4 Tips To Ensure Proper Sleep Schedule For Kids With Autism
Every person needs to get proper sleep. However, many people don’t usually get enough sleep. The reasons range from personal to professional. Regardless of the reason, the fact that lack of sleep can cause various health issues can’t be discounted.
When it comes to children with autism and anger issues, the lack of sleep aspect becomes even more critical.
If your child has recently been diagnosed with Autism, this article is for you.
In this article, we have mentioned important tips that will help you manage the sleep schedules and issues with your Autistic children.
Have a look…
Daytime Habits
If you want your child to get proper sleep at night, it can be achieved by developing the below habits during the daytime:
- Your child needs to wake up at the same time daily, including on the weekends.
- They must see bright light as soon as they wake up.
- You can open the window blinds to let the sunlight in, or you can even turn on the lights in the room.
Skipping breakfast is not an option. Try to plan the sleep schedule so that your child has all the meals at the same time daily. This will help children’s minds to know what time they should sleep and the time they should be awake. You need to make sure that your child gets proper exercise as well.
Avoid afternoon naps if your child is five years old or older. You can plan activities during the daytime to keep your child from taking a nap.
If your child is younger than five years, they must take a nap in their bed, and they should not be napping after 3:00 PM.
Evening Habits
Did you know that caffeine stays in our body for about 12 hours? So, if your child consumes a caffeinated beverage around 1:00 PM, it will keep them up till 1:00 AM.
It would help if you kept in mind that your child does not exercise around two to three hours before bedtime. They must also not do any stimulating activities around one hour before bedtime.
During the evening time, you should make your child do activities that they have difficulty completing or which they may dislike. This helps decrease possible stress around bedtime and your sleep schedule.
Bedtime Routine
It is advised to do similar bedtime activities daily night to help prepare your child to fall asleep. This routine should be around 20-30 minutes long. You need to take care that your child does not extend the routine more than the advised time.
You can get benefits by making an object or visual schedule. This schedule will enable your child to follow along with the steps that are needed to be completed. Calming activities like reading a book, singing a song, or you should even consider including a calming massage in the bedtime routine.
Sleeping Environment
It will help if you create an environment that encourages your child to sleep. You should make sure that your child sleeps in their bed. Also, make sure you take care that your child does not play with toys, use electronics, or do any other activities in their bed as that will disrupt their sleep schedule.
You can rather give a safe thing to play with, like a stuffed animal or a blanket. Ensure that there are no movable parts, textures, or sounds around your child’s bed, as they may cause distraction.
The temperature of your child’s room should be less than 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Try keeping the overhead lights and lamps off during the night. You can use nightlights if needed.
You can use a white noise machine to help your child avoid getting distracted by the surrounding noises. Keep the white noise machine on the whole night if your child falls asleep with it.
Final Word
It can be challenging to take care of a child with Autism and ensure a proper sleep schedule.
We hope our tips will help make things easy for you.
Good luck!