Starting Nursery or School and how it can affect Sleep

Starting nursery or school can be an emotional time for all concerned and can affect your little ones anxiety levels and sleep. As a mum of twins with very different personalities and as a children's sleep consultant I have live and breathed it. In this blog, I’ll share what could happen and strategies that will help to manage this next step in their development and will help your child/children protect their sleep so that they are maximising the amount and quality they are getting.

When your child / children are about to start school or nursery lots of things are going on due to routine changes, being separated from you, excitement or worry about the new environment, and tiredness can lead to Understanding the underlying causes can help in addressing the issue effectively.

This can be shown in a number of different ways:

• Taking longer to settle at bedtime - lots of questions, voicing their worries, needing more reassurance that everything will be ok, not being able to settle their excitement.

• More night wakes - waking up worrying about what is going to happen, not being able to stop their mind thinking about the changes, being overtired so unsettled sleep.

• Early morning wakes - eager to start the day.

• Nightmares or increased anxiety - feeling unsettled and concerns about being separated from you.

• Being unusually tired or irritable during the day - due to being so stimulated in their new environment, not getting as much / lower quality naps in the nursery environment due to other things going on or a build up of overtiredness due to reduced quality sleep.

Ensure that you are understanding of how big these changes are for your little ones and try these tips to help with the transition.

Mitigate the Tiredness

Your child/children are likely to be more tired so:

• Get them into bed earlier, so they get the optimum 11 hours sleep a night.

• If at nursery, explain to the nursery the routine you have and how they fall asleep.

Talk about their Day

If old enough, give them the opportunity to talk about their day before bedtime such as at dinner time. This will stop it being a delay tactic and / or stop them getting upset at bedtime.

Put a Calming Bedtime Routine in Place

Make sure their bedtime routine is kept to about 30-40 minutes and involves calming activities such as a bath, stories and lullabies.

Include Anxiety Reducing Techniques

• Use techniques such as mindfulness or breathing exercises.

• I love the Invisible String technique (also a book) that talks about them always being connected to their parent by an Invisible String.

Establish a Consistent Wake-Up Time

Set a consistent wake-up time for your children, even on weekends. Consistency helps regulate their internal clock and reinforces their sleep patterns, making it easier for them to sleep longer in the mornings.

If it continues after a few weeks

If disturbed sleep continues despite implementing these strategies, it may be helpful to seek guidance from a children's sleep consultant. Professional support can provide more in depth understanding on what's happening, personalised solutions to address specific issues, to improve your children’s sleep patterns.

Starting school or nursery is a big step for you and your little one. Calm consideration, techniques and strategies are available to support. By implementing these strategies, you can help your children get better quality sleep and wake up feeling refreshed ready for the day ahead.

Struggling with sleep due to starting nursery or school? Schedule a free sleep assessment to discover effective strategies and solutions to help your children sleep longer and wake up on time.