Sleep Changes as Your Kids Grow

It’s the moms and dads that hardly get a wink of sleep with a new-born. But as the years pass, your child’s sleep needs and routines begin to change. Pay attention to daytime behaviours that make for better night-time slumbers. Ensure the best conditions, preparing each night for their all-important sleep. The better their sleep, the healthier their formative years of growth and robust health. Of course, not every child’s sleep needs are the same. So, here’s a broad guide of what to expect and prepare for.

Typically, this is around 0-2 years. From birth, your baby relates to physical embrace and touch. They’re held when they’re awake and also when gently rocked to sleep. They can sleep on and off for up to 17 hours a day with lots and lots of napping. Through infancy, from 4 months onwards, sleeping hours can lengthen slightly as napping reduces.

Gradually, you’ll want to start leaving your cherub to nod off on their own, rather than arm-cradling them. It’s the first step in your child’s independent sleep routine. 

For a 1-2-year-old toddler, sleep will begin to extend for longer periods at night, with perhaps just a nap or two here and there. By day, of course, they become inquisitive little hellions. Hopefully they tire themselves out so moms and dads can also start enjoying some proper shuteye.

The period of 3-17 years sees remarkable development and changes in sleep patterns.

From 3 years onwards, you want your child to be sleeping independently. They begin to understand a routine of being put to bed. Perhaps something not always considered is that their little metabolisms and immune systems are developing. Their body temperature self-regulates through longer cycles of sleep. They no longer need to be swaddled. Through warmer and colder months they want just the right amount of bed covering that suits their cycles of deep sleep.

The 6-13-year-old body changes significantly, as will sleep routines. Your child will likely sleep for 9-11 hours through the night. You’ll want to gauge the right bedtimes to ensure the right amount of deep sleep come the school morning. It’s best to keep the same sleeping and waking hours through weekends as well. Because, before you know it, puberty strikes.

From 14-17 years old, those racing, hormonal changes will want an average of 8-10 hours sleep a night. Yet a more independent, teenage mindset will also likely want to sleep later. This is why it can be so difficult, even frustrating, to get that teenager up and dressed and off to school in the mornings. Try to instil a bit of self-discipline in switching off devices at bedtime

Through 18-25 years old, there is still important physical and brain development that wants proper, sustained attention to sleep. It also just happens to be a time of later nights out. Sleep health over weekends is likely not front of mind. If you’ve taught your younger child the importance of a healthy sleep routine, this is probably when they really begin to find out why.

By now your grown-up has reached the adult average of 7-9 hours sleep a night. They will get to know how to sync with their own circadian rhythm. They might be late night owls or early morning risers. They need to manage their sleep routines accordingly. This is when you want to gently remind those kids of yours, now in their prime, that they need to be responsible for their own wellbeing. The most important, of course, is their consistent sleep health

Starting a family can also be a reminder as a parent to perhaps review and reboot your own sleep health. Juggling work, family and personal time requires even more discipline and routine to ensure you get the best night’s rest you can while seeing your kids grow. Best to lead by example.

Managing your children’s sleep routine, as well as your own, may be easier said than done. The point is to instil in your kids the routine connection between a good night’s sleep and a great day. Life invariably interrupts. But getting back on track with a routine sleep regime makes it easier to rebound.

From their first cot mattress to their preferred comfort and support in an adult mattress, Dial•a•Bed is your go-to for every stage of your child’s sleep health. A child can likely fall asleep on any old mattress. But those growing bones, and that young mind taking shape, should be sleeping on a mattress that best suits their formative time of life. Considering that a mattress on average needs changing every 8 years, you’ll replace at least two mattresses as your kids grows up. And they’ll need to be the right mattresses at the right time. A Dial•a•Bed sleep consultant knows precisely what you need to consider. Find your nearest store at www.dialabed.co.za. Families that sleep their best, live their best.