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Baby Sleep: Managing
Healthy Sleep Habits Part 2
The first part of maintaining
healthy sleep habits once your child
is sleeping independently, is making
age appropriate adjustments to your
child's schedule and allow for the
interference of developmental
milestones. For more information on
this please visit
www.child-works.com
The second part of this maintenance
occurs once the child is older,
usually two years of age. At this
point parents can start a dialogue
on what it means to be healthy, with
sleep being one aspect of health.
This will help your child become
more in tune with herself and learn
how to self-regulate her own needs
in a healthy way. For more
information about teaching your
child to sleep please visit
www.child-works.com
Begin by talking about overall
health. Include in the conversation
what it means to be healthy on three
different levels:
spiritually/emotionally, physically
and mentally.
Spiritually/Emotionally You can
discuss with your child the
importance of giving our feelings
voice. When we feel angry or hurt by
someone or something then it is
healthy to share those feelings in
words. You can discuss the
importance of being treated with
respect and what that looks like. If
your family has a spiritual practice
then discussing the meaning of this
practice and how it helps you
emotionally is appropriate.
Physically This is an obvious one
for most of us and tends to be the
focus. You can talk with your child
about what foods are healthy for our
bodies to grow and be strong.
Children love to do many forms of
"exercise" and play and then hear
how good that is for their bodies!
While it is important ingredient in
our overall health, be careful not
to place any more emphasis on this
area than on the others.
Mentally This is where you
communicate with your child how we
feed our brain. You can speak about
how the brain needs good food,
creative/imaginary play, reading,
and schoolwork to continue growing.
Although the growth of our brain
peaks in the early teens, you can
continually grow new neurons into
old age by actively engaging your
brain! You can talk about what
hinders the growth of our brain: too
much television and sugar and/or
alcohol and drugs are other examples
when your child is old enough.
Finally discuss sleep and how sleep
affects all aspects of our health.
Talk about how the family feels when
everyone is rested and when not
rested—be sure to discuss
individuals as you may all handle
being tired differently. It is
important that your children be able
to detect when they are behind on
their sleep, what happens when mom
and dad are behind on their sleep,
and how everyone can affect the
rhythm of the family.
This dialogue on health can continue
forever, as long as it remains age
appropriate of course! You may wake
up one morning and say, "I'm feeling
grumpy, short tempered, energetic,
happy (or whatever adjective is
appropriate) because I was not able
to sleep well or I am so well
rested. (If not well rested) I may
try to get to bed a little earlier
tonight." This is called
meta-cognitive thinking - thinking
and processing out loud so your
children are privy to your thoughts
and can learn how to do this
themselves. This can be applied to
all three areas of our health and to
all aspects of life and learning!
For more information please visit
www.child-works.com.
Rachel Steinberg is a sleep
consultant and co-founder of
Child-Works. Child-Works has helped
countless parents all over the
country who struggled with their
child's sleep.
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