Ensuring sweet dreams for your toddler

As a growing toddler, your child becomes too active in his or her waking life. And, that might be affecting his or her sleep pattern. Lack of sleep can affect your child’s cognitive development, there by leading to a lesser attention span and lower quality of life.

The irregular sleep patterns in your child can be caused due to several reasons, like:

• Restlessness
• Inability to digest food
• Overtiredness
• Innate fears, insecurities or nightmares
• Sudden discomfort or inability to self-settle

It is important to develop a standard bedtime routine for your toddler that will help him or her understand that its bedtime and thus will help him or her stick to it, every night. To ensure a nice, peaceful sleep at night for your child you can create a pre-bedtime ritual for him or her, which could include any of the comforting activities as under:

• A relaxing warm bath
• A glass of milk with his or her favorite nuts and seeds added in it
• Reading out a bedtime story
• Cuddle them with hugs and kisses
• Create a peaceful and relaxing environment in your child’s bedroom that is void of television or any other distracting gadget

What can you do to help your toddler sleep well at night?

• Feed them whole foods instead of processed foods during the day
• Watch their fears. Be vigilant of what they watch on television or the stories that they read, as toddlers are too innocent to understand the difference between fact and fantasy.
• Communication with your toddler is essential to ensure they get a good sleep. Talk to your toddler and help them release their thoughts and issues that bother them
• Keep away from giving negative responses to your toddler’s bedtime troubles. As a parent, your response to them is extremely essential/significant
• Make sure your toddler uses the toilet before going to sleep, as attending to nature’s call can disturb his or her sleep
• To give them a sense of control over bedtime routine, let your toddler make choices such as which night attire to wear, which stuffed animal to take to bed etc.

Adequate and quality sleep is essential for your toddler’s overall growth and peace. Do make sure you make the right choice for assuring a good night’s sleep for your little one.