The post Tips to Help Your Kids Manage Their Night Terrors appeared first on The Mabelhood.
]]>What are night terrors?
Night terrors occur when the child is in non-REM sleep. This is when they are transitioning from a deep stage of sleep to a lighter stage. It can be stressful for parents to experience their child struggling with night terrors. While one in six children usually experience them, every child may react to them differently. Night terrors are often confused with nightmares. Your child may be having night terrors if they:
Night terrors usually peak in children between the ages of three to six years. While it is a scary and exhausting experience for the parents, it is usually not known to cause any long-term psychological problems to the child. Most kids grow out of it after some time. And there are ways for helping your child with night terrors.
If parents feel that the child is having prolonged episodes of night terrors, even after trying out everything, it is best to consult the child’s pediatrician. In some cases, doctors may advise medication. However, parents can take comfort in the fact that this phase too, shall pass.
For more sleep help, A Sleep Consultant’s Real Answers to Parents’ Top 10 Sleep Questions
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]]>The post Tips to adjust kids to daylight savings time appeared first on The Mabelhood.
]]>Studies suggest that it can take up to a week for our bodies to get used to the new time change. It is very common for children to struggle with their routine during this time and feel cranky and tired. However, the good news is that if we prepare for it in advance, the transition can turn out to be less tedious. Take a look at these tips to help you adjust kids to daylight savings time on November 6th, 2022.
Children can have difficulty sleeping if they are expected to change their bedtime suddenly. By pushing their bedtime ahead by 15 minutes every day, around four to five days before the actual daylight-saving time, parents can make this transition smoother. For example, if daylight-saving time is on Sunday, you can start preparing your child for it on Tuesday. If your child usually starts dinner at 6 pm and hits the bed by 7 pm, from Tuesday, you can begin dinner at 6.15 pm and bedtime by 7.15 pm. A fifteen-minute push to their schedule would not feel as harsh to their sleep schedule compared to a full hour. On the day of the daylight-saving time when the clock changes, your child’s sleep time would already be adjusted to the new time.
Getting sufficient exposure to the sun is known to help with jet lags and daylight-saving transition. Taking your children out to the park during the day would help their body clock adjust to the time change. Moreover, all the exercise outdoors will also help to release their energy and make falling asleep easier.
When a child is about to go through a time change, the rest of their surroundings must remain familiar. So, following the bedtime routine of dinner, bath, storytime, and snuggles should remain in the same order as before. It will help the child’s body focus on the one change and make the adjustment easy.
To help your child’s body get the signal that bedtime is nearing, it would be helpful if you keep the curtains drawn at home as the evening approaches and keep the lights in the house to a minimum. Some kids find it difficult to believe it is time for bed when it’s bright outside. A calm ambiance with soothing white noise can help coax them to sleep.
While all these tips help adjust kids to daylight savings time, it is understandable if parents find it difficult to follow everything and prepare in advance. The process can seem overwhelming to some, however, try not to stress too much about it. Fortunately, children are adaptable to changes, and almost all kids eventually adjust to the transition. Here is hoping that all the children and parents get through it feeling well-rested and relaxed.
If you have sleep struggles, here are tips from a sleep consultant that may help you out and get back to some zzz’s
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