St. Louis, MO (KMOX) - After a summer with less structure, getting back into a good sleep routine for the school year can be a major back-to-school challenge for families. Dr. Kendra Krietsch, clinical psychologist at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, says proper sleep is as important as good nutrition.
Recommendations for adequate sleep by age:
- Preschoolers need 10 to 13 hours per day including naps.
- Elementary schoolers need 9 to 11 hours per night. No daytime naps.
- Teens need 8 to 10 hours per night and also should not be napping
How do you achieve that if your child was used to sleeping in over the summer months? Krietsch tells KMOX's Total Information AM, "I think my best tip is creating a family culture where everyone is doing it. Kids do not like to go to bed, especially if they see other people in the family doing fun things. And so my be my biggest recommendation would be that you as a family decide that all the screens turn off at 7 p.m. for example, that lights go dim that kids don't have access to things that would interfere with sleep."
KMOX asked Dr. Kreitsch to weigh in on the use of melatonin as a sleep aid. She says that should always be discussed with your child's pediatrician first, but adds, if you're following healthy sleep habits, it's usually not necessary, "So healthy sleep habits can be a pain, but they don't cost anything. There's no risk for side effects. So before you ask your pediatrician about Melatonin, you should really be asking yourself, you know, is my kid staying away from caffeine during the day? Are they getting the mental and physical stimulation they need during the day? Are they getting outside? Are we following those consistent bedtime and wake times from week to weekend that allow for enough sleep? Are we turning off all the screens before bed? Are we prompting our kids to follow a bedtime routine to wind down and have we created a healthy sleep environment for them, that's dark, cool, quiet and calm and without distractions like phones and TV? Usually once we're doing those things, melatonin really isn't needed."
Kreitsch says a child who consistently fails to get enough sleep is more likely to get sick, plus sleep deprivation can cause weight issues, and can trigger mood and behavior changes.
One more important point -- she says you have to stick to your bedtime routine on the weekends, not just on school nights. "It's ok to go to bed and wake up an hour maybe two hours later on the weekends. But what happens when we go to bed much later on the weekends is that we're effectively putting our bodies through jet lag. So if you have a teen who wakes up at noon on the weekends when they're getting up at six for school, they're essentially, you know, traveling to London for the weekend and then back for Sunday night, which is why teens often have a really hard time going to bed and waking up on time at the beginning of the school week."
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