Sleep Tight: Sending Kids Back-to-School Well-Rested

As New Jammies kids head back to school, sleep is a major component to making sure they’re alert and ready to take on the day. For starters, we suggest a good night’s sleep and a healthy diet of fruits and veggies.

There are also many suggestions from experts on how to help send kids back to school well-rested. According to Prevea Health Services in Green Bay, Wisconsin, summer can change a child’s sleep schedule dramatically.

“During the summer, going to bed late and sleeping in late can become normal for kids. Two to three weeks before school starts, ease your children back into a more school-friendly sleep routine with consistent bedtimes. Encourage them to gradually start going to bed earlier and waking up earlier to help them better transition/’ says the healthcare organization, on its website. “The start of the school year can be very challenging when children are not well rested, so make sure to practice good sleep habits.”

Previa also suggests not allowing TVs in children’s bedrooms, turning off other electronics or cell phones at least 30 minutes before lights out, limiting caffeine during the day and discouraging any leading up to bedtime. Parents can also follow these suggestions for themselves and lead by example.

“These are valuable tips for parents, too,” Previa says. “It’s helpful to set a good example for kids to follow.”

Allowing for enough time to sleep is important when preparing for back-to-school. The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) says school-aged kids, 6-13 years old, need 9-11 hours of sleep, especially as they become involved in additional school activities.

“At the same time, there is an increasing demand on their time from school (e.g., homework), sports and other extracurricular and social activities,” says the NSF. “In addition, school-aged children become more interested in TV, computers, the media and Internet as well as caffeine products – all of which can lead to difficulty falling asleep, nightmares and disruptions to their sleep.”

The National Sleep Foundation reminds parents that in particular, watching TV close to bedtime is associated with bedtime resistance, difficulty falling asleep, anxiety around sleeping.

Preschoolers (3-5 years) typically sleep 11-13 hours each night and most do not nap after five years of age.

“As with toddlers, difficulty falling asleep and waking up during the night are common. With further development of imagination, preschoolers commonly experience nighttime fears and nightmares. In addition, sleepwalking and sleep terrors peak during preschool years,” says the National Sleep Foundation.

The foundation’s sleep tips for preschoolers suggests parents make sure to:

• Maintain a regular and consistent sleep schedule.
• Have a relaxing bedtime routine that ends in the room where the child sleeps.
• Have a child sleep in the same sleeping environment every night, in a room that is cool, quiet and dark – and without a TV.

The website www.sleepforkids.org is a service of the National Sleep Foundation that teaches the importance of sleep to kids. Through the site, parents can order the informative booklet “Time to Sleep with P.J. Bear,” which uses an illustrated story to teach children about sleep. The website also includes a Games and Puzzles section where kids can have fun while learning about sleep. They can see how much sleep time they get by calculating their bedtime and test their memories with the Sleep Card Game. They can also print out the “Bring Out the Stars” activity page that features P.J. Bear.

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Shop Right

This school year, New Jammies is making shopping for back-to-school sleepwear easier with our new mobile site and shopping app. New Jammies wants to make shopping online for kid’s PJs, footies, sleep sacks and more a breeze for our on-the-go customers. Go to your smart phone or tablet’s App Store and search for New Jammies to download our new shopping app for iPhone and Android. And visit our updated mobile shopping website at www.newjammies.com to shop our 100% organic cotton pajamas on the go!