Sleep Expert Reveals: 5 Essential Tips to Get Your Child to Sleep Fast!

Ensuring your child gets enough sleep is crucial to their overall well-being. Sleep greatly impacts motor skills development1, concentration levels2, and mental capabilities3 in young children. Despite its importance, approximately 25% of parents with children under five years old indicate sleep issues4.

Common advice for handling sleep challenges often seems inadequate, typically suggesting consistent sleep schedules, reducing screen time, and improving the sleep environment. It’s no wonder that the need for pediatric sleep consultants5 is on the rise, with parents searching for more effective strategies to ensure their children sleep through the night.

Kelly Murray, a pediatric sleep consultant and functional health coach, is intimately familiar with these issues. After her own experiences with her son’s sleep challenges, she has dedicated nearly a decade to crafting personalized sleep plans for parents, aiming to simplify their nighttime routines.

She now offers her best strategies for preparing children for restful nights, including using Hyland’s range of mild yet effective sleep supplements.*‡

Murray suggests beginning your child’s bedtime routine with a warm bath, noting it’s a significant shift from daily activities and serves as a powerful indicator that it’s time to wind down. Additionally, the rise in your child’s core body temperature during the bath followed by a cooling when they exit is an effective natural trigger for melatonin production, improving their sleep quality.

On particularly restless evenings, perhaps due to excitement from an upcoming event, Murray recommends Hyland’s range of child-friendly sleep supplements.*‡ These products, available with or without melatonin, blend organic botanicals with essential vitamins and minerals to promote relaxation and rest.*

The supplements not only help with sleep by using natural ingredients like chamomile extract, lemon balm, and magnesium but also support immune health with zinc and organic elderberry.*

Murray points out that overhead lighting can interfere with the natural production of melatonin by mimicking the bright midday sun. She suggests switching to the softer light of lamps in the evening to simulate the sun setting, which can help your child prepare for sleep.

Children, like adults, can experience anxiety that affects their sleep. Murray emphasizes the importance of addressing these emotional needs. For younger children, the separation from parents can be distressing; she suggests placing a family photo or an item of clothing in their room to provide comfort.

For older children, processing the day’s events is crucial. Murray recommends setting aside time to talk, or perhaps encouraging them to journal or engage in calming meditation exercises to help them relax and sleep better.

A streamlined morning routine can also contribute to better sleep patterns. Murray advises keeping mornings low-key to discourage early rising. For toddlers, who are naturally early risers, she suggests using motivational tools like a reward system linked to an alarm clock that encourages them to stay in bed longer.