Your child's sleep patterns

With a recent study from the US finding that the majority of children aren’t getting enough sleep, and another claiming that tech devices are disrupting children’s sleep routines, this raises alarming questions for parents everywhere.

 

To investigate just how relevant these studies are for our community, MummyPages conducted a study asking mums to share their children’s sleeping patterns, and the results were eye­opening.

 

The good news

According to SleepFoundation.org, toddlers and preschoolers require 11 to 14 hours of sleep per day, while school­aged children typically require nine to 11. In light of this, our study produced some very good news, namely that two­thirds (66%) of our readers’ children are getting 10 or more hours’ worth of sleep on average each day.

 

Indeed, it seems that our mums have a great handle on things when it comes to their kids’ sleep habits and patterns, with our survey showing that:

 

• 73% think their children are getting enough sleep each night, and

 

• 67% do not encounter difficulties in getting their children to settle down for bed

 

With 87% of respondents admitting to having a routine to prepare their child for bed, some interesting tips and nuggets of wisdom were thrown out that will interest parents who are finding it difficult to get their child to sleep.

 

 

Tackling the issue of screentime

Among the tried­and­tested advice offered up by mums in our survey were to always read a book, and limit screentime (time spent on e­readers, tablets, laptops, computers, video games or TV) before bed.

 

One respondent said: “My husband is brutal for screentime. If I read, she sleeps longer and more peacefully.”

 

Another added: “As much as they’d love to be on the iPad all day, we try to limit it to an hour, and only before supper – not bed.”

 

 

With over half of our mums (57%) admitting to allowing screentime before bed, it is clear that it is an important part of their children’s lives and routines. While 70% of our mums said they felt that the routine did not negatively impact on their children’s sleep, it does however seem that this is down to careful monitoring.

 

As one respondent observed: “My kids are one and three, and they have a little screentime before bed, but it is part of their routine. Thus, both sleep a full 12 hours through every night.”