The Signs That Your Child Is Being Deprived of Sleep

Most children fall asleep like rocks. They jump into bed and after a short bedtime story or a few minutes of relaxing music, they’ll fall asleep for 8-11 hours and wake up feeling refreshed the next morning. Sadly, some children have it hard when they’re trying to sleep. They toss and turn at night, they have dreams that scare them and they may even wet the bed which causes them to be frustrated and upset.

However, some of these signs aren’t immediately obvious to us as parents. We just chalk it up to the problems we also experienced when we grew up, but sleep deprivation is a serious issue among children nowadays especially with the advent of handheld devices like smartphones and tablets. Plenty of children hide away in their beds with their electronic devices to browse the internet, play games and chat with their friends. This leads to them stay up incredibly late at night and we’re all too oblivious of it.

So if you want to spot the signs of a child that might be depriving themselves of sleep, here are a couple of things to look out for.

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Your child is having difficulty learning

A common sign of sleep deprivation in children is difficulty learning. If they read books and don’t remember much from it, then it could be because they’re lacking focus due to sleep deprivation. This is usually made clear if the teachers at their school show concern due to their slow learning. If this has become a concern, then try and convince your child to sleep earlier or monitor their sleeping habits.

Your child complains about pains and aches

Your child’s sleeping issues could actually be contributed to the environment they are sleeping in. Take a look at kids mid sleeper beds from Cuckooland if you want a good example of what a child’s bed should be like. It shouldn’t be too high, it should be comfortable and it should be of similar quality to what we would expect from a bed. If the bed is large enough, try and lay in the bed for a while when your child is at school and determine if the bed could cause aches and pains in them. Proper sleeping posture is important as well, so monitor them as they sleep and try to readjust their position to be more comfortable.

Your child defies you more often

Some parents might contribute this to a child’s rebellious phase where they start to question the things you tell them to do. However, it can also stem from frustration and hyperactivity which is the result of a lack of sleep. If you find that your child disagrees with you, throws tantrums and becomes overly emotional on a regular basis, then consider taking a look at their sleeping habits and try to actively improve them.

Whether you’re soon to be a new parent or if you’ve been struggling with parenthood for a while, these signs will give you a good indication of the quality of sleep your child is getting and how you can improve it.