Thrive Initiative Blog

Getting a suitable amount of sleep is an important part of everyone’s health. When you ensure your child is getting enough sleep, you are helping them to potentially better regulate their behaviors and emotions (Dadzie et al., 2024). Sleep-related behaviors, or actions and activities involved around sleep, can promote or inhibit sleep health (Meltzer et al., 2021). Understanding what can help, or hinder, your child’s sleeping patterns can help you set them up for success.

Positive Sleep Behaviors

Consistent Sleep Schedule

By ensuring your child goes to sleep and wakes up at about the same time every day, you are helping them create a sleep rhythm. This is a way for your child’s body to identify when it is time to be tired and go to sleep and understand when it is time to wake up.

You may see an example of this in practice during Daylight saving time when your child is waking up an hour early or an hour late depending on which way the time has shifted.

Sleep and Waking Routines

Establishing and maintaining routines can provide predictability, reduce stress, and enhance focus. When you create bedtime and wake-up time routines for your child, you are helping your child understand what they should do or how to prepare to get ready for sleep (e.g., stop physical activity, brush teeth, sing a song with dad or cuddle with mom) or to get ready to wake up (e.g., get dressed, eat breakfast). Creating routines for your child provides structure, so your child can prepare to sleep in same way, or wake up the same way (e.g., in the own bed/room), every day. This predictability can enhance a child’s feelings of safety and help their brain register what activities they need to engage in.

Your child may shower or take a bath, change into their pajamas, and read a story with you each night. This is part of their routine when they wind down and understand it is now time to sleep.

Transitional Objects and Sleep

Children often use transitional objects, which can be stuffed animals, blankets, or pacifiers for young children, to give them emotional comfort. Positioning a child’s bed, blankets, pillows, and stuffies in the same way can also provide security and increase a child’s ability to relax. Transitional objects are items that can help your child understand it is time for sleep while also offering them comfort.

Your child may have a specific stuffed animal that they need in the same spot on their bed while you tuck them in so that they fall asleep easily.

Negative Sleep Behaviors

Caffeine

Consuming caffeine, a stimulant, can negatively affect an individual’s ability to fall or stay asleep. Caffeine can be found in various products like soda, chocolate, and energy drinks. Allowing your child to use caffeinated products can disrupt their normal sleep patterns, which can negatively impact aspects of their development and cognitive function. (Meltzer et al, 2021).

Remember, sweetened beverages, such as sodas, fruit drinks, and sports drinks, contain sugars and syrups that can also affect your child’s health even if they do not contain caffeine (5210, 2016).

Electronic Use

Screen time can be described as watching television or using a cell phone or tablet. Engaging in screen time or using any type of electronics before bed has been shown to decrease sleep duration and the quality of that sleep (Meltzer et al., 2021). To reduce these negative results, try keep electronics out of all family members’ bedrooms. Cell phones and tablets can be charged in the living room or kitchen overnight, and televisions should be used in established living spaces, like family or recreation rooms (Healthy Screen Habits, 2024).

Allowing your child to keep electronics in their room may mean that your child stays up late watching television or wakes frequently to check their social media on their phone.

Studies have shown that behavior and self-regulation are directly linked to sleep health (Dadzie et al., 2024). By understanding and implementing positive sleep-related behaviors and avoiding situations and activities that could negatively affect sleep behaviors, you can help your child develop positive habits that will assist them throughout their lives.