RESET YOUR CHILD'S BODY CLOCK

Experts explain how to best get your kids back into a sleep routine as school returns.

- LISA SALMON

MOST parents are aware that routine is an important part of bringing kids up – and how that routine usually flies out of the window during the school holidays.

Staying up later and having lie-ins can mean bedtime routines are a holiday casualty, and it’s likely this disruption will have a negative impact on children’s sleep.

Here, sleep experts outline ways to reset your child’s bedtime routine.

1. A FEW LESS MINUTES
Lisa Artis, deputy CEO of The Sleep Charity, points out that young children need around 10-11 hours sleep a night, older ones around nine.

“Getting your child to sleep for this amount of time might not be an issue, especially for those with teenagers,” she says.

“But their bedtime might have crept up later and later over the holidays, and if that’s the case, it’s a good idea to push their bedtime back in small increments of around 15 minutes for a number of days until it’s back to normal.”