Sleep difficulties in children are extremely common, and often affect not only the wellbeing of the child, but the family as well. We all know what it feels like to have a bad night’s sleep. If your child’s sleep difficulties are affecting your own sleep, you have most likely felt moody, exhausted and found it more difficult to maintain concentration throughout the day. This is because sleep is crucial for our physical and psychological health, enabling us to enjoy life to the fullest.
Sleep difficulties can include:
If your child is experiencing any of these difficulties, there are a number of potential contributing factors including:
As a result of sleep difficulties, you may have noticed some of the following signs in your child:
As a parent, if your child’s sleep difficulties have been interrupting your sleep for a prolonged period, you may now also be experiencing difficulty in falling asleep, or you may be unable to wake up in the morning. You may also have poor sleep quality in which you are constantly waking up in the middle of the night. Outcomes of poor sleep may include feeling exhausted throughout the day, having difficulties concentrating, feeling physical discomfort such as headaches or nausea, or making more mistakes and forgetting things more than usual.
As a number of factors may be contributing to your child’s sleep difficulties, it can be difficult to determine how to stop these factors from impacting their sleep. The practitioners at VCPS specialise in sleep difficulties, and can help you and your child take back control over sleep patterns. Specific ways that they can assist your child include:
