Preventing sleep concerns (10) – preschoolers 3 to 5 years
Preventing sleep concerns (10) – preschoolers 3 to 5 years
In your language:
For translated fact sheets go to
Information in community languages
.
Connecting with your preschooler
It is important that your preschooler feels secure and loved. You can do this by responding to them in a warm and positive way.
Positive interactions from people shows preschoolers that they are important and are valued by adults.
By
understanding and communicating with your
preschooler
External Link
you will learn their cues as they grow and develop. This will help to support positive relationships and sleep patterns.
Recognising your preschooler’s tired signs
When your child is tired, they show signs or cues that they are tired. If you learn to recognise these signs, you can encourage your child to go to sleep at the right time.
Preschoolers from 3 to 5 years might be tired if they have had a busy day outside of normal routines.
Tired signs for this age group can include:
clumsiness
clinginess
being grumpy
grizzling or crying
demands for attention
boredom with toys
rubbing eyes
fussiness with food.
Creating a sleep routine and environment for your preschooler
Routines and environments play a big part in helping preschoolers get to sleep.
Preschoolers normally sleep for 11 to 13 hours a day
and some may still a daytime nap for about an hour.
Children need a cue to tell them it is time to go to sleep. This is usually something in their external environment.
It could be a dark room or having familiar objects around them.
Some routines might be difficult to keep doing for the long term as they may create a negative sleep behaviours and patterns for your child. Such as letting your preschooler fall asleep in your bed, as they may then only be able to fall asleep this way. It’s up to you to decide whether you can maintain these types of routines.
Your preschooler’s sleep environment
Some things you can do to create a good sleep environment for your preschooler include:
Darkened and quiet environments.
Having a bath at night.
Consistent and predictable bedtimes and wake times.
Quietness and reducing stimulation, (such as screen time, mobile devices, television and boisterous play before bedtime).
Self-soothing objects (such as soft toys and special blankets).
Positive bedtime routines including pre-sleep associations (such as reading, lullabies and taking your preschooler to where they usually sleep).
Bedtime routines and your preschooler
Bedtime routines help your preschooler develop positive sleep patterns and behaviour
and can prevent sleep concerns.
Regular daytime and bedtime routines can help your child to fall asleep and stay asleep. They let your child know that sleep is coming.
They are predictable and calming for your child.
Some things you can do include:
Keeping the routine short – no more than 30 to 45 minutes.
Using the same relaxing activities before bed every day (such as a warm bath, a massage, reading stories or singing lullabies).
Creating a calm, quiet, dark and warm environment, with no television or mobile devices.
Use regular bed times, nap times and wake times to help your child develop a good sleep–wake rhythm.
Flexible daily patterns and your preschooler
Research shows that it’s good to keep using the same sleep routine as your child grows and develops.
Flexible daily patterns
are a daytime routine you can use for babies, toddlers and preschoolers to encourage positive sleep patterns and behaviour early on.
Encourage
play
time during the day. Examples of play time for preschoolers include:
drawing
reading
singing
dancing
playing (such as kicking a ball)
running or walking
going to the park
climbing and jumping.
Watch for the first
tired signs
and if your preschooler still has a daytime nap, put them to bed when they are tired, but still awake.
Flexible daily patterns
are most effective if done throughout the day. You should reduce play at night and provide a quiet and dim environment so that your child understands the difference between day and night.
Mealtime is a very important part of the routine. With a healthy and adequate diet, your preschooler will have energy for play, which in turn encourages positive sleep behaviours.
Helping your preschooler to sleep safely
Ways to sleep your preschooler safely:
Keep their head and face uncovered – it is never appropriate for your preschooler to settle for sleep wearing a hat.
Ensure your preschooler is in a smoke free environment.
Sleep your preschooler in a safe bed.
Ensure that the whole of the sleeping environment is safe – including items within reach (such as electrical appliances and blind or curtain cords).
Moving your preschooler from a cot to a bed
Once you notice your preschooler is attempting to climb out of their cot, it is
time to move them to a bed
. This is usually between 2 and 3 ½ years of age but can be as early as 18 months.
It is important to make sure that your home and child’s bed is safe. They shouldn’t have access to things like power points, blind or curtain cords and stairs as they could hurt themselves if they get up during the night.
Information in community languages
This fact sheet is available for download in the following community languages:
Easy English - Preventing sleep concerns (10) preschoolers 3 to 5 years
docx
404.74 KB
Arabic - ورقۀ معلوماتی 10: راه حل های نگرانی های مربوط به خواب: اطفال پیش از سن مکتب 3 تا 5 ساله (Preventing sleep concerns (10) preschoolers 3 to 5 years)
docx
245.61 KB
Burmese - အချက်အလက်မှတ်တမ်း 10 - အိပ်စက်ခြင်းဆိုင်ရာစိုးရိမ်စရာများအား ကာကွယ်တားဆီးခြင်း - မူကြိုကလေးငယ်များ 3–5 နှစ် (Preventing sleep concerns (10) preschoolers 3 to 5 years)
doc
285.5 KB
Dari - صحيفة المعلومات 10، منع مشاكل النوم: الأطفال في مرحلة ما قبل المدرسة من عمر 3-5 سنوات (Preventing sleep concerns (10) preschoolers 3 to 5 years)
docx
244.91 KB
Khmer - សន្លឹកព័ត៌មានទី១០៖ កិច្ចការពារការព្រួយបារម្ភអំពីការគេង៖ ក្មេងដែលត្រៀមចូលសាលាអាយុពី៣-៥ឆ្នាំ (Preventing sleep concerns (10) preschoolers 3 to 5 years)
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258.19 KB
Persian - برگه اطلاع رسانی 10: جلوگیری از نگرانی های مرتبط با خواب: کودکان پیش دبستانی 3 تا 5 ساله (Preventing sleep concerns (10) preschoolers 3 to 5 years)
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244.05 KB
Punjabi - ਤੱਥਸ਼ੀਟ 10: ਨੀਂਦ ਦੀਆਂ ਚਿੰਤਾਵਾਂ ਤੋਂ ਬਚਾਅ: ਸਕੂਲ ਸ਼ੁਰੂ ਕਰਨ ਵਾਲੇ 3-5 ਸਾਲ (Preventing sleep concerns (10) preschoolers 3 to 5 years)
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248.78 KB
Simplified Chinese - 信息说明书10：预防睡眠问题：3–5岁学龄前儿童 (Preventing sleep concerns (10) preschoolers 3 to 5 years)
docx
242 KB
Spanish - Hoja informativa 10: Prevención de los problemas de sueño en niños de 3 a 5 años (Preventing sleep concerns (10) preschoolers 3 to 5 years)
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242.67 KB
Vietnamese - Tờ thông tin 10: Ngăn chặn những lo lắng về giấc ngủ: trẻ mầm non từ 3 đến 5 tuổi (Preventing sleep concerns (10) preschoolers 3 to 5 years)
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Maternal and child health nurse visits are important
Victorian parents have free access to the
Maternal and Child Health Service
. Specially trained maternal and child health will work with your family to help you care for your child until they are ready to start school.
As part of this service, you will visit a maternal and child health nurse in your local area at 10 key ages and stages in your child’s development. These visits are important because they you an opportunity to identify and address any issues and concerns early in your child’s development.
Visits take place:
following discharge from hospital (
home visit
)
2 weeks
4 weeks
8 weeks
4 months
8 months
1 year
18 months
2 years
3 and a half years
.
Families can access the service at other times by telephone or through a centre visit.
Where to get help
Your local maternal and child health
service
External Link
Your GP (doctor)
Maternal and Child Health Line
Tel.
13 22 29
– available 24 hours a day for the cost of a local call throughout Victoria
Mercy Health O’Connell Family
Centre
External Link
, Canterbury Tel.
(03) 8416 7600
Mercy Health Woi-wurrung-yagila-wulumperi Whittlesea Early Parenting
Centre
External Link
, South Morang Tel.
(03) 9407 6820
Queen Elizabeth Centre
(QEC)
External Link
Tel.
(03) 9549 2777
Tweddle Child and Family Health
Service
External Link
, Footscray and Werribee Tel.
(03) 9689 1577
Aboriginal Health Service
(VAHS)
External Link
Tel.
03 9419 3000
Parentline
Tel.
13 22 89
Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS
National)
External Link
Tel.
131 450
– available (24 hours, 7 days) for callers who speak other languages
National Relay
Service
External Link
(24 hours, 7 days) – Speak and listen Tel.
1300 555 727
, TTY Tel.
133 677
, SMS relay Tel.
0423 677 767
.
Captioned, internet and video relay calls are also available through this
service
External Link
.
NURSE-ON-CALL
Tel.
1300 60 60 24
– for expert health advice 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Kidsafe
Victoria
External Link
Tel.
(03) 9036 2306
Red
Nose
External Link
(formerly SIDS and Kids) Tel.
1300 998 698
– for safe sleeping information, education, and all other enquiries