Sleeping well is important
Sleeping well is important for your baby, child, and teenager. During sleep the body restores itself so that your child can develop when they wake up. If your child has problems with falling asleep or sleeping through the night, this can have a big influence. Not only on your child but also on you as a parent. To break this vicious cycle a paediatric physiotherapist can help discover where the problem lies and help to solve this.
The risks of bad sleep
Sleeping problems like lack of sleep and irregular sleep pose a risk for the health of your child.
- It influences growth and development.
- Increases the risk of overweight.
- Poor sleep also influences the behaviour of your child.
- Moodiness and therefore more difficult to handle.
- Disinhibited behaviour
- Poor concentration
- Poor school performance
When is it a sleeping problem?
- With too little nightly sleeping hours
- With often interrupted sleep
- With an excessive need for sleep during the day with negative consequences in daily functioning
Often sleeping problems do not have a medical cause and is the focus on finding solutions in routines, what happens during the day and the biological clock of a child.
Types of sleeping problems
Aan welke soorten slaapproblemen bij je kind kun je dan zoal denken?
- Problems falling asleep/ objection to going to sleep/ recurringly getting out of bed/ fear of going to sleep/ not being able to fall asleep independently.
- Problems sleeping through the night/ nightmares/ difficult nightly routines that ‘’must happen.’’
- Waking up too early
- Tiredness and sleepiness during the day and problems concentrating/learning and behavioural problems.
- Sleep shortage resulting in behaviour problems, irritable, wanting to sleep during the day.
- Disruption in sleep pattern and/or biorhythms/ shifted bedtime/ waking up frequently.
- Fear of the dark and fantasy ideas
- Problems relaxing and letting go of the day, worrying, stress, fear of failure, perfectionism.
- Sleeping problems due to incorrect sleeping behaviours, for example gaming, physical inactivity, poor condition.
What to do about it
What we can do:
- Teach healthy sleeping behaviour and find out the sleep need of your child.
- Explain how sleep works, ‘’what is normal and what is abnormal?’’, what are useful action points.
- Coaching tips and trick for parents.
- Making a sensory activity plan allowing your child to regulate enough during the day to be able to lower their alertness when they need to sleep.
- Advice about helping routines and materials.
