Sleep Hygiene for Children

Follow these tips to help your child adopt good bedtime routines.

1. Have your child go to bed and wake up at the same times, every day of the week. If your child stays up later on weekends, don’t let them go to bed or wake up more than 2 hours later than their weekday schedule.
2. Avoid spending lots of non-sleep time in bed. Spending hours lying in bed doing other activities before bedtime, like using a cellphone or playing video games, keeps your child’s brain from associating their bed with sleep time. Quiet activities like reading, drawing or knitting are OK.
3. Your child’s bedroom should be dark, cool, quiet and comfortable. You can try noise machines or noise apps on your cellphone to drown out other sounds. You can also use blackout curtains to make the room darker.
4. If your child stares at clocks, including a cellphone or iPad, turn them away from your child’s face before bedtime.
5. Bedtime should follow a predictable sequence of events or routine. For example, every night, we brush our teeth, then read a story, then go to bed.
6. Avoid high-stimulation activities just before bed, like watching TV, using the internet, playing video games or exercise. Do not do these things during a nighttime awakening either. It is best not to have video games, TVs, iPads/laptops, or telephones in your child’s bedroom.
7. Make physical exercise a part of your child’s day. If you do it during the day, it can help with sleep time many hours later.
8. Relaxation techniques like petting a dog or cat, taking deep, slow belly breaths, or imagining positive scenes like being on a beach or hiking in the woods can help your child relax.
9. Avoid caffeine (for example, sodas, chocolate, tea, coffee) after noon (12 p.m.) Even if caffeine doesn’t prevent falling asleep, it can still lead to shallow sleep or waking up during the night. Non-caffeine herbal teas may help sleep.
10. If your child is awake in bed tossing and turning, it is better for them to get out of bed to do a low-stimulation activity (for example reading, coloring, or knitting), then return to bed later. This prevents your child from associating the bed and not sleeping. If your child is still awake after 20 to 30 minutes, spend another 20 minutes out of bed before lying down again.
11. Worry time should not be at bedtime. Schedule a “worry time” earlier in the day when your child can think about and discuss their worries.
12. Put your child to bed drowsy, but still awake. Letting them fall asleep in other places, like the sofa or in the car, forms habits that are difficult to break.
13. Security objects, like a doll, toy or blanket, at bedtime can help your child feel safe and secure when you leave the room. Try to include the object when you cuddle or comfort your child, which may help them adopt the object.
14. When checking on your child at night, checks should be “brief and boring.” The purpose is to reassure your child you are present and they are OK.
15. Try delaying bedtime by 30-minute amounts until your child appears sleepy. This could help them fall asleep quicker and prevent waking up very early. Keep increasing bedtime by another 30 minutes until you get to the bedtime you want. For example, let’s say you want a 10 p.m. bedtime, but your child falls asleep at 8 p.m. (and wakes up at 4 a.m.) Try 8:30 p.m. the first night until it becomes habit, then 9 p.m., then 9:30 p.m., then 10 p.m.
16. Keep a sleep diary to keep track of naps, sleep times and activities to find patterns and target problem areas when things are not working.

Primary reference: A Clinical Guide to Pediatric Sleep by Jodi Mindell and Judith Owens. Used with permission.