Snoring in Children – Is it Time to See Your Doctor?
There is a well-established connection between children’s breathing disorders during sleep and behavioural problems but recently published research from the University of Arizona has again highlighted the need for parents to identify their children’s sleep breathing problems as early as possible...The Arizona study found there was a four to five times greater risk of children with sleep apnea having behavioural issues. Read full article
Win a Bulk Supply of Baby Wipes and Support Red Nose Day
Three lucky happychild readers have the opportunity to save some trolley space by having a bulk pack of baby wipes delivered to their door! Read full article
Will Our Kids Be Better 'Technology Parents'?
So this morning I saw the headline “Our web-addict kids miss out on meals and sleep”.And I thought, somewhat judgementally - surely their parents can do something about that? And at the same time I acknowledged, from my own personal experience, how hard it is to get teens to stop using a computer and do something else. Read full article
Teens Using Technology - Backlit Devices can Impact on Sleep
New research from the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York, indicates that teenagers who use backlit technology, such as tablet devices, for two hours before bed, may have their sleeping patterns disrupted. At this time of year in Australia, many teens are studying for their final HSC exams and technology usually plays a significant role at this time. Being aware of its possible effects on sleep and melatonin release, may help parents advise their teens on how to ensure they get sufficient sleep. Read full article
Sleepwalking in Children - Causes and Tips for Parents
Lily, aged seven, sleepwalks occasionally: “She wanders around and she often, somehow, finds us in the house. She might be smiling; she might open the cupboards, often she needs to go to the toilet,” explains her mother Amanda. Sarah*, whose daughter Amelia*, is also seven, says she’s been startled to see her daughter in a “trance-like state” at her bedside in the middle of the night ...While most children will outgrow this sleep disturbance by the time they are adults, it can be a cause for concern for their parents ... Read full article
Harvard Professor Talks Sleep Deficit and School Start Times
This is an excerpt from a longer public forum on sleep deficit and health. Professor of Sleep Medicine, Susan Redline M/D. discusses school start times and whether schools should start later. Do current school start times force children to go to school at times when, according to their natural, biological rhythms, they should be asleep? Dr Redline says this problem leads to mood problems and poorer academic performance. Read full article
Teenagers Need More than Seven Hours Sleep
An academic paper released in 2012 suggested that teenagers may in fact need only just more than seven hours sleep to perform well in standardised tests. The article was not written by sleep researchers but by economics researchers who used statistical analysis to come up with this proposal. However the paediatric sleep community has refuted this suggestion. Read full article
How Much Sleep Does Your Teenager Need?
It’s common for parents to worry about their teenagers getting enough sleep. Like adults, teenagers’ sleep requirements vary between individuals, depending on how well they function on a certain amount of sleep. But as a general guideline, most teenagers function well on about nine hours sleep per day, says Dr Sarah Blunden, founder of the Australian Centre for Education in Sleep and Director of the Paediatric Sleep Clinic in South Australia. This article covers how much sleep teenagers need and some tips to help them get more of it. Read full article
Sleep and Children - Tell Me It Gets Better?
I have not had a good night’s sleep for close to five years. It’s pretty easy to work out why. I have three children under the age of five. I've had to deal with many different reasons for not getting sleep. Here are just some of them ... Tell me it gets better ... Read full article
Is this Baby Asleep or Awake? We Have NO Idea!
Video - must watch. Not sure we'd like to be the parents of this baby through the night - but this is ultra cute. She's asleep, but not, and then awake laughing, but not ... Read full article
