A specialist gives her tips for sleep issues

Dilan

Maggie, you're a health visitor specialising in childhood sleep issues - what's the most important thing to know about sleep issues in children?

Maggie

I think the first thing is it's actually very normal. Babies and children do wake up, they often have periods when they don't settle or they don't sleep very well and, actually, most of the sleep issues actually can be quite easily resolved with a bit of help and support. Often parents will say to me that their tiny babies cry a lot and don't sleep, and again, this is normal- babies often do cry!

Tiny babies, it's normal for them to wake regularly during the night. Their clenched fist is the size of their tummy so they need to feed a little and often. And also to know that, as they get older, their sleep patterns mature.

When they're very small, they don't produce the sleep hormone melatonin until they're 3-4 months old, which helps with sleep. So it's quite nice, if it's possible, to create some sort of structure to get ready to goto bed and to go to sleep. So you take them away from the sitting room, which is quite a stimulating environment, often with lots going on, into the bathroom and then into the bedroom and have that last part of the bedtime bit taking place in their cot or their bed.

On top of that, you've got them simply not wanting to go to bed. That's often toddlers asserting their independence. So it's quite helpful to have some sort of predictable set of signals that prepares them for getting ready to go to bed and then to go to sleep. Having a story, a song, or a lullaby, nice cuddle, can be a really special one-to-one time and it's the one time in the day when often they do get your undivided attention so it's really lovely to make that a special time for them before they go to sleep.