BY HEJIRA CONVERY, KINDICARE

JULY 20, 2022

Sleepless nights are to be expected when you have a little baby, but anyone with an older child will know that solid sleep doesn’t always come naturally in the years that follow.  

An active mind can keep your kiddo up long after lights out, and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) estimates that 20 to 30% of preschool and school-aged kids struggle with sleep problems.  

This statistic is a nightmare for sleep-deprived families, but we’re pleased to report that help is at hand! 

Professor Harriet Hiscock is a sleep expert, and with her MCRI team, she’s created a range of storybooks to help families manage common sleep problems.  

To learn more about kids’ sleep, and the Sleep with Kip books (which you can win below), we spoke with Professor Hiscock.  

She tells us that kids’ sleep problems can strike at any time after lights out. 

For ages three to eight, “The most common sleep problems are difficulty settling to sleep, frequent night waking, and getting up early (usually before 6am) in the morning.” 

None of this is great for your child’s healthy growth (or your ability to charge through the day), and there are lots of reasons why your tyke might have trouble getting to sleep and staying that way.  

Professor Hiscock says, “Some children may be anxious about going to sleep. Others may want to test out parents’ limits around settling at the start of the night, coming in and out of the bedroom multiple times. Whilst others may just find it hard to wind down and settle.” 

It is important to get to the bottom of what’s going on, because your child needs a certain quantity of quality sleep. 

The government says ages three to five need 10 to 13 hours of good quality sleep every day, with consistent sleep and wake-up times, and your preschooler may still need daytime naps.  

Then, between the ages of five and 13, your child needs nine to 11 hours of uninterrupted sleep. 

There’s wriggle room in these timeframes because some kids naturally need more sleep than others, but good sleep is essential for everyone, and Professor Hiscock says it’s the responsibility of us parents to establish good sleep habits.  

To help your child fall asleep more easily… 

She says it’s important to: 

• Follow a predictable bedtime routine (such as dinner, bath, book, brush teeth and bed) 
• Stick to a regular bedtime
• Keep your child’s bedroom cool and dark, and
• Ensure screens are kept out of the sleeping space. 

 

If you think the childcare day (or daycare nap) is affecting your preschooler’s ability to fall asleep at night, she encourages you to discuss this with your educators and come up with a better sleep plan together.  

For instance, your educators may be happy to gently wake up your child once they move into light sleep mode (e.g. when they start moving around and making noises) to shorten their daytime nap.  

If staying asleep is the problem… 

Then Professor Hiscock says your child needs to learn how to fall asleep by themselves at the start of the night. “This means that when they naturally wake during the night (as we all do), they can fall back to sleep by themselves.”  

If early waking is affecting your family… 

Then understanding the cause of this common problem can help.  

Professor Hiscock says there are three main reasons why your child may be getting up with the sun (or even before the sun!).  

Namely: 

• They went to bed too soon 
• Their behaviour is being rewarded for waking up early (e.g they get to watch morning TV), or 
• They’re generally early risers, in which case, you can partly blame genetics! 

Once you’ve isolated the cause of your child’s early waking, you can then manage it. 

For instance, you might: 

• Try moving your tyke’s bedtime to a slightly later time  
• Remove the ‘reward’ for waking up early (e.g. by making a rule that there’s no TV-watching before school) 
• Read the Sleep with Kip book, Slug Dad & Monster Mum, which is specially written for early risers, and also 
• Set a clock radio to come on at the time you’d like your child to wake up (e.g. 6am, instead of 4.30am), with a clear instruction that they can only come out of their room when they hear the music. Sticker or stamp rewards may sweeten the deal!  

 

In any event, the Sleep with Kip books are a great way to teach your child how to sleep better. 

Professor Hiscock says, “The books are based on 20 years of research into behavioural sleep, and they tackle the three major behavioral sleep issues: Getting to sleep, staying asleep/self-settling, and early waking.”  

These six bedtime stories are super kid-friendly (starting with their funny titles), and they deal with different sleep dilemmas: 

• Pick Your Own Nose helps your child fall asleep by themselves 
• Slug Dad & Monster Mum tackles that dreaded early morning waking 
• Marshmallow Puffins at the Window helps you manage night-time fears or worries that are keeping your imaginative child awake 
• Has Dad Joined the Circus? introduces your kiddo to an evidence-based technique called ‘Camping Out’, which helps them fall asleep without you 
• A Beach in the Bedroom introduces visual imagery and relaxation techniques to help your older kid rest their worried mind, and
• The Old Bedtime Pass Puncher can help if your kiddo gets out of bed multiple times, for different reasons, before finally falling asleep. 

 

This quick Sleep Quiz is an easy way to work out which sleep problems your child might have, and which books will help them best, and there’s also the opportunity to win all six books! 

Thanks to the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, we’re giving away two full sets of the Sleep with Kip books. 

For your chance to win one, just tell us in 25 words or less, why your child needs these stories in their bedroom. 

Email your entry to competitions@kindicare.com by 26 July 2022.  

Alternatively, you can buy one book, or all six, today.  

And if you’re keen to try before you buy, head to Story Box Library for a free listen.