Sleep, along with proper nutrition is one of the most crucial things a child can do all the way through their teens in order to ensure proper growth. After all, the majority of your growing is done while you are asleep. Recommended sleep amounts vary based on age

• Children between the ages of 2 and 5 should be getting 11 to 12 hours of sleep per night with a 1 or 2 hour nap in the afternoon.
• Children that are 6 or 7 years of age should sleep about 10 hours during the night and the afternoon nap should be eliminated.

Once a child reaches a certain age it gets harder to ensure that they are getting the proper amount of sleep.  To make sure they are actually going to sleep when you send them to bed, don’t allow them to bring phones or ipods/ tablets with them to their room. If your child claims that they are not tired when you are trying to send them to bed, chances are they might be sleep deprived. Being hyper at night is usually the result of a child being over-tired. If you are unsure if your child is sleep deprived, consider the following things; do you find yourself having to wake them up in the morning, do they often fall asleep in the car, are they cranky and grumpy during the day. If you answered “yes” to more than one of those then there is a high chance your child is sleep deprived and you should make sure to send your child to bed earlier at night.