Checkup Newsroom

Helping Your Kids Get to Sleep after They ‘Spring Forward’

Thu, 07 Mar 2019 15:29:03 -0600

Many of your kids will be losing an hour of sleep heading into Spring Break, so start planning now.

That’s the advice of Hilary Pearson, M.D., medical director of the Sleep Laboratory at Cook Children’s.

“Sunday is ‘spring forward,’ so we all lose one hour of overnight time,” Dr. Pearson said. “To prepare for that, parents should start putting their kids to bed 15 to 20 minutes earlier now, so that the loss of sleep on Sunday is less than one hour.”

Dr. Pearson said the trick is to try to reset your body clock as much as possible by going to bed early for about a week, even after the time change. Then gradually adjust your bedtime back to normal in 20 minute increments until reaching the goal of your child’s normal bedtime and overnight sleep.

With next week spring break for a lot of students, it may be harder to get your child on a schedule at all. But Dr Pearson advises using the spring break week to get back to your normal sleep routine gradually.

Elementary age kids should be getting 10 hours of sleep nightly and teenagers should be getting about nine and a half hours.

“Ensuring that your kids aren’t sleep deprived before the loss of an hour is helpful,” Dr. Pearson said. “Watching caffeine intake in the afternoon is also critical. Realize that none of us will be feeling ‘back to normal’ for around a week while our internal clocks reset.”

Dr. Pearson encourages parents to keep electronics out of the hand of your kids for at least an hour prior to bed, simplify the morning routine as much as possible during that first week back to school and avoid naps.

“I know kids will want to take a nap because they may be tired after losing an hour sleep, but it’s better to avoid napping during the day to make sleeping at night easier,” Dr. Pearson said.

Get to know Hilary Pearson, M.D.

Dr. Pearson is the medical director for the Sleep Center at Cook Children's. She leads six highly trained polysomnography technologists on staff. Dr. Pearson works closely with other Cook Children's specialists and the Sleep Center staff to provide clinical consultation and comprehensive management of pediatric sleep-related disorders.

"I chose to go into pediatric sleep medicine because I enjoy seeing the quality of a child’s life improve even after they’ve had a serious illness," Dr. Pearson said. "Kids are so resilient! Sleep medicine issues can affect healthy children as well as chronically ill patients and I get to help patients with a variety conditions. I love being at Cook Children’s because the focus is on the family, and it’s always better for the child when you can really work together as a team.

"During my time away from work, I like to cook, play with my kids and watch Texas Ranger games!"

How to Get Your Kids Back on a Sleep Schedule

Tue, 07 Aug 2018 16:34:16 -0500

How is it August already?

Whether you’ve enjoyed your summer with the kids and you’re dreading the first day back or you’re counting down the days (hours), it’s time to start thinking about getting back into that back to school routine.

One of the biggest hang-ups in transitioning from a summer to school routine is getting back on a good sleep scheduled to make sure your child is getting enough.

Here are 4 T’s that should help you get back in the swing of things:

Think about it now. If your sleep schedule is off, you need a few weeks to get everything back in line. Don’t wait until the last minute.
Turn back bedtime. Adjust your child’s bedtime back in small blocks leading up to the start of school. If you have 2 weeks and need to adjust back 30 minutes, start bedtime 15 minutes earlier each week.
Train your child in the routine. Having a consistent routine helps your child be ready for bedtime when the time comes. Take a shower/bath, brush teeth, read…whatever your routine is, start it now to get your child ready for the night before the first day.
Toss the TV and tablets after dinner. Using screens leading up to bedtime will disrupt your child’s melatonin production and make it hard for them to go to sleep.

Sometimes though, regardless of how hard we try a child can't get back on schedule for health reasons. Lack of sleep can cause problems with a child's health, ability to learn and daily life. That's when we refer the patient to the Cook Children's accredited Sleep Center.

Keisha Shaheed, D.O is board certified in pediatrics and sleep medicine and is one of the physicians at the Cook Children's Sleep Center.

Dr. Shaheed says when it comes time to go back to school, parents should know that it will take time to adjust and it's time to start now.

So when should you be concerned?

Dr. Shaheed says if school-aged children get 10 to 10.5 hours of bed time, but still display sleepiness or if sleep is very disrupted with more than three nights per week of snoring, families should consult with their pediatricians for a possible sleep consultation.

And what's the biggest culprit to a child's sleep right now?

"It can't be stressed enough to to discontinue electronics as much as possible after dinner and certainly one hour before lights out," Dr. Shaheed said. So what are you waiting for? Quit reading this post and get to bed. Well, after you read the important stuff below.

National Sleep Foundation's Sleep Duration Recommendations

Age	Recommended	May be appropriate	Not recommended
Newborns (0-3 months)	14-17 hours	11-13 hours, 18-19 hours	Less than 11 hours, More than 19 hours
Infants (4-11 months)	12-15 hours	10-11 hours, 16-18 hours	Less than 10 hours, More than 18 hours
Toddlers (1-2 years)	11-14 hours	9-10 hours, 15-16 hours	Less than 9 hours, More than 16 hours
Preschoolers (3-5 years)	10-13 hours	8-9 hours, 14 hours	Less than 8 hours, More than 14 hours
School-aged children (6-13 years)	9-11 hours	7-8 hours, 12 hours	Less than 7 hours, More than 12 hours
Teenagers (14-17 years)	8-10 hours	7 hours, 11 hours	Less than 7 hours, More than 11 hours

Justin Smith, M.D., is a pediatrician in Trophy Club and the Medical Advisor for Digital Health for Cook Children's in Fort Worth, Texas. Dr. Smith is an experienced keynote speaker for a variety of topics including pediatric/parenting topics, healthcare social media and physician leadership. If you are interested in having Dr. Smith present to your conference or meeting, please contact him at thedocsmitty@cookchildrens.org.

He has an active community on both Facebook and Twitter as @TheDocSmitty and writes weekly for Cook Children's checkupnewsroom.com. He believes that strategic use of social media and technology by pediatricians to connect with families can deepen their relationship and provide a new level of convenience for both of their busy lifestyles. Dr. Smith’s innovative pediatric clinic, a pediatric clinic “designed by you,” open now. Click to learn more. To make an appointment, call 817-347-8100.

New Study Finds Babies Sleep Longer, Safer If They Don’t Share Room With Parents

Mon, 05 Jun 2017 10:46:23 -0500

A new study has found that babies sleep longer if they don’t sleep in the same bedroom as their parents.

The research, published in the July 2017 of Pediatrics, found “that room-sharing with infants at ages 4 months and 9 months was associated with less nighttime sleep, shorter sleep stretches and unsafe sleep practices.”

The study also found that babies who shared rooms at 4 and 9 months had four times the odds of moving into the parents’ bed during the night, a risk factor for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

“I encourage people to get their babies into their own rooms, although it definitely seems like everyone has a different time that they are ready for the move,” said Hillary Pearson, M.D., medical director of Cook Children’s Sleep Laboratory. “I think it is more about the parent/child interaction, how well a baby is feeding/growing, and whether it is a parent’s first baby that factor in to moving into an independent sleep space. I have also tried to encourage ‘middle ground’ - with the baby’s sleep space in a closet or bathroom nearby with the doors closed. This way everyone can “ease in” to moving the baby away from immediate view. I think moving the baby helps to promote self-soothing, which makes for better sleep for both parents and the baby.”

Parents of newborns know a good night’s sleep can be hard to come by – especially when they decide to let the baby try to sleep alone.

Frank McGehee, M.D., a Cook Children’s pediatrician in Fort Worth, says that while you never want your child to experience discomfort, you aren’t doing babies any favors by not helping them learn to get to sleep on their own.

“A parent’s job is not always to make their child happy, but to meet his or her needs,” Dr. McGehee said. “When your child gets older, he or she may not like algebra, but it will serve the child well to learn.”

Dr. McGehee suggests letting your child sleep in a crib near you for the first two to four months after birth. Then he suggests moving to another room.

He recommends these steps:

Don’t do anything for the first 10 to 15 seconds the baby cries. Then, walk in and use verbal soothing to calm the baby.
After another 15 or 20 seconds of crying, touch the baby and speak softly in a soothing voice.
Don’t let the baby cry more than five minutes before intervening and picking up him or her.
Continue soothing until the baby is comfortable enough to fall asleep on his or own, then place the child back in the crib.

While in the crib, parents should keep blankets, pillows, bumpers, stuffed animals, mobiles, monitors and other humans or animals out of a baby’s sleep environment.

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