Helping Your Child with Sleep Anxiety
This is a writing sample from Scripted writer Cathryn Moore
Having a child with sleep anxiety is hard. It’s tough to be patient and reassuring when you’re exhausted and just want to go to sleep yourself. It can be even more difficult if you don’t understand why your child is struggling to sleep.
Sleep anxiety is very common in children, although it’s not something you hear much about. Between the ages of 8 and 12 years old, around 20 – 30% of children will struggle to sleep.
Some common symptoms of sleep anxiety are:
• Increased heart rate
• Feeling sick
• Headaches
• Sweating
• Restlessness
• Feeling scared
These can be triggered by lots of things, ranging from unhappy thoughts and fears to noises heard in the dark. Many children fear being alone at night and having sleep anxiety increases that fear until it is unbearable for them.
They may not be able to explain why they are frightened, or it could be a combination of many small fears. If there is something specific causing the problem, such as parental separation, moving to a new area or new school, or problems with their friends, you can use this to start a conversation with them about their fears.
There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution, but there are steps you can take to build a bedtime routine that works for you and your child.
Step one: Make their bedroom into a safe place.
This can mean moving the position of the bed, changing the decoration or even something as simple as a different nightlight. Feeling safe in their bed is a big step towards better nights.
Step two: Reading.
Reading is so important for children for many reasons. It’s great for their learning and understanding, it aids in memory and lowers the heart rate, and, most importantly in this case, it is an excellent way to relax before bed.
Reading for 15 or 20 minutes before bed can help to settle your child, especially if they are snuggled up somewhere they feel safe.
Step three: Meditation or sleep story.
There are plenty of apps that offer meditation for kids, such as Calm or Headspace. They have programs specifically designed for different age groups, and have a range of focuses such as relaxing, reducing anxiety, and sleep.
If they don’t like meditation, try a sleep story instead. Rather than listening to an exciting audiobook, these are stories designed to calm and soothe, to keep their mind occupied while helping them fall asleep.
Step four: Ambient noise
You can use the meditation apps for this, or home devices like Alexa. Ambient noise can be whatever works for your child. They range from babbling brooks to pebbly beaches, from rainfall to summer meadows. They have white noise options as well, such as fans and dishwashers, if that helps your child settle better.
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Having a routine is great but being flexible with it depending on how they are doing that night is even more important. Some nights you may need to repeat steps several times or skip them entirely.
There will be good nights and bad nights and times when you feel like you want to join in with the crying. You can’t fix sleep anxiety, but you can learn to live with it. As frustrating as it can be, patience and understanding are the best things you can offer your child.
Written by:
Cathryn has been writing since 2008 when her first article was published. Since then, she has been writing from her home in Devon, England, while working in hospitality and finance. She has a thirst for knowledge that makes researching a topic enjoyable and she loves building an article to find the best way to communicate the information. Her qualification as a proofreader ensures her work is error-free and her experience in different industries gives her a wide knowledge base.
