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Reset your child’s sleep routine with our troubleshooting guide from Louise Pyne
As the clocks go forward on 31 March, we can look forward to brighter mornings and lighter evenings. On the downside, however, the start of spring may temporarily jolt your child?s natural sleep rhythms. ?Her internal body clock controls when she releases the hormones that keep her active and alert and the hormones that help her to wind down into sleep. This biological clock is regulated by signals in her daily routines.
Unfortunately, when the clocks move forward or backward, this has no effect on your child?s internal body clock,? explains paediatrician Dr Tamara Bugembe. This means that it may take a few days for her body to sync with the one-hour time change. And if your little one is generally super-sensitive when it comes to sleepy time, you may be struggling with a whole host of bedtime battles. Here we share our essential tips for getting her slumber back on track.
Nighttime waking
Up to half of all children under five go through periods of waking in the night, and if your child has fallen into this habit, it may be because she is relying on certain sleep rituals. ?This could be the presence of a parent or a backrub, and when she wakes in the middle of the night she is likely to need the same sleep ritual to fall back to sleep. She will then cry out or come looking for the parent or backrub in order to fall back to sleep,? explains Tamara.
You?ll need to try to bre...