Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 20 October 2020: It is very common for parents to face problems with their children refusing to sleep alone. It is a never-ending conflict between the parents’ requests and the child’s pleas to sleep in the parents’ room, which often leads to parents surrendering to their children. Dr. Ahmed Mohamed Abdelaal, Consultant Pediatrics Burjeel Hospital, shares 10 useful tips to train your child to sleep alone. 

 

1. Preparing the child psychologically.

Talk to them about the benefits of sleeping in their room. Tell them that they will be independent and brave and that you will be in the next room if they need you. You should talk about this while they are in your lap and express it with love and affection.

 

2. Make your child love his room.

Arrange your child's bedroom in a way that they love to spend time there. Make sure to familiarize them with the room by leaving them alone for some time when they are playing and discover for themselves that it is fine to be alone in the room.

 

3. Be calm with him

Avoid putting any pressure or applying force on children to make them sleep alone as that will make them anxious and create fear against you. 

 

4. Remove obstacles

That causes the child to get scared and feel anxious. For example, if the child is afraid of darkness, you must provide them with a bedlight during sleep.

 

 

5. Accompany him to bed

You can accompany them until they fall asleep by telling them their favorite bedtime stories. You can leave once they fall asleep.  

 

6. Giving your baby a warm bath before bedtime will help them sleep peacefully.

 

7. Avoid leaving any electronic devices in the bedroom. 

 

8. Teach him what to do if he wakes up from his sleep, so that he comes back and sleeps again

 

9. Fix a bedtime hour each day to set a routine for them to sleep on time

 

10. When your child wakes up from sleep, do not rush but leave them until they sleep on their own. If they start crying, try to calm them while they are in bed.

 

There are several reasons that may force the child to insist on sleeping alongside the mother and refuse to go to sleep in his room, such as:

 

1. Feeling of fear

In such cases, the mother must be close to the children, talk to them and find out what frightens them, reassure them about their fears, and always make them feel that she is next to them.

 

2. Feeling of jealously 

Either from the father or the little sibling sleeping next to the mother, especially if it is a newborn. The child may think that the mother is ignoring them after the arrival of the new baby.