time.

10) Finally, set an example by having your own sleep schedule that you stick to, and don’t try to catch up on sleep at the weekends as it is important that you all maintain your schedules throughout the week.

A third of children who wet the bed miss out on normal social activities like sleepovers

New research finds more than a third of children who wet the bed miss out on normal activities like sleepovers and school trips - which help to build confidence and independence.
 

• First national Bedwetting Awareness Week launched to tackle misconceptions surrounding the causes of bedwetting and encourage parents to seek support early.

• Over half a million children aged between 5 and 16 are regularly affected - yet in 70% of cases a solution can be found.

New research by ERIC (Education & Resources for Improving Childhood Continence) and UnderJams has found that more than a third (36%) of children who wet the bed have missed out on sleepovers and other trips away, showing the significant impact of bedwetting on a child's social life. There are few other medical conditions that prevent children from taking part in these types of social activities, which form an important part of growing up and help to build children's confidence and independence.

The research, launched during national Bedwetting Awareness Week (13-19 May 2013) also highlights that 64% of parents who currently or have previously had children with bedwetting problems have left it six months or longer before seeking help. A further 34% of parents have never sought support at all.

In the UK, bedwetting regularly affects over half a million children and young people aged between 5 and 16. In around 70% of cases a solution to the problem can be found.

Jenny Perez, Director of ERIC, says: "To mark the first ever Bedwetting Awareness Week, ERIC has partnered with UnderJams to highlight how many children are missing out unnecessarily on normal activities like sleepovers - and encourage parents to seek support early. Bedwetting is extremely common in children and can be very distressing for children and parents to deal with. Yet there are a number of techniques to manage or even resolve the problem".

The survey has found that sleepovers for most children are a cause for excitement and fun but 74% of those experiencing bedwetting problems feel a mixture of fear, anxiety and nervousness in the lead up to spending the night at a friend's house. Furthermore 42% of the parents cited that their child's sleep is disrupted by bedwetting, which increases the impact of the problem.

TV GP Dr Chris Steele MBE, who is backing the campaign, says: "There are three main reasons why bedwetting occurs; a delay in children developing the right levels of the hormone vasopressin which helps concentrate urine overnight, not receiving the signal from the bladder to the brain which alerts a child to wake and use the toilet, and the muscles of an overactive bladder contracting during sleep. Children aren't aware they're wetting the bed and have no conscious control over the problem.

"Fortunately there are a range of approaches and tips to help families deal with and in many cases resolve childhood bedwetting. Children really shouldn't need to miss out on any normal activities like sleepovers - just speak to your GP or contact ERIC for further information and support".

To help children and parents deal with bedwetting on a sleepover or trip away, a short Sleep Easy animation has been launched by ERIC and UnderJams. The story follows a child in the lead up to attending a sleepover and features tips and information to help children and parents feel reassured about the experience. Visit the ERIC website,  www.eric.org.uk to view the animation and access further information and resources.
 
Bedwetting myths

1. MYTH: Bedwetting isn't common in children and young people

FACT: It is estimated that in the UK over half a million children and young people between the ages of 5 and 16 regularly wet the bed. Studies show that 16% of 5 year olds; 14% of 7 year olds; 9% of 9 year olds and 1%-2% of teenagers are affected.

2. MYTH: Bedwetting children have psychological problems

FACT: In most cases this is not true. In a child who has always been wet at night (called Primary Nocturnal Enuresis), bedwetting does not happen as a result of psychological problems. The main reasons for bedwetting include the signal from the bladder to the brain not being strong enough to wake the child from sleep, a child having an overactive bladder, and the lack of a hormone called vasopressin (this hormone is released during the night and causes the kidneys to concentrate urine overnight). There is also a heredity component - if a child's parent(s) also used to wet the bed there is a significant chance the child will too.

3. MYTH: Children who wet the bed are being lazy - they could stop if they tried

FACT: Children who wet the bed do not do it on purpose, nor are they being lazy. Bedwetting is not something a child can consciously control. It is part of some children's normal development to be later getting dry at night. Just as the age at which a child becomes toilet trained in the day varies considerably, the age at which a child becomes dry at night also varies considerably.

Mums Lose Over a Month’s Sleep in Baby’s First Year!

A new study from the UK’s leading discount website has found that, on average, mothers lose 2.05 hours sleep a night throughout the first year of their baby’s life. However, two fifths of mothers said that it ‘wasn’t as bad’ as they had predicted it to be when pregnant.

 As part of ongoing research into the parenting habits of Britons, the UK’s leading discount website has conducted a study of 1,091 mothers across the UK with children aged 1-2 years, in order to discover how many hours of sleep were lost in the first year of their baby’s life.

The study, conducted by www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, initially asked the respondents if they experienced ‘broken sleep’ throughout the first year of their baby’s life, to which 98% said ‘yes’. The remaining 2% of respondents claimed that they had not.

The 98% of mothers who stated that they did experience broken sleep throughout the first year of their child’s life were asked to estimate how many times their baby woke, on average, per night. The average response from mothers taking part was ‘3.9 times’, with all answers taken into account. When asked how long they were awake for whilst tending to their baby on each occasion, the study found that, on average, the respondents were awake for 31.6 minutes each time.
 
According to the research, prior to having children the respondents slept for an average of 7.8 hours a night. Therefore, if the average mother woke 3.9 times each night for 31.6 minutes at a time, they lost an average of 2.05 hours sleep a night; subsequently sleeping, on average, for just 5.75 hours a night.
 
In order to discover how many hours sleep parents lost in the first year of their baby’s life, the average number of 2.05 hours sleep lost per night was multiplied by 365 days. According to the results, in the course of one year, mothers would have lost 748.25 hours sleep; totalling 31.8 days.

Though this equation established that mothers lose 31.8 days of sleep a year through tending to their baby throughout the night, the study found that more than two thirds, 67%, of the mothers asked felt that they ‘got used’ to the broken sleep.

More than half, 53%, of the mothers polled stated that they shared the responsibility of nursing their baby back to sleep with their partner.  A further 44% stated that the reduced hours of sleep was something that they found ‘difficult’; however 39% said that it was ‘better’ than what they predicted it would be whilst they were pregnant.

Mark Pearson, Chairman of MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, said the following about the findings:

“When starting to conduct this study, I was confident that the amount of hours sleep that was lost by parents would have been high, but to see that a whole month of sleep is lost per year by mothers really puts it in perspective! Having a baby can be a big shock to parents, not only due to lack of sleep but the cost and the shift of priorities. No matter how hard parents prepare and how much they research, no one can ever really predict how a baby will behave until it’s with you- particularly how much the baby will want to sleep!”