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Sleep hygiene, or good behavior that promotes good sleep habits, is vital for children. Many sleep struggles are caused or made worse by poor sleep hygiene. Remember that consistency is the key. Sleep strategies take time and repetition to be effective.

1. Create a Routine: A consistent bedtime routine lets your child’s body and mind know that it’s time to settle down and prepare for sleep. Bedtime routines provide children with a sense of familiarity and comfort, which acts in direct opposition to the uncertainty of insomnia.
2. Set a Bedtime: A sleep schedule works with your child’s natural biological clock to promote dozing off with regularity. Altering bedtimes during the weekend will make it more difficult for kids to maintain their normal weekday schedules.
3. Implement a Screen Curfew: Electronic devices should be kept out of the bedroom and ideally not used within one hour of bedtime.
4. Get Exercise: Physical activity is proven to help people of all ages fall asleep faster and stay asleep. Most children need at least one hour of exercise per day. Just make sure to avoid vigorous activity within two hours of bedtime.
5. Avoid Scary or Violent Content: Feeling scared or worried is a common reason kids can’t sleep. So it’s no wonder that scary or violent movies, TV, video games, and even books in the evening are linked to sleep disturbances in children.

It is also important that to set a sleepy mood:

1. Room Temperature: it should be around 18 degrees Celsius
2. Noise: even mild sound can disturb.
3. Light Level start dimming indoor lights as bedtime approaches and keep your child’s bedroom as dark as possible (it helps your child’s biological clock). If your child is afraid of the dark, a small nightlight is okay.
4. Soothing smells: Calming scents like lavender can have mild sedative effects.

If your child continues to have trouble sleeping despite your best efforts, it may be time to check in with their pediatrician.

Dr Lina Moghnieh

Paediatrician 

^{https://www.sleepfoundation.org/children-and-sleep/sleep-strategies-kids}