Easy Read Sleep Diary

When a child/young person has a health condition or has needed to stay in hospital you may find that they have difficulties with sleep. This may be finding it hard to get to sleep or to stay asleep. As sleep is important for growth, concentration, mood regulation and memory it is understandable that children/young people with poor sleep may have difficulties regulating their mood and behaviour. This can have a big impact on the whole family. When a child or young person has a health condition or has stayed in hospital their sleep patterns may be disrupted. Often their sleep patterns will return to normal, however if the child/young person is experiencing pain, discomfort or their medication regime affects their sleep routine their sleep may be negatively impacted. Your Health Visitor, General Practitioner or medical team should be able to offer help and support with this.

Using a sleep diary for at least a week may be helpful. This should include when the child/young person went to sleep, how long it took them to get to sleep, how many times they woke up (and for how long), what activities did they did before bed and keeping a record of anything that may have had an emotional impact on them. When you record this information try to notice patterns of what was helpful or unhelpful for your child/young person. It may also be helpful to show a General Practitioner, Health Visitor or medical team.

Having a good bedtime routine and teaching your child/young person relaxation techniques can help promote good sleep habits. Some examples of relaxation techniques are progressive relaxation, guided imagery and mindfulness exercises.

Easy read sleep diary