Many parents are sleepy and tired in their days … The blame for this extreme fatigue are those little people who have inexhaustible batteries and who do not want to sleep at night or wake up in the early morning and spend hours awake enjoying the night life.
This problem is not something that happens only to infants or young children, school-age children can also have difficulty falling asleep … And unfortunately this is quite common. When this happens, it must be addressed as soon as possible, but in order to find the solution, it is first necessary to know why it happens. When a child doesn’t get enough sleep, they will have trouble concentrating, paying attention, and learning. Lack of sleep will also affect your mood, your physical development, and even your ability to fight disease and infection.
If your child is having trouble going to sleep or falling asleep, you need to identify the cause as soon as possible. These are some of the reasons that can cause a child to struggle with sleep and have a hard time falling asleep.
Children have different sleep needs
As with adults, children need different amounts of sleep. For some it may be more than enough to sleep nine hours a night while others need at least 11 or more to feel rested.
On average, most school-age children need about 10-11 hours of sleep. Look out for signs that your child is not getting enough sleep, such as not being able to get up easily in the morning, having trouble concentrating, or being overly restless.
There is no good transition to bed
If children are accelerated from watching videos, playing games, or doing other things when bedtime approaches, it can be difficult for them to make a sudden transition to going to bed and falling asleep. You are likely to be more successful at getting your child to sleep if you assure them that they have some downtime before going to bed.
Is too tired
Play, study, afternoon activities… Children can feel too tired in the afternoon. When they are too tired, children can feel a bit hyperactive and this will make it more difficult for them to fall asleep when it comes to bed.
If your child normally happens this before sleeping, it will be necessary for you to identify what he does the hour before going to bed and prepare activities that are relaxing or simply have moments of inactivity.
Not too tired
As with the previous point, there are children who do not sleep well at night because they are not tired enough because they lead a life that is too sedentary for their age. Children need to be active during the day to get better rest at night.
You want to reaffirm your independence
School-age children are constantly flexing their newfound independence muscles, and at bedtime they may also want to be in control. It will be necessary to be able to give him options so that he feels that he has some control in the situation, such as choosing between two hours to go to bed or between two pajamas to put on before going to bed.
You have anxiety or stress about something that bothers you
Children may be worried about something in their life (lived experiences, homework, problems in school, etc.) and may feel anxious about a change or development in their lives (a new school, making friends, not having enough time with a parent who works too long, etc.), something that has scared you, etc. Anxiety and worry can interfere with children’s sleep, just as it can prevent adults from getting a good night’s rest.
