It’s 1 in the morning and you feel a slight tug on your pajamas. You wake up to find your son, once again, looking at you with tear-filled eyes. “I can’t sleep” has become her three favorite words at night. Unfortunately, you are not alone. Trouble sleeping is something that many parents face today with their children.

Believe it or not, children and adults go through two different types of sleep, REM and NON-REM. NON-REM stands for “Non Rapid Eye Movement”, while REM stands for “Rapid Eye Movement”. We all go through 5 different stages of sleep at night as well. NON-REM are the first 4 stages and constitute 75% of our sleep:

• Stage one: Your child has entered a light sleep that lasts about 5-10 minutes. This is the drowsy stage where you can easily wake up and feel like you’ve never fallen asleep.
• Stage two: Your child’s heartbeat slows down and the body temperature begins to drop.
• Stage three and four: There is no more eye movement or muscle activity. Your child has fallen asleep soundly, and if he wakes up, he may feel groggy or confused.
• Stage five (REM sleep): The brain runs at a thousand miles per hour, but paralysis occurs simultaneously in the muscle groups and our children have fallen asleep in the land of dreams. Many believe that muscles become paralyzed during REM sleep, to prevent us and our children from acting on our dreams and putting ourselves at risk.

Children can reach all five stages and get the right amount of sleep, it just takes a little time and a little patience. A great way to start is to develop a nighttime routine for your child. This routine should be at the same time every night, nothing more and nothing less. The correct routine will make your bodies feel tired and ready to go to bed at the same time each night. It’s always a good idea to start the relaxation process an hour before you want it in bed, just so you don’t catch it off guard.

Here are just a couple more tips that will help your child sleep through the night, not to mention you too:

• No caffeine or sugary foods or drinks, a few hours before bed. Sugar affects the body in much the same way as caffeine, both of which shorten the amount of sleep.
• Avoid watching scary movies or TV shows while children are at home.. It does not matter if the child is in another room and cannot see the movie, he can still listen to television and this can cause nightmares.
• Keep your room clean and tidy. Clutter is very distracting, especially for children. Buy toy boxes or children’s storage boxes for their toys. Storage boxes come in so many great colors and designs that kids will love storing their toys in. Have a laundry basket for your clothes and garbage cans for your garbage.
• Clean and comfortable bedding.. Bedding should be washed at least twice a week to keep “bed bugs” away. Choose bedding made from 100% cotton. Cotton is always more breathable and comfortable for our little ones.