Is Your Child’s Bedroom Autism-Friendly?
Most of the children and babies have a hard time when it comes to sleeping in their own rooms. In Autistic children, these issues can be more severe. Up to 70% of ASD children experience difficulty in falling asleep and staying sleep, thus waking up the entire household.
Today, we want to share with you a couple of tips that will help you improve your child’s sleep by making their room autism-friendly.
Tips for an autism-friendly bedroom
- Blackout curtains: In order to ensure that your child will not be disturbed by street lights we highly recommend you to buy blackout curtains. This particular kind of curtains block all light (whether sunlight or street light) and enable both adults and children to sleep more deeply. Another side benefit is the fact that they keep rooms warmer because they avoid thermal energy loss, thus they help you save you some extra money.
- Paint the bedroom walls a dark color: Having your child’s room painted in a bright color will stimulate their brain, while darker shades are suitable for putting the brain to rest. Blue and lilac are good color choices because they are related to rest and relaxation.
- Use a weighted blanket: We have mentioned several times the numerous benefits of weighted blankets for ASD children, but their number one benefit is the fact that they can significantly reduce stress and anxiety. Find all of the benefits of weighted blankets here.
- Get a white noise machine: White noise can be great to improve sleep because it’s related to relaxation and has the ability to make children sleepy. An air cleaner or even a diffusor can be a good solution to obtain these benefits without buying a special machine. You can also download a fall asleep white noise playlist on youtube.
- Use the bedroom only for sleep: We understand that it is normal for kids to play in their rooms as well, however, this can bring trouble when it comes to sleeping. We have a natural tendency to relate places with activities, so if your child uses his/her bedroom only to sleep their brain will relate the space with the activity and will be ready to rest when they enter the room. We also recommend you to store away all the toys and things that can be somehow distracting.
We realize that putting your child to bed can be a daily struggle, however with these tips, and a little patience your child will be relaxed with ease and in lesser time.
Remember that sometimes building habits takes time, so press on and wait to harvest good results.
At World Stem Cell Clinic, we believe that that having an informed parent –in an effort to empower him and his family– is the only way to for us to deliver optimal healthcare. Visit our website to find out more about our services and let us be part of your journey.
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