Sleep Routines With A Shared Children's Room
Every activity related to children is ideally a part of a routine, be it having meals, studying, playing or sleeping. Being familiar with a certain routine not only provides the children security and emotional stability but also reduces stress and anxiety. Routines make it easier for kids to know what they should be doing next. This is similar to what adults experience when they follow a pre-bedtime routine that involves activities like reading or listening to soft music that help the brain to prepare itself for the next stage, which is sleep.
It’s always a warm and cozy feeling to share a room with your sibling but if that’s coming in the way of a good night’s sleep, a parent must soon set up a sleep routine. Sleep is one of the most important parts of a child’s growth years and you wouldn’t want to jeopardize it by failing to set up a routine. However, establishing sleep routines for multiple children takes a little extra effort and research on your part. To make your work easier, we will be talking about some of the ways that can help you create and maintain sleep routines with a shared children’s room.
#01 Set-up a strict routine
No matter how much freedom you give your children throughout the day, maintaining a good sleep routine, especially with a shared-bedroom, needs some amount of strictness. The children can feel it when they are let without restraint and may disrupt their sleep routine with extra playing or chatting. This is why a parent should be setting up fixed timings for the lights to go out and all other activities apart from sleeping to cease. A good idea to maintain the routine without appearing overly strict is to allot a slot for the kids before bedtime for themselves where they can have their fill of fun.
#02 Mind the different sleep schedules
Everyone has their own sleep schedule according the amount of sleep they need, even while they are sharing a bedroom. While smaller babies can go to sleep as early as 7 P.M., toddlers or older kids might not sleep before 8 or 9 in the night. This is why the part where you put in a child to the bed needs some amount of personal supervision so as to not disrupt their respective sleep schedules. Make sure that you’re spending some time with the kid whose bedtime falls later by doing activities like talking or reading a book.
#03 Talk with the oldest child
Children love when parents confide with them some task. If there is some difference in the age of the two children, chances are that the older child is the one who’s having to share the bedroom. Therefore, it’s a good idea to prepare them for the change ahead so that they don’t wake up in the night every time a parent walks in to assist the baby. Bestowing some amount of parental responsibility can also help them increase bonding and reduce some load off your shoulders. It is however recommended that after a new baby is born, you wait for a few months before shifting it with its sibling for sleeping.
#04 Give them space
While sharing a bedroom might be a good for the children to increase bonding, it can also rob them off their sense of privacy. Make sure that each child has their own set of beds, study tables, cupboards, night stands, etc. It is therefore a good idea to place something like a bookcase or curtains along the middle of the room to clearly demarcate the areas for the kids. To prevent overcrowding of the room, designate the areas for playing, changing clothes, and other such activities out of the bedroom. A parent should always remember that teenagers and introverts are especially fond of their personal space. Inside Bedroom claims that parents should also be looking to invest in specially designed mattresses for teenagers that fulfill their sleeping requirements.
#05 Waking-up
It is important to set up a wake-up routine for each child to ensure that there is no conflict. Kids who are older or need to attend school have to be woken up earlier than babies as the latter require comparatively more amount of sleep for their growth and well-being. Train the children sharing a bedroom so that they realize that they need to maintain quietness after waking up so as to not wake up the other kid(s) in the room. It is crucial that the children complete the amount of sleep that they need to play and study effectively.
#06 Be prepared for the unusual
Even after taking every precaution to ensure proper sleep routine for your children, one needs to be prepared for times when one of the children experiences illness that keeps them awake. A responsible parent should not allow the disturbance caused in a child’s sleep to affect that of the other. You should therefore keep a backup ready to shift one of your children in some other room like a sleeping bag or a memory foam floor mattress. Check out how different sleeping positions and memory foam mattresses and pillows can help you sleep during pregnancy.
Bottomline:
Getting accustomed to a new sleep routine can be tough for children and their parents in the beginning. However, the children will eventually fall in the practice of sharing their bedroom and maintaining a proper sleep quality without disturbing the other.