Children who stay up late past their bedtime and not getting enough sleep will often be overtired and cranky or even hyperactive and they become even harder to settle. You may find instead of wanting to sleep, your little one will be fighting sleep when they are overtired.
You must be wondering why wouldn’t a child who’s tired just go to sleep? Like adults, when we are tired we just want to sleep. However for overtired child, what happens is they tend to fight sleep even more because their body releases cortisol to keep them even more hyper-alert and awake which totally disrupt their sleep pattern.
The best way to tackle this and to help your baby reduce their overtiredness is to give your child early bedtime. Early bedtime helps to reduce their sleep debts by lowering their cortisol level that they have accumulated from weeks and months of sleep deprivation.
Here are some ways to reduce stimulation so your baby can sleep early:
- putting toys away
- talking quietly and soothingly
- closing curtains and blinds
- turning lights off
- put baby to bed before your child is cranky and fussy…
We hope this article is helpful. Do share with your friends if they have always wondered why their little ones go to bed so late.
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