How to Reset Your Child’s Sleep Schedule Before School Starts!

During the summer break, many parents relax their schedules, allowing children to stay up later than usual. While it’s important to enjoy this time, at least a week before school starts, it’s crucial to readjust their schedules to prepare them for the school routine.

How to Help Your Child Go to Bed Earlier After Vacation?

“To get children to bed earlier, they need to wake up earlier. If you have to wake your child in the morning for school, it indicates they’re not getting enough sleep to fully rest. In practice, a week is enough to reset children to the school rhythm“, the expert advises.

• Set regular schedules and new rules, telling your child that from now on, staying up late isn’t an option. Set a specific bedtime within a certain hour.
• Respect their sleep needs. Children aged 3 to 6 need about 10 to 12 hours of sleep, so pay attention to their sleep needs and watch for signs of tiredness.
• Gently wake them in the morning. To ease them into early mornings, start waking your child up gently by setting the alarm a few minutes earlier each day so they won’t be startled on the first day of school.

How to Maintain a Sleep Schedule for Children Under 3?

However, Sandra Menoni highlights that it’s important to keep regular bedtime schedules for children under 3 years old, as they struggle with long evenings. “Excessive tiredness can make a child seem ‘hyperactive’ as it looks like they refuse to sleep when in fact, they are producing too much cortisol, which prevents them from sleeping“, she notes. A sleep-deprived baby tends to be more demanding, needing to be held more and may have more tantrums.

The significance of maintaining a bedtime ritual, regardless of location, cannot be overstated. Toys, sleep sacks, and other familiar objects from home can provide comfort and help the child fall asleep easier. “Consider also using portable blackout curtains with suction cups, a valuable tool for helping the body produce melatonin since light can interrupt this process and degrade sleep quality“, adds the sleep consultant.