Top Tips to Get a Child to Sleep

1) The Bedroom

Pay attention to your child’s bedroom. A cool dark quiet room is ideal. Remove most toys, games, televisions, computers, and radios if your child is having trouble falling asleep or is frequently up at night. Climb into your child’s bed to see how their bedroom feels from their viewpoint.

2) The Bed, Bedding, Bedwear and Pillows

Providing your child with a good bed mattress and comfortable bedclothes is vitally important to ensure their growing bodies get the support that they need for a comfy night’s sleep.

3) The Bedtime Routine

A bedtime routine is a powerful "cue" that it is time to sleep. It needs to be simple. A complicated routine that requires a parent to be present makes it hard for a child to go back to sleep. Try writing out the bedtime routine to make it consistent. Share these "scripts" with other caregivers like baby-sitters, grandparents and dads

4) Exercise

An hour of moderate exercise daily will help your child sleep better. You can break the hour up into 4 chunks of 15 minute slots.

5) Sleepy foods

Food that will help induce sleep include poultry, oats, bananas, honey and green leafy vegetables. Include some of these in the evening meal followed by a glass of warm milk.

Sammy Margo is an established Physiotherapist, Author and Columnist. Sammy set up her clinic, Sammy Margo Associates, 15 years ago and has also worked in the NHS and the professional sporting arena. Sammy is the author of ‘The Good Sleep Guide’. Her new book, ‘The Good Sleep Guide for Kids’, will be published in 2010. For further details, please go to: www.sammymargo.com.