Sleep was something I never brooded about before my daughter’s birth; I just did it whenever possible, with no forethought or fanfare. But almost from the day Adelaide and I came home from the hospital more than a year ago, the subject of sleep became a hot not to mention the loaded topic.
Everyone asked, “How does she sleep?” or “Is she sleeping through the night yet?” I had endless bedtime questions myself not the least of which was, “When will this end?” The answer, as every parent is destined to find out, is often, “Not for a long time.”
As many as 25 percents of all kids suffer from sleep disorders and that doesn’t even include the many temporary problems that arise, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in Chicago.
“Sleep difficulties from avoidance to bed wetting to nightmares are very common for a wide variety of reasons,” notes Richard Ferber, M.D., director of the Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at Children’s Hospital in Boston and author of Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems. “Even when a child’s sleep pattern seems firmly settled, things can disrupt it.”
For instance, physical illness, including minor maladies such as teething, an earache, or a stuffy nose, can make it hard for a child to rest peacefully.
Any stress, whether it is caused by school jitters, sibling rivalry, or marital difficulties and development issues like toilet training, can interfere with a child’s ability to fall asleep and stay asleep.
But you needn’t despair. Bedtime does get easier as children grow older, even if it doesn’t always encompass the adult notion of the perfect silent night. In fact, not only are their solutions to most childhood sleep difficulties, there are lots of options on how to go about tackling them since experts and parents alike have now accepted the fact that no single prescription the fact that no single prescription works for every child.
“Although children often develop sleep problems, the other side of the coin is that, unlike adults in the same situation, they respond quickly to intervention, “says Dr. Ferber.
To devise the right response to your child’s sleeplessness as it occurs, take a look at the chart below to see what bedtime behavior is typically expected ages. Then, arm yourself with the appropriate advice before the difficulty arises and you’re too exhausted to handle it properly.
Read this article and find out more about this matter: WelcomeParenthood.com