There is no definite age when your child should give up her afternoon nap. It depends on your child. If your child is at daycare and all the other children nap in the afternoon, she will likely continue this pattern until she graduates from day care and starts school.

However, if your child happens to be enrolled in an afternoon preschool, nursery, or kindergarten program, then she will have to give up her afternoon nap, maybe even earlier than you would have chosen. She may then adopt a schedule with one longer nighttime sleep episode.

The best way to know if your child is ready to give up her nap is to watch how she does during the day and if it takes her longer than 30 minutes to fall asleep at naptirne. Notice if she seems well rested. There can be many causes why children have trouble with behavior, attention span, or playing with peers, but remember that one possibility in your toddler and preschooler may be that she is not getting enough sleep and needs longer sleep at night or a regular afternoon nap.

Toddler Sleep Patterns
The sleep-wake cycle continues to develop so that by the time your baby is 2 years old, this pattern should be well developed. Between 1 and 3 years of age, your child now requires about 12 hours of sleep a day You maybe getting up with your toddler at night (like many parents with children of this age), but this is probably now just a habit that yoo and your child have developed.

We know that babies can learn to sleep through the night around 6 months of age, and definitely by the age of 2 years. Your toddler also has the capacity to learn to do this. At this age, sleep should be continuous at night. However, your toddler will still require a nap (usually in the afternoon) so her sleep will occur in two phases an afternoon nap and nighttime sleep.

This is pattern is very natural. In fact, adults in many cultures maintain this pattern of two sleep cycles a day one short sleep in the afternoon and one longer sleep episode at night. For most adults living in North America, the afternoon nap is no longer possible given work schedules.

Your toddler’s sleep patterns will also be changed when she learns to climb out of her crib and starts to sleep in a child- or adult-size bed. This may present new challenges if you are having trouble getting her to sleep at night or to stay in bed.

A good night’s sleep is essential if we are to have a productive day and even your child. One of the keys to sleeping well is to use the right pillow. Follow these simple steps to choose one that suits you and your child pillow that make your child sleep through the night with tossing and turning.

1. Monitor Your Baby Sleeping Style

First, figure out how your baby like to sleep - on your front, on your side, or on your back. The best time to do this is at night when your baby already comfortable in bed. You can also make a note of the position your baby  in when she or he wake up - this is usually the way your baby will have slept for most of the night, so it is your baby natural sleeping style.

2. Find A Selection Of Pillows

Visit a store which is likely to have a large range of different pillows - department stores are usually best for this. Ignoring price for the moment, find a selection of pillows that suit your style. Often, they will be labelled ’side’, ‘front’ or ‘back’, but if not, a front or back sleeper generally needs a thinner, softer pillow, while a side sleeper needs a thicker, firmer one.

3. Try Them Out

Once you’ve chosen a few pillows that meet your criteria, take them over to one of the store’s display beds and test them out by lying on them in your usual sleeping position. Take note of how comfortable they are, and whether your head feels well supported. Also pay attention to whether your neck is in a comfortable position.

4. Buy The Best One

It is often tempting to buy pillows based on their price. However, seeing as you will spend as much as a third of your life lying on your pillow, it makes sense to choose one that is going to be comfortable and give you a good night’s rest, regardless of its price.

5. Test It At Home

After purchasing your pillow, you should see how it feels now that you’re sleeping on it for real in your own bed. Many stores will give you a refund on a used pillow provided you haven’t had it too long, so don’t feel you are stuck with whatever one you bought.

Choosing a pillow is a very simple process, and by following these steps you will ensure you get the best one for you and your sleeping style.

Living and eating healthier can lead to benefits in every aspect of your life; this includes your sleeping habits. Certain foods will disrupt your sleep schedule and certain foods will allow you to sleep easier, it is just a matter of choosing the right foods at the right time. Eating the right foods can be the best natural sleep aids available to you, as opposed to popping pills to help you sleep that could leave you feeling groggy and run down.

Caffeine can be great when we need to wake up, but can be a curse when we are trying to fall asleep. For sure this have to avoid to your child. Drinking coffee before bed is usually a bad thing, but the after effects of having caffeine late in the afternoon can also lead to problems sleeping. Sugar is another enemy of sleep, because the short burst of energy leads to uneven blood sugar levels and create issues trying to fall asleep or stay asleep.

Tryptophan is an amino acid that is turned into serotonin, which gets converted to melatonin. Melatonin is the natural hormone that helps you sleep. Turkey is infamous for having tryptophan in it, but some carbohydrate snacks like whole grain cracks can help you fall asleep too if used as the bedtime snack. Magnesium is also a natural sedative and a deficiency of it can lead to all sorts of health issues, not just trouble sleeping. Foods that are high in magnesium include dark leafy green vegetables, almonds, cashew, legumes, and seeds.

Taking the time to work on your diet will lead to better sleep as well as an overall better life as your body will be healthier. Natural sleep aids, such as whole grain crackers, will be much better in the long run then popping sleeping pills. Most of the time putting natural things into your body is always better than artificial, but make sure to consider all sorts of sleep aid solutions if you are having trouble sleeping.

A nice warm bath or shower before bedtime is a delightful, relaxing, and healthful way of inducing sleep for children as well as adults. Children tend to get quite dirty during the day, and it is important to cleanse the body thoroughly before climbing into bed. Going to bed with unclean skin and hair is not only unhealthy and unsanitary, it is irritating and, therefore, liable to hinder sleep. Still, whether your child is dirty or not, an evening bath has many additional benefits.

A nightly bath soothes the body, cleanses the skin, invigorates the respiratory system, and relaxes the mind. To make the bath even more relaxing, try adding a few drops of lavender oil to the water. The rich aroma is said to induce deep, restful sleep. Adding a little baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to the water may soothe some irritated skin conditions. Traditionally, some Chinese parents add just a little ginger to the bathwater when the child has a mild upper respiratory infection or cold.

I always advise parents to avoid giving their children bubble baths. Bubble baths may have glamorous associations, thanks to Hollywood movies, and they are heavily marketed to children through television advertising, but they irritate and dry out the skin. Irritated skin means a poor night’s sleep. Bubble baths can even cause urinary tract infections.’ I suspect that many cases of bladder irritation and inflammation, as well as urinary tract irritation, are often misdiagnosed and treated as bacterial infections, when, in fact, they are just the symptoms of irritation caused by bubble baths and harsh soap.

These would be more easily and more appropriately treated by simply stopping the bubble baths rather than misusing antibiotics. I might add, for those American parents who have hear otherwise, that male circumcision does not prevent urinary tract infection in boys nor does female circumcision prevent urinary tract infections in girls, as has been espoused by primitive and misguided teachings. The prevention of urinary tract infections depends on proper nutrition and proper hygiene, part of which means avoiding bubble baths and exposure to harsh chemicals in soap or overly chlorinated pool water. Bathe your child in pure, clean, fresh water.

Some families enjoy climbing into the bathtub together as an enjoyable, playful, harmonious, and healthy family activity You can also increase your child’s enjoyment of the bath by adding toys, such as sailboats other floating toys. Naturally, we would not want our children to play the bathtub with battleships, military submarines, or war instruments any kind at bedtime, as we want to encourage a peaceful, gentle, and relaxed frame of mind.

Although the benefits of soaking the entire body in warm water a obvious, showers are an equally valuable alternative. One benefit of shower is that soapy waste water is immediately washed down the drain sparing your child from wallowing in dirty water. If your child is dirty but prefers a bath to a shower, do as the Japanese do: Get into an empty tub, rinse the body with warm water, soap up, scrub off the dirt, and rinse off completely. Then, fill the tub with warm water in which to soak.

While we sleep, our basic bodily functions continue. Although our breathing takes on a different rhythm when we sleep, our need to breathe is just as vital. Certain sleeping positions promote good breathing, while others can hinder breathing. As they reach maturity, children will find their preferred sleeping position, or at least their preferred position for falling asleep, but for infants, only one sleeping position seems to be entirely safe.

Infants should sleep on their backs in the so-called “supine position.” Sleeping on the abdomen (“prone sleeping”) is associated with SIDS. In fact, the dramatic reduction in the rate of SIDS in recent years is attributed to the worldwide medical campaign to educate parents about the dangers of prone sleeping.

The problem with prone sleeping seems to be that it can lead to difficulties with breathing. A baby can smother himself under his own weight, especially if sleeping on a soft mattress or a waterbed, or on any nonfirm surface. One of the many great benefits of sleeping with your baby is that it allows you to monitor the infant’s sleeping position.

A mother who finds that her baby unconsciously turns onto his abdomen during the night can gently return her baby to the supine position. Sleeping on the back is also better for the child’s posture, as it encourages a straight back with correct curves for a strong healthy body Also, sleeping on the back enables the small infant to awaken and still be able to look around at the environment.

If an infant awakens on his abdomen, he will rub his head into the sheet with every movement. Many a rash on a baby’s cheeks is resolve simply by changing to the supine position, especially when the infant is drooling and the sheet under his head becomes wet.

In summary, help your child get a good night’s sleep by making your child sleeping environment a sanctuary from the distractions of life and a bastion of comfort and safety Our internal environment is a reflection of our external environment, and vice versa. Foster the feelings of security and confidence that will help your child sleep by making his bedroom clean, neat, peaceful, and safe from all perils and dangers.

Ideally, your child should sleep in a pair of 100 percent cotton pajmas or nightshirt, or in the nude. Your child’s personal preferences, your family tradition, or weather conditions will determine what is most appropriate at any given time of year.

The most important thing is that sleepwear should be clean, comfortable, and nonrestricting, yet not so billowy that a child could get tangled up and risk suffocation. Because infants do not yet have the muscle power or coordination to free themselves from clothing constrictions, form-fitting sleepers or nudity (with diaper if necessary) would seem to be among the right choices.

This is not the place to address in detail the tremendous controversy over the question of fire safety and children’s sleepwear, but a few words are in order. Out of fear of fire, some parents have been encouraged to put their children in sleepwear that is advertised as being flame retardant. In fact, the government requires that newly manufactured garments designated and sold as children’s sleepwear should be both flame retardant and self-extinguishing.

The government, however, does not compel parents to dress their children in these sorts of garments. Most flame-retardant sleep garments are made of polyester that has been treated with flame retardant chemicals, such as Tris (tris [2,3dibromopropyl phosphate or tris [2-chloroethyl phosphate).

Unfortunately, this chemical is carcinogenic. It can be absorbed through the skin or through the mouth if a child sucks or chews on a piece of a fabric treated with this chemical. There are also tremendous disadvantages to artificial fibers, which are uncomfortable and hot. Against the skin, they cause the body to sweat but not allow the sweat to evaporate. These conditions will only aggravate your child, promote unhealthiness, and make sleep difficult.

We all acknowledge that it is far better for your child’s health to clad in 100 percent, chemical-free natural fibers, such as cotton or Iinen, but parents will have to weigh the risks and do what they think is be in their particular situation. Still, putting your child in chemically treated, 100 percent artificial fibers is no substitute for taking all the common sense precautions you can to make your house fire safe.

Nighttime house fires are almost always caused by preventable accidents, such as carelessly dropped cigarettes, unattended candles, accumulated garbage, overburdened electrical outlets, or portable electric heaters that have been left illuminated at night. None of these things is inevitable. Each is the result of negligence on the part of parents and can and should be prevented.

As a parent, it is your responsibility to do everything you can to reduce the risk of fire in your house, and this includes installing a smoke detector in your child’s room, conducting regular fire drills, and outlining the evacuation plans for your child in the event of a fire.

I think that it is better to use a little common sense and prevent fires in the first place than to argue over what sort of sleep garments burn slower. Telephone your local fire department to get the latest tips on making your house as safe from fire as possible

Drugs such as phenobarbital, Valium, or other sleep-inducing medications should never be given to children of any age. In the past, doctors routinely used to make the mistake of prescribing such medications to babies and children. Nowadays, doctors should know better, but a parent must remain vigilant.

If a doctor prescribes such medications, get a second opinion. Obviously, if your child is suffering from a neurological disorder, such as epilepsy or obsessive compulsive disorder, whose treatment requires the prescription of mind-altering, insomnia-causing drugs that must be used in conjunction with sleeping pills, you may not have any choice, but for otherwise healthy children, drugs should be avoided. These brain altering chemicals are dangerous on their own and can quickly become addictive.

If your child’s sleeping difficulties are so severe that you are .tempted to medicate your child with your own prescription or over-the-counter sleeping pills, call a doctor and/or a family counselor. Drugs are not an option for common sleep problems.

Because sleeping pills are so common, people make the mistake of thinking they are harmless and that they are useful for children. Every night, more than 13 million adult Americans resort to prescribed medicine to assist them in falling asleep, and many more medicate themselves with over-the-counter remedies.

These drugs, which are sometimes very potent, can cause “rebound insomnia,” disrupt REM sleep, or have other significant side effects. They may cause a distressing dependence on chemicals in order to fall asleep and stay asleep. We do not want our children to suffer from such addictions.

The most commonly used sedative/hypnotic medications are in a class of drugs called benzodiazepines, of which the most widely used are diazepam (Valium), lorazepam (Ativan), temazepam (Restoril), estazolam (ProSorn), and triazolam (Halcion). It would be good to familiarize yourself with these names so that you can be alert if anyone tries to prescribe such drugs for your child.

These drugs all act on the central nervous system to produce sedation, hypnosis, muscle relaxation, and decreased anxiety. Although they are rarely indicated on genuine medical grounds, these drugs are commonly prescribed for the treatment of insomnia in adults. If prescribed for adults, they should not be used more than three to times a week. They are not indicated for solving children’s sleep problems.

Zolpidem (Ambien) has become the latest popular drug for inducing sleep in adults, but it too should not be given to children. Zolpidem is probably too new for any untoward reactions to have been evaluated. Barbiturates such as phenobarbital were once the most commonly used drugs to induce sleep but are no longer indicated for adults or children, as they are very easily abused, are addicting, and have many other unpleasant effects.

Yes. One common cause of night wakings is nightmares. A child who experiences a nightmare that is disturbing and frightening enough actually to wake the child from a deep sleep and leave him in a state of distress is a child who will benefit from a parent’s comfort.

The younger the child is, the less he will be able to distinguish dreams from reality in general. This is because children are emotional rather than intellectual creatures. The emotions that humans of all ages feel in dreams are real emotions generated by the emotional centers of the brain.

Consequently, the aftereffects of these emotions are real, physical events, even if the experiences that provoked the emotional response happened in the dream state. We adults can apply reason to mitigate the emotional effects of nightmares, but children generally cannot do so.

When your child wakes up in the middle of the night from a nightmare and calls out for you, go to him and soothe him. You would be wise to avoid insisting that the nightmare was “just a dream,” because, to the child, it was a real experience. Children, especially younger children, will argue with you vigorously on this point. You simply cannot win this argument.

Just hold your child in your arms, rock him back and forth, and reassure him that everything is all right, that you are there for him, and that he is safe. It is probably a good idea to avoid asking young children to relate the nightmare to you. This will have the undesired effect of reinforcing the experience and making it harder for your child to get back to sleep.

It also runs the risk of the child’s mind making a subconscious association between sleep and the negative emotions suffered during the nightmare. If your child volunteers to relate the content of the nightmare, listen sympathetically and uncritically and offer all the reassurances I mentioned above.

Older children whose intellectual faculties are more developed generally do not believe that the event experienced in the nightmare was a real event, but they too benefit from the comfort that a parent can provide at this time of distress. Fostering an emotionally stable, mentally healthy, responsible, self-reliant, and self-sufficient child requires, in pant, that parents provide the necessary emotional support.

There can be a variety of causes of nightmares. One primary cause is the mental exhaustion brought on by periodic or chronic sleep debt. Make sure your child gets to bed early enough every night especially on school nights so that she gets the full amount of sleep that permits her to feel refreshed upon awakening in the morning and to remain alert and cheerful all day long without any sign of drowsiness.

Emotional disturbance, stress, and conflicts can also induce nightmares. These conditions are only aggravated by sleep debt. Whatever the cause, whenever they occur, give your child the emotional support she needs. Cuddle and reassure your child with the same loving kindness that you would want if you were in her place.

After six months, children may be excellent sleepers. If parents have helped children to foster the healthy daytime activities that correctly reset the biological clock such as getting sufficient exposure to morning sunshine and getting adequate exercise and if parents have been careful to protect their children from the known causes of sleep disturbances such as caffeine, stress, and discomfort night wakings should rarely occur.

The beautiful ease with which most children sleep at night is often greatly envied by adults. For this reason, I suspect that the occasional episode night waking is less a problem for the child than it is for the parent.

The parents will typically have a much harder time getting back to sleep whereas the child will settle back to sleep with ease. A baby who is six months or older, for instance, who sleeps with parent, may awaken during the night for no other reason than to reassure himself of his surroundings. He may remain perfectly quiet. Once he felt the reassuring presence of his mother or father, the baby may fall back asleep just as silently as he awoke in the first place.

The emotional causes of the night waking may be exactly the same for babies who sleep with a parent and those who sleep alone, but the child’s reactions will necessarily be different. The child’s need to establish bodily contact with the parent is just as strong, but the only way for the solitary baby to signal that such contact is required is through crying.

Other older babies, for reasons that we may be unable to ascertain may wake up and want to breast-feed. Usually this contact with the mother is less in response to a nutritional need and more in response to an emotional need. We cannot always know what is going on in a baby’s mind.

Additionally, unsuspected stresses encountered during the day may lead the baby to seek to reestablish emotional balance by gentle suckling at night. Mothers should support this need. Only good can come from allowing a baby to reassure herself in this positive manner.

Prospective parents and the parents of newborn babies would be wise to prepare themselves for the biological fact that newborn babies are unable to sleep through the night. This necessarily means lost sleep for parents.

It is one of the many sacrifices that parents have always made for their children. The good news is that this period of lost sleep lasts only a short time. After about two or three months, healthy babies will be sleeping for about five-hour stretches during the night. After about six months, some healthy babies will be sleeping through most nights.

Wise parents know that this sacrifice is just part of being a parent. In any event, free yourself from the expectation that your baby will conform to the sleeping schedule of other babies. Instead, tenderly accept and value your baby’s unique sleep pattern.

It is best to avoid fixating on your sleep loss. There is nothing you can do about it, beyond adapting your schedule to the baby’s. You may be able to learn to sleep when your baby sleeps. After all, she needs to sleep a greater percentage of the day than you do. If your baby wakes when you are occupied with housework, put him in your papoose or sling and continue doing the housework together.

If your baby wakes up while you are busy reading a book, pick up your baby and continue reading the book aloud or simply hold her in your arms while you read. As an adult, who is blessed with greater flexibility, you can adjust your schedule so that you can sleep when your baby sleeps.

Instead of focusing on the inconveniences presented by this period in your baby’s life, focus instead on the many joys of being the parent of a newborn baby Remember that you too were a newborn baby once. You too required about six months before you could sleep through the night.

When your children are grown up and have left the house, the fondest memories you will have of them are usually those related to their babyhood. Consciously and joyously immerse yourself in the beautiful, privileged experience of being the parent of a newborn baby.