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 Ask Dr. Jana
Sleepless in Tulsa | | | QUESTION | | | Dear Dr. Jana,
I have a hard time getting my son to sleep at a decent hour. Usually he will go with a fight about 10 pm or as late as 11:30. He gets up at 7 am during the week and by 8 or 9 on the weekend. During the week, he gets a nap for about two hours at daycare, and none on the weekend. Is he getting enough sleep? Can he be staying awake at night because he's sleeping too much during the day?
— Kendra in Tulsa, OK | | | ANSWER |
October 20, 2000 | | | Dear Kendra,
While it is easy to say that the average three-year-old does best with about 12 hours of sleep a day (including naptime), each child is different. To figure out the amount of sleep your son really needs, you'll have to do a little detective work.
Keep track of the hours he sleeps every day, and see if he acts more irritable or tired when he goes to bed late, gets up early, or skips a nap. Many children seem to do okay with a certain amount of sleep, but actually are much happier and less crabby when they get an additional hour or two (either as a longer nap during the day or more time tacked onto their nighttime rest).
I also would consider why he is going to bed at 10 or 11:30 at night. In some families, one or both parents work long hours and encourage their child to stay up late since this is their only chance to spend time with him. In others, a child's resistance to bedtime occurs only on days when the child has napped well and truly isn't tired. But if the reason is simply a general tendency to resist going to sleep, I would suggest gradually moving your son's bedtime earlier each night (by 15 minutes or so). If you haven't already, be sure to establish a good bedtime routine, such as a bath and some quiet time reading to him before tucking him in. Sometimes letting a child continue to look at the books in bed for a little while afterwards will help settle him down. Also, try to learn if he's worried about anything--children often will talk more openly with their parents at bedtime, so this is a good time for a chat about what's happening at home or preschool. You also might discover that he's afraid of the dark or monsters in the closet. Sometimes leaving on a nightlight, keeping the bedroom door open, or letting a child sleep with a favorite stuffed animal or blanket will lessen these common bedtime fears.
— by Laura Jana, M.D., F.A.A.P. |
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