How to get your child back to a regular sleep routine after the summer break 

Parenting

Worried your child’s sleep routine has been disrupted over the summer holiday? Here are four tips to help prepare them for the new school term.

Over the long summer holiday, your children may have got out of a good sleep routine, and may have become used to going to bed later at night – which doesn’t bode well for the new school term just around the corner.

From heightened focus to forming and retaining memories, getting a good night’s rest is essential to a child’s success at school and personal development progression. So it is important to try to get your choral back into a sleep routine before their first day back.

How to get your child back to a regular sleep routine after the summer break 

The Fine Bedding Company has partnered with sleep expert and consultant Dr Greg Potter to share some tips for parents to get their children into the swing of sleep again before returning to school. Here are Greg’s top four tips to get your child back on a regular sleep schedule after the summer break.

1) Make sure your child gets plenty of time in daylight each day

Your child’s body clock sets their biological “timetable” of events each day, including when to sleep and when to be wide awake.

This clock needs resetting each day, and your child’s pattern of exposure to light and darkness is themost vital cue in this resetting process. People who get more daylight exposure tend to have a higher quality of sleep.  

2) Keep your child’s bedroom as a device-free zone

Devices such as smartphones can disrupt sleep in several ways. Content and light exposure can affect sleep if it causes your child to lose track of time; delaying bedtime and overstimulation can affect mood. I

f devices are in your child’s room, remove them to a different room overnight after speaking with your child about why you are doing so.  

3) In the hour before bed, replace stimulating activities with relaxing ones

Relaxing activities before bed can improve several aspects of sleep, which has been shown for activities such as reading a book and listening to relaxing music. 

Relaxing activities could be a joint bonding opportunity, including having a relaxing bath, reading a book together, talking about their day, journaling, and gentle music or breathing for relaxation. 

4) Get your child up at a similar time at the weekend

Especially as children go through adolescence, many young people want to sleep in on the weekend. However, regular sleep on schooldays and weekends can support trying to keep your child’s wake time within a one-hour window from day to day. You can widen this window to two hours during adolescence.  

Read more sleep tips for parents

You can read more sleep advice for parents in these articles:

Pioneering in sleep since 1912, The Fine Bedding Company has a perfect range of bedding products to help support your child’s transition in sleeping patterns.

Photo by Annie Spratt