"My Child Can't Sleep During Quarantine": What you can do
Is your child struggling with sleep during the Covid-19 lockdown? You are not alone. Many parents have told me that their child can't sleep during quarantine. I reached out and heard from hundreds of parents about their struggles. I found a few types of problems. Here, I review them and also talk about what you can do about them
The most common problems:
- Children shifting sleep schedules later
- Conflict at bedtime and nap time
- Middle of the night awakenings
I wrote an article in the New York Times called Bedtime Was Hard Enough. Then Came Quarantine.
In summary: here's what you can do:
- Manage screen and light exposure
- Respect your routines
- Limit discussion of upsetting topics around your child
- Have the evenings be relaxed
- Outdoor exercise!!!
- Give yourself a break
- And puppies. Always puppies
These articles are always shorter than I would like, so I also created a detailed Youtube video as well:
Originally published April 2020. Last reviewed/updated by Dr. Craig Canapari, MD in April 2020
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