Toddlers between age 2 and 4 years need more sleep than adults. They need to sleep between 12 and 14 hours a day where as adults can make do with sleep between 6 and 8 hours depending on their health. More over, toddlers should have a nap for about an hour before supper. This could be discontinued at later stages, but we need to ensure that all together they are getting sufficient sleep of about 12 to 14 hours daily. This is necessary for their all round health and development.
The best time for kids to go to bed is 7 or 8 in the evening, and let them sleep undisturbed until they get up in the morning on their own fully refreshed. The amount of sleep required varies from individual to individual. Some kids need more sleep while others may require less. However, the sleeping time should be not less than 12 or more than 14 hours for healthy kids. Keep in mind that infants sleep most of the time, while school kids and college kids require around 10 and 8 hours respectively.
Mothers should chalk up a sleeping routine for their kids and consistently follow it at any cost. Depriving the kids’ sleep due to a party or visitors will only make matters worse for them. Postponing their sleep at night will disturb them and they will not be able to fall asleep soon if put to bed on irregular hours. Besides, their sleep will be broken, and they wake up in the morning un-refreshed and tired.
Kids who are having regular sleep should be made to wake up at a fixed hour in the morning. They should get up from the bed as soon as awake, instead of lingering on the bed. They will thus form a healthy habit getting up early at a regular time. This is important than any thing else for their longevity, vitality and intellectual development. However, make sure that the kids are not wrenched from their sleep. They should be made to wake up gradually. If they are roused suddenly from sleep routinely, it will affect their brain and heart due to the sudden excitement.
Finally, toddlers should be made to sleep on a mattress instead of feather beds, which are at this age harmful to their health. A feather bed closes around a kid’s body generating too much heat around the body and weakens the system. The body absorbs this heat and a kid who is accustomed to such heat will be unable to adapt easily to the colder conditions outside the bed. Hence, a mattress which is neither too soft nor hard is best suitable for a toddler. Also, they should not be allowed to sleep with a sick person, or an aged person. It is better that they sleep alone.
Finally, the mattress and he bed sheets should not be folded up as soon as it is vacated. Shake up the bed and the bed sheets well to get rid of the nocturnal exhalations of the body. Spread the bed sheets over a chair and throw open the windows to let in some fresh air and sunshine.
Posted on April 19th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Baby, Child Care, Child Diseases, Sleep, Toddler
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