Starting Nursery and School

Your little one may have started school and you are a little anxious of how they may nap at nursery and how starting nursery or school may impact on their over night sleep.  As you are more than likely aware from all the worrying you have been doing these past weeks, starting nursery or school is a big deal for everyone emotionally and physically. Even if your little one has been in school for a while now, after 6 weeks off school going back can have a big impact on their routine and tiredness. How though can we help them to get some good restful sleep when such a big change is happening? 

I am very sure that many of us have been out of our normal routines or indeed never really had a regular routine. Now that the summer holidays are soon to be over you may be thinking about what type of routine you may have in the evenings so that they can settle into sleep easier. 

My child was way off his usual routine in the summer holidays and so we spend the last week of the holidays trying to get back into some kind of normal but that only happened to a degree. now that he is starting his first full week back we are very much in a routine (not militant) but I am encouraging calm activities before bed and making sure he eats well, has his sleepy snack and we try to keep the routine predictable. 

Starting school is such a huge milestone in yours and your little one’s life and there will be much excitement surrounding it.

Your child’s school will ease them into school life gently but the first few weeks will be exhausting for them. They will be learning about the school routine, i.e lunch times, play times, where things are in the school and maybe even getting used to wearing a uniform. They will have so much fun meeting new people and playing with new toys and learning new activities but this is also very tiring. Sleep is essential now especially when there is so much going. I have a blog on the benefits of sleep that you can have a read of here that will give you more insight to the science and need for good quality sleep.  Good sleep enables the body to produce proteins to fight infections that they are bound to pick up from school. The brain needs sleep so that it can process all of the days learning’s and memories which of course is vital for school, plus, the deep sleep cycle that happens during the first part of the night is the only time in a 24-hour period that the body can secrete the growth hormone.

•  Firstly I would advise you to start a bedtime routine if you do not already have one or if you do have a read of my better bedtime routine  blog for tips. Start a bedtime routine anytime but I would advise if you have the time to give at least 2 weeks of getting back into a strict routine and not leaving it until the last minute so that their body clocks can adjust before school starts. If they are currently having a later bedtime than usual then simply introduce a back to normal bedtime little by little. Move bedtime back 15 minutes every 3 days until you are back to the desired bedtime so that they get 10-12 hours night time sleep between the time they are asleep and waking up for school. If they are older children and can tell the time then you may need to be a little more imaginative and potentially adjust the clocks to read 15 minutes later.  Include some quiet and relaxing time before bed, take a look at relax kids website for tips to relax them.

•  I always recommend a pre-bedtime snack during a little bit of quiet time before the upstairs bedtime routine starts.  There are lots of snacks your child can have that are low in sugar and contain naturally occurring melatonin (the sleepy hormone) that will aid sleep. These include things like a banana or a piece of wholemeal toast, see a list of these here, and hey, who doesn’t love a pre bedtime snack, I know I do.

•  The bedroom environment is very important and you should make sure it is as close to 10/10 for darkness and that there are no glaring nightlights or projectors on when they sleep. When they wake in the night you want to ensure there is nothing stimulating that will catch their eye and wake them up. Their bedroom is for sleeping and so I would advise that all toys are shut away at night and their room is as relaxing and distraction free as possible.  

•  There will be break and lunch times at school whereby they can run around and get some daylight but you may also want to consider some outside play after school especially in the winter months as fresh air and exercise aid sleep.

•  Try not to over schedule after school activities especially in the first term as they will be very tired.

Remember to talk to them about their day. You may find that they do not say anything for a while as there is probably too much to tell but you will get snippets here and there and it will help them process their day before bedtime.