I don't want to go to sleep

Sleep is the ideal moment to "know how to be alone."

Sleep is absolutely necessary, but strictly non-delegable.

Sleep is essential for the health and development of the child.

It promotes feeling alert, having a good memory, and behaving better. Children who get enough sleep function better and are less prone to behavioral problems and irritability. That is why it is important for parents to help their children develop good sleep habits from an early age.

Only during the first months of life is it advisable for the child to stay in the parents' room. The need to feed them frequently and the possibility of crying make staying in the parents' room a comfort factor.

From the age of one, it should be possible for the child to fall asleep easily and to manage not to wake up during the night.

Children should be put to bed when they are sleepy, but still awake, since by helping your child fall asleep in their own bed and on their own, you will be improving the chances that they will fall back to sleep more easily if they wake up during the night.

To fall asleep, the child will need an environment capable of providing security and that is expressed firmly, since falling asleep means separating and confronting dream content.

As bedtime approaches, it is advisable for the child to lower their level of activity, and we will move from playing actively to playing in an increasingly calm and monotonous way.

The ideal thing is to establish a routine before going to sleep.

"Set up a little routine" that you can follow when it is the child's bedtime, and that is the same every night, something that allows them to gradually associate those cues with the time to go to bed (e.g., going to the bathroom, brushing their teeth, putting on pajamas, reading a story…).

We will encourage a regular schedule, a dark, quiet environment with an appropriate temperature. You can also use objects that stay with the child all night (e.g., a teddy bear, a little blanket…).

In this process you must AVOID:

- allowing the child to start sleeping in any space other than their own bed

- going to the child's bed to sleep with them

- letting the child skillfully sneak into the parents' bed

You should KNOW that:

- finding one's sleep rhythm is something individual

- we must teach limits appropriately but with firmness and confidence (not only for

sleeping)

- children, during certain stages, want to "control" their parents

- "reassurance and availability" should not mean intruding (that is: knowing that mom and

dad are there does not mean that they fall asleep with them)

- the tiredness and anxiety of parental figures also leads to nighttime decisions

regarding the children (e.g., out of convenience)

- to insist that nighttime separation is one more separation, therefore, we will have to encourage

children's autonomy behaviors appropriate to their developmental stage

- there are disorders that cause sleep not to develop normally and can

affect its quality

Nightmares: Nightmares occur during periods of transition, stress, or changes in the child's routine. They generally occur late at night and can be remembered the next day. The child wakes up crying or screaming, but it is easy to communicate with them and comfort them. Fortunately, nightmares tend to disappear spontaneously.

The effective strategies to eliminate the problem are: encouraging the child to talk about what happened during the nightmare, presenting pleasant images before they fall asleep, and avoiding television before going to bed.

Night Terrors and Sleepwalking: They occur most frequently between four and eight years of age. They usually appear early in the night and the child is between asleep and awake, and generally does not remember what happened the next day. Trying to wake and comfort the child is not effective and may even prolong the event.

Night Terrors consist of recurrent episodes of sudden awakening. Most of the time it is a benign, transient disorder that does not require treatment, since it usually resolves spontaneously.

And in Sleepwalking the child, without waking up, gets out of bed and wanders around their room or the rest of the house. It is interpreted as a disturbance of the sleep rhythm and, if it is not recurrent, it does not involve risks, being frequently developmental and improving spontaneously.

Sleep Apnea: In sleep apnea, pauses in breathing occur during sleep. Children with apnea usually snore, their sleep is restless, and they may show daytime sleepiness.

The important factors in the development of sleep apnea in children are the hypertrophy (enlargement) of the tonsils and adenoids, nasal allergies, obesity, and other medical problems; you should consult your doctor or specialist.

Narcolepsy: It generally has its onset during puberty. Children with narcolepsy develop sleepiness and "uncontrollable sleep attacks" during which they fall asleep against their will. Narcolepsy requires a definitive diagnosis by a doctor.

Although the best prevention and treatment of sleep disorders is achieved when good sleep hygiene is established, which must be appropriate both to the child's developmental stage and to the physiological and cultural needs of the family; whenever we suspect any of these alterations or notice that the child is not rested during the day and suffers from sleepiness, it is advisable to consult a specialist.