How to Get Five-Year-Old to Sleep
Sleeping is a vital part of life for everyone, and children especially need to rest sufficiently for proper growth. It is recommended that children should sleep for almost 10 hours every day. However getting them to do so is not an easy task, especially when they are in the age group of four to seven.
In case you have a five-year-old child who is facing difficulty in sleeping, there is no need to get tense or scold him/her. By following some simple guidelines and directions, you can easily get him/her to sleep. You are basically required to establish good sleeping habits for your kid, have patience and compassion.
Instructions
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1
Establish a regular bedtime routine
You need to set up a regular and consistent bedtime routine for your five-year-old. There will be a lot of resistance at first but you need to settle and calm down your child by one-on-one interaction. You can set bedtime an hour after having dinner. Direct your child to take a bath before going to bed. You can even read a story book to him/her, if that is what needs to be done. -
2
Have patience
In case you are facing problems in getting your child to sleep, don't fret as you might require some time before he or she develops the sleeping routine. You are required to have patience and continue directing your child to sleep at his/her bedtime. In addition to this, you need to be consistent with this new routine. -
3
Take your child back to bed if he/she gets up
If your child gets up after you has switched off the lights, you need to take him or her back to bed. By this the five-year-old will know that he/she can’t do anything else except going to bed and sleeping. You can give him/her a goodnight kiss and leave the room. -
4
Run a fan
You can always run a fan on low settings. By this you will soothe your child, eventually leading him/her to sleep. -
5
Avoid caffeine or sugar
You need to lower the amount of sugar and caffeine in your child's food, especially near bedtime. You can even stop giving caffeine and sugar at all to your five-year-old. This is because caffeine and sugar makes it difficult for your child to sleep.
