2023-08-10 09:19:18
August 10, 2023
During the holidays, young children often go to bed too late, too often. However, if we know that we do not shift the rhythm of babies, older children are also very sensitive to changes in rhythm. Explanation with Claire Leconte, professor emeritus in educational psychology and chronobiologist.
Destination Santé: On vacation, is it possible to put your child to bed later without affecting their well-being too much?
Claire Leconte: You really have to avoid it. English researchers followed children aged 3, 5 and 7 for several years. At the age of 7, the children who have the most difficulty maintaining their attention or suffer from behavioral problems are those who, from the age of three, have experienced regular delays in going to bed, on weekends or on vacation. . The study had also shown that restoring regularity in a child’s bedtime can greatly reduce these problems.
What about the short term effects?
We are governed by many biological clocks that must be synchronized with each other. But these clocks do not all have the same speed of movement. When they are synchronized, we wake up at the same time every day. This is why even if he goes to bed late one night, a child will still wake up at the same time the next day because his clocks have not had time to synchronize to wake up later. They are therefore tired and grumpy children for the rest of the day. And if a young child sleeps very late in the morning, it is really that he lacks a lot of sleep! And that’s really problematic.
How long after dinner should a child go to bed?
It is best to put them to bed about an hour and a half after the start of the meal. Moreover, food also affects sleep. It is in the morning and at noon that you should take the most protein. You can also take it as a snack and avoid consuming it in the evening. Proteins play a role in the synthesis of the sleep hormone, melatonin. In the evening, we are content with starchy foods, vegetables… and we will sleep better.
And what do we do after dinner with the children?
You have to do a quiet activity. It’s up to the parents to offer their child a quiet time with a board game or a story. No screen before bed of course. Parents can also learn to recognize when their child is actually falling asleep. At this time, a drop in core temperature is observed. It’s a very noticeable dip and it means it’s time to put them to bed. When we go beyond this moment, it will be much more difficult to fall asleep. This is true at all ages of life.
For parents who take their child to see a show or dine at a restaurant, what flexibility is possible for bedtime?
We can have a little flexibility on vacation compared to the usual bedtime but not beyond an hour, at least not until 7 years old.
And maybe we can make up for going to bed too late the day before by giving him a long nap?
We can actually make up for a gap from the day before with a nap the next day. I even recommend the siesta to everyone. It must take place during the low meridian, the time of day when after a meal, many people feel tired. This is an overall physiological decline. Everyone should have a break at this time. On the other hand, it is important that the child goes to bed immediately after lunch, not after playing and being excited.
How much nap time do young children need?
There are different typologies of biological rhythms. The short, medium and heavy sleeper typology appears very early in children, around 1 year, 1 year and a half. It’s genetically programmed and it won’t change. A 3-year-old child will no longer need much sleep at a nap, while a 5-year-old much more. Of course, if a child has been up late several nights in a row, he will need a long nap. But we know that too long a nap disturbs the sleepiness of the evening, which would then be counterproductive. I therefore recommend waking them up after a two-hour nap.
And after the holidays, if we haven’t managed to apply these tips well, how long before the start of the school year should we readjust the child on the rhythm of school?
It is necessary to readjust your child at least two weeks before the start of the school year. Especially not the weekend before. Biological clocks need two weeks to get back in sync after being out of sync. There is no point in putting him to bed early just the weekend before, he will still be very tired on the first day of school, and those that follow.
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