How to help your child sleep well

31st January 2018

Did you know one of the best gifts you could give your child is the ability to sleep?

Sleep is the only thing we do that has the biggest positive overall impact on our bodies and our brain.

It is responsible for controlling our appetite and stablising our blood sugars, supporting our immune system and preventing infection. Helping us to learn both scholarly facts and motor skills by storing and making sense of our memories. Sleep enables us to keep our emotions on an even keel and make logical and creative decisions. Sleep in effect makes us happier, healthier and brighter.

Here are Millpond’s top tips to help your child sleep well

Get your routine right

30 to 40 minutes before your child goes to bed carry out the same series of steps every night – make this routine your bedtime ritual. Having a regular routine at about the same time every night means your child’s body will start to prepare for sleep as soon as you start this process.

The lead up to bedtime

About an hour before your child goes to sleep have quiet time. Tidy away the toys and turn off the TV. Research has shown light from computers, iPads etc. can interfere with the production of the sleep hormone melatonin.

Food for sleep

If your child is hungry at this time, avoid sugary foods and drinks. Instead offer foods that contain the amino acid tryptophan that causes sleepiness. The best snacks should contain carbohydrates and protein and are found in foods such as chicken or turkey with brown bread, peanut butter on whole grain cereal or low sugar cereal and milk.

Warm bath

Have a warm and relaxing bath lasting no longer than 10 minutes.

Keeping the bath to a maximum of 10 minutes means bath time doesn’t become a stimulating play time. The added bonus is coming out of the warm water allows the body to cool quickly triggering the sleep hormone melatonin.

Straight to bed

Then go straight into your child’s bedroom; going back into the living area at this time will lose the focus and magic of the routine and make your child think it’s time to play again.

Lighting

Pre dim the lights in the bedroom. Dim light is another trigger for melatonin production.

Dress for bed

Have their night clothes ready for your return from the bathroom so they can quickly get dressed and climb into bed.

Story time

Read a story and have a cuddle and kiss goodnight then tuck them in with their favourite soft toy so they are warm and cosy.

Now that they’re drowsy, leave the bedroom so that they learn to fall asleep independently.

Mandy Gurney

RGN, RM, DIP HV.

Founder Millpond Sleep Clinic

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Mandy Gurney draws from her expertise as a renowned Child Sleep Specialist and founder of the original London Children’s Sleep clinic, to bring parents, carers and professionals alike, a modern and concise self-help guide. When feeling overwhelmed by tiredness and in need of real sleep help, Millpond’s new edition ‘Teach Your Child to Sleep’ is a much welcomed, well researched resource. This is an easy read with a practical nurturing approach that walks you and your child through to a good night sleep.

Rozanne Hay -UK Representative And Director for Continuing Education IACSC International Association Of Child Sleep consultants
This book is a complete godsend for tired parents and children alike! Its gentle and compassionate approach is based on a thorough understanding of the body’s sleep needs and children’s developmental phases. The flow charts and case studies set out really practical, easy to implement strategies which give sleep-deprived families hope at last. The Millpond approach is non-prescriptive and this book offers lots of choices for parents to match their own goals and parenting styles. I would heartily recommend it for anyone already experiencing problems with sleep or to set up good sleep habits proactively.

Melissa Hood, founder of The Parent Practice
This baby and child sleep guide is the perfect combination of accessible science, Mandy’s years of experience and a mother's warmth. I love the way things fall into place with Mandy’s clear and thorough explanations

Diana Hill, co founder of Essential Parent
For three years, bedtime for Felix was something I'd be dreading by early afternoon each day. Millpond's brilliant blend of commonsense, encouragement and understanding - plus a highly logical strategy that is easy to implement - changed hell into heaven literally overnight. My entire family is thus indebted to Mandy and her team.

Freya North, Author
I just want to say a huge thank you to Mandy. Your wealth of knowledge and solutions made me feel I was in safe hands and helped me have total confidence. It was so helpful to have a structure to work too. I am a GP and would recommend Millpond to any sleep deprived parents; you cannot put a price on sleep. We are expecting a new baby and feel so much more relaxed knowing I won’t have two children up at night and that there is a place I can go if we run into problems. Thank you so much. I only wish I hadn’t waited 19 months.”

Vanessa GP
We are so happy that we put our trust in you to help us with what has been a huge problem for our family for almost two years. Sam is happier and healthier without a doubt. My wife is under so much less stress and we are starting to get our lives back in order. We are finding time to relax and time for each other and I did not realise how much we missed this time. Your guidance is something we appreciate and will not forget. The impact on our family has been huge. So, thank you.

Ben
As a family, we were sleep deprived; our five-year-old son was waking up between 4.30 am to 5.30 am. Our consultant, Juliet’s approach was incredibly calm and collaborative. The outline of a plan and goals worked perfectly for us. I felt each phone session helped us progress in the right direction. The tailored plan for our son made it personal and the tweaking made us feel the training had flexibility (rather than enforcing a pre-defined method). Juliet was also able to share research involving sleep training, which I found insightful. I am really pleased with what we’ve achieved during the programme and I am thankful to Juliet and Millpond.

Evrim.
Millpond Sleep Clinic transformed our lives. We reached out to them when we were at rock bottom. Our son has a neurological condition, so I was nervous and and wanted a sleep clinic who had experience of this and would adapt to the needs of our son. My fear was that they would just tell us what NOT to do. But this was not the case at all with Millpond. They are judgement free, supportive, clear and experts - providing supporting evidence for everything they suggest. We were prepared for a real challenge - but it was actually a lot easier than we expected. Our lives literally changed overnight, and within weeks our son was waking only once a night. A few weeks on from that, and he was sleeping through the night. The investment we made into Millpond was one of the best we've ever made. It gave my son a solid night sleep and consistency. It gave me and my husband our sanity back. All the principles they taught us will serve us well for baby number two, which is arriving in a few months

Shurron
I am delighted. I was aiming to go from 6+ wakes at night and feeding to sleep 100% of the time to 1-2 wake ups and some ability to self-settle. After doing the plan for less than 6 weeks my daughter started sleeping through the night and can now go to sleep in her cot when placed in there awake. I never would have believed that if it had been promised to me. It is a completely different parenting experience getting sleep and my daughter is also much happier I was really pleased too with the approach, which meant I never left her crying and I think has instilled in her the idea that going to sleep when you’re tired is actually a pleasant experience, rather than it being a power struggle.

Katie
Mandy really helped us, we're so grateful. My daughter is now having quite a bit more than the average sleep for her age and it's lovely to see her waking up naturally, ready for the day - and it's really helped me too, I'm waking up naturally and feeling much more refreshed for having a regular sleep routine myself! I've recommended the clinic to several friends and clients already and will continue to do so :)

Louise
We are so happy we could jump for joy, we wish we had spoken to you ages ago. Using Millpond has built our confidence and made us feel on top of it at last You really gave us some life back

Sarah
What was particularly helpful was the counsellor’s sensitivity to meeting my daughter’s needs.

Lucy
I live in Switzerland so it is really quite remarkable that Millpond was able to help me over the phone and by email. When you have slept you can deal with anything!!I

Melanie
We still can’t believe that such small changes have made such a difference to us and Alice. She has even slept through while on holiday in a travel cot

Louise
We are just so sorry we did not get in touch sooner as we went through 18 months of no sleep.

Ann Marie
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! We never thought life could be improved so greatly. You showed us the light. Luka is much happier and loving his sleep now.!

Diane
Alex is sleeping beautifully again and is now quite happy to lay in his cot singing until 7.30/745 am ( Godsend!) and sleeps very happily through the night again. Thank you so much!

Sandy
Very happy to say that Joshua, who you helped us with, is now sleeping a regular 11 hours a night uninterrupted. In fact, getting him up some mornings is a real challenge. He's a great sleeper and we all managed to get about a year of normal sleeping before we had baby number two.

John
'Mandy has been an absolute saviour at a time which was starting to feel quite bleak in terms of our little one's sleep. The personalised advice and guidance has been invaluable and with hard work and perseverance it has paid off. We wouldn't have been able to do it without Mandy's guiding hand and knowledgeable tweaks. Thank you Millpond, we finally have our nights back!'

Mary