Screen time before bed?

TwizBeans

Who allows it and do you think it affects sleep? Quality of sleep? Ability to wind down and fall asleep?

My 4 year old gets to relax with his kindle before bed but his sleep has gone to hell in a hand basket - takes forever to fall asleep and is often still awake at 9:30pm then is up around 5:00am. That's not enough sleep but I'm at a loss for what to do.

Suggestions? Commiserating?

dufferoo

I let my son watch about a half hour of tv before bedtime, followed by a story in bed, and that seems to help settle him down, but I think playing games on a kindle would be too stimulating. I'm sure it varies from kid to kid, though. Heck, even at my age, I can tell that playing on my ipad before bed ends up keeping me up, while reading a book on my kindle puts me right to sleep.

TwizBeans

dufferoo said:

I let my son watch about a half hour of tv before bedtime, followed by a story in bed, and that seems to help settle him down, but I think playing games on a kindle would be too stimulating. I'm sure it varies from kid to kid, though. Heck, even at my age, I can tell that playing on my ipad before bed ends up keeping me up, while reading a book on my kindle puts me right to sleep.

Very good point.

SLGILL1978

I don't let my daughter play games, but I do let her start a movie or tv show while in bed. Lol.. She has never been the "greatest" sleeper so the screen time doesn't really have an effect either way. Most of the time, she actually falls asleep within 15-20 mins. Staying asleep can be our problem sometimes as she wakes up hungry or as of lately has been having some bad dreams.