How parents can take back bedtime as new school year nears

School starts up in less than two weeks, but your kids are still in summer vacation mode; staying up late and sleeping in. How do you get your household back into a routine to prepare for earlier mornings that won't leave your children groggy and falling asleep in French class?

Hilary Cole, a pediatric sleep coach, says consistent, uninterrupted sleep is important for children's learning and retention.

"If your child is waking up every three hours or even every six hours, guaranteed they're not getting adequate, deep sleep," she told CBC Radio's On The Go. "And that deep sleep is where the brain stores memory and kind of organizes everything that they've learned during that day so they're able to retain it and retrieve it later, which is what learning is in school."

Cole shared some tips on getting back to school — and back to sleep.

"You don't want to say, 'OK, it's the night before school, better get our sleep back on track or better get the routine back on track,' because it takes kids' bodies, and behaviours, a little longer to get back on the wagon. So we need to start now or pretty soon."

1. Have a solid routine

Children thrive on routine, says Cole. It's easier to get them in bed when the same steps are done every night.

"You have a bath or a shower, you get in your pyjamas, and then you have a quick little snack, half a banana or warm milk or something like that, and then you brush teeth, read a story, into bed. And if it's the same every night, then there's just no bedtime battle."

2. Make sleep a priority in your house

Show your children that sleep is important for everyone in the household, and not just an excuse to send the kids to bed while the grownups stay up late having fun.

"We turn off our screens, we turn off our phones. If your child is old enough to have a phone, have a charging station that's not in their bedroom."

3. If bedtime is disrupted by holidays, correct it gradually

If bedtimes have been loosened because of later summer nights, don't try to fix it all at once.

"If normally they are going to bed at 7:45, in order for everyone to get up on time and get out the door on time for school, but now they're going to bed at 9? You want to start now, and start backing their bedtime up about 15 minutes every couple of days until it's time to go back to school, and by the time school comes around they're already back on their regular schedule."

4. Get plenty of sleep yourself

If you're consistently getting less than six hours of sleep a night, get more.

"Even if it's consistent, consolidated, straight sleep, it's the equivalent of having a blood-alcohol level at the legal limit."

5. Address sleep problems as soon as possible

If your child is not sleeping well, don't assume it's just a phase they'll grow out of.

"There's been research that's shown that babies who have sleep issues, if they're not addressed, if the child is not napping well, if they don't get enough sleep at night, if they're allowed to continue night wakings long beyond needing to feed at night, that can bleed over into toddlerhood and into preschool ages and even into the school years."

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With files from On The Go.