Tick Tock

August 06, 2018 | by Jackie | 1 Minute Read

As our family’s extended break from school comes to an end, we are facing a dreaded task: Adjusting the entire family’s sleep schedule!

I’ll admit it, we’re terrible at getting the kids to bed early. Every single night at least one of us utter the words “how is it already fill-in-the-blank-time?”. And every morning we get a later than desired start to the day. But it’s about to real. Kindergarten is coming in a little less than a month with a hard 7:30am start time. OMG.

Whether you are preparing your middle schooler for a new school year or just entering elementary school for the first time like us, the experts offer this advice to get everyone on track for a successful transition into the new school-based schedule.

• Starting adjusting wake up and bed times at least two weeks before.
• Adjust your child’s sleep schedule gradually, about 15 minutes per night.
• Keep children active during the day before dinner time, and wind down their activities at night.
• Turn off electronics and decrease light in the hours before bedtime.
• Begin reinstating the school-night bedtime routines that may have become relaxed over break. Start by scheduling consistent bath and pajama time, story time and other pre-bedtime activities as part of the nighttime adjustment process.
• Children should not be drinking caffeine at all. For adolescents, if they do drink caffeine, limit it to the morning only. No caffeine should be consumed after noon, or it may interfere with the child’s ability to sleep.

If you are wondering how much sleep your child should be getting, basic rule of thumb numbers are:

• Newborns: 14-17 hours
• Infants (4-11 months): 12 to 16 hours (including naps) of sleep for any 24-hour period.
• Toddler (1-2 years): 11 to 13 hours (including naps) for every 24-hour period.
• Pre-schoolers (3-5 years): 10 to 13 hours (including naps) per 24-hour period.
• School-aged children (6-12 years): 9 to 12 hours of sleep (not including naps)
• Teens: 8 to 10 hours per 24-hour period.

Good luck! And see you bright and early August 20th.