Days out happen, parties happen, holidays happen, the weekend’s come around fast and with all of this later bedtimes happen. This is normal and really is it a big deal? A later bedtime here and there is really not going to make much difference to your child aside of perhaps a tired grumpier child the next day because let’s not forget a later bedtime does not necessarily mean a later wake up so they will be short on hours of sleep. Remember the circadian rhythm is set to wake at the same time every day.
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But what happens if these late and irregular bedtimes happen more often or every day?

​You may be that family who are very relaxed when it comes to bed times and some days your child has an early night and other nights they are staying up to have dinner with you and watch a movie. Lets dive into this deeper and I can explain the consequences that you may encounter on irregular betimes. 

Many of us remember waking in the night thinking there was a scary green monster chasing us around the park or that the bogey man was coming to get us…this was us having nightmares. I for one can definitely remember waking up fearing something terrible was in my room and then running to my mummy in tears for comfort. Now your child may be experiencing nightmares and you may be wondering how to handle them.
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It is a good idea to learn a bit more about nightmares first and then we can understand how best to “tackle” them.

Did you know little over 80% of school aged children display signs of night terrors, sleep walking, nightmares or sleep talking? Typically in boys although girls are still prone to night terrors, and aged between 3 and 12 years of age.

Here I will discuss the night terror, it is not to be confused with nightmares as they both show individual signs and are very different from each other.