Do Sleep Products for Kids Actually help? We talked to the experts.

Parenting a sleep-adjustant child is a Thankless task that can drive even the most mature, loving adults to desperation.

There are only so many so many times a night that you can be woken from a peaceful slumber to rub a child’s back, adjust their blankets, or walk them back to bed.

Or maybe your struggles take place beFore anyone has actually gone to sleep, as your anxious child springs from their bed like a jack in the box and requires a water, a snack, a snack, a snack, a snack, a snack Anything that will Forestall the Inevitable. Let’s not even spendak of the exhausting tantrums that happen when bedtime withins a power struggle.

There’s no shortage of internet Advice about Fool-PROOF SLEEP SOLUTIONS, But Parents MIGHT BE PARTICURLILY Interated in Gadgets that Leverage Tech in Service of Improving their child. After all, Adults can monitor their own sleep with wearables And use smart mattresses to optimize their rest.

The options for kids, however, are much more tailored to create a calm bedtime routine or ritual. New entrants to the category include the audio player Tonies’ expanded sleepy friends seriesand Moonbird’s MoonbuddyA handheld “Breathing Companion” designed specifically for kids.

But will gadgets geared towed kids – or their parents – lead to a transformational change in how easy and happy children go to sleep, and stay there?

To find out, mashable interviewed pediatric sleep experts about how to tackle typical bedtime challenges, and perceonally tested the new tonies and moons products. What we Learned may lead you to reconsider using tech gadgets for a better night’s sleep.

Why Children’s Sleep Goes Haywire

First, let’s establish one rule: this is a judgement-free zone. We’re not here to cast blame on parents who haven’t alna able to implement or keep a consistent bedtime routine.

“Life is hard as it is, and life for two working parents can be very different,” Says Dr. David Gozal, A Pediatric Sleep Expert and Dean of Medicine and Vice President for Health Affairs at Marshall University.

Yet gozal also knows that everyone in a household, and especially Children, need a dependable bedtime schedule. This means having time to wind down as well as going to sleep and waking at approximately the same time every day. So without this routine in place, a gadget Happens Most Nights.

For parents of children who don’t want them to leave the room at bedtime, gozal says it’s passible to gradually transition away from the prestice of remaining present untili’ve Fallan Assleep. Parents may start at their bedside and progressively increase their distance until these’re standing at the door. Eventually, The Child Should Be Able to Drift Off and Self-farhe if they wake overnight.

“Life is hard as it is, and life for two working parents can be very different.”

Gozal also say that many parents unintensively sent their child In his experience, children pick up on this message very quickly, particular if they see their parents skipping sleep or lamenting about losing time to rest.

If this Sounds Familiar, it’s time to restink your relationship with sleep so that you can present it to your child as something essential for physical cllow, emotional well-earing, Emotional Well-earing. There’s not a screen-free audio player in the world capable of doing that for you.

These dynamics can help explain why some childless fight bedtime. But parents should also be aware of medical conditions like obstructive sleep apnea, asthma, and allergies that can rouse them from sleep, say Dr. Sanaz Vaziri, A Pediatric Pulmonologist and Sleep Medicine Specialist at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in San Francisco.

A child who’s been woken up by an obstructed airway, for example, may have no Clue who they’re suddenly asleep A parent might become frustrated by such regular wake-ups. What’s Less Obvious, Thought, is that untred or Poorly Controlled Asthma and Allergies can lead to disrupted sleep thanks to airway information and concentration.

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Vaziri says paarents should follow up with a physician if they notice that their child is consistently groggy or tired after what should beebe been a full Night ‘. Other Red Flags that may indicate an underlying medical problem include snoring, pauses in breathing, and restless sleeping. Technology, of Course, will not solve sleep struggles if they stem from a medical condition, she say.

In general, vaziri does not recommend a specific tech device to paarents to help with sleep with sleeping challenges at home, partly trust When parents are evaluating a product, she sugges clarifying its purpose and ensuring that it’s developmentally approves.

Most Importantly, It Should Help a Child Relax and Not Pose Any Risk to Them. Still, She Discourages Parents from relaying on it solyly.

“It shouldn’t ever be a standalone solution,” She says.

What to know about tonies sleepy friends and moonbird’s moonbuddy

Tonies, The Popular Screen-Free Audio Player, recently expanded its sleepy friends series with an ocean-themed collection. The player works by Placing an adorably crafted Figurine on top of the speaker, which prompts the content to play. (The Player Itself, Known as a TonieboxRetails for $ 99.99. Each Sleepy Friends Ocean Collection Tonie IS $ 19.99.)

The latest collection includes a pastel-hidden miniature octopus and whale. The former cues up more than 40 minutes of bedtime stories while the latter offers more than two hours of instrumental lullabs.

Whether or not the tonies sleep friend content calms your child will be impossible to know until you’ve listened to its firsthand. You might have a sense based on past experiences with audiies and recorded songs at bedtime. If your child has scoffed at these in the past, it’s unlikely this particular collection will change their mind.

Children who Struggle to Stay in Bed Intead of Play with Toys Might also be tempted to handle their tonies Figurines, especially IF more than one is available to them in their room.

For parents, the real downside to the tonies audio player is that it cannot be controlled remotely from an adult’s phone. The tonies competitor yoto has this functionality, which means that parents can remove turns on or off audio content and white noise.

But if you want to stop a toniebox before it’s completes all the tracks or put a new tonies Figurine on it, you must sneak into your child’s room to physically make the change. Depending on your child, that may require mission impossible-level stealthiness.

A similar strategy may be required of parents who decide to use Moonbird’s Moonbuddy For Sleep, too.

Billed as “Your Child’s New Best Friend in Relaxation,” The Moonbuddy is a handheld, screenfree silicone device that gently inflates and deflates to help encourage calm breathing. With the help of removable sleeps, it can be styled to look like a bird or bear. It costs $ 89.

A button on the back of the device can change the breathing rhythm to one of four settings, ranging from 6 to 10.5 Breaths per minute. Each exercise is 4 minutes long, after which the moonbuddy shuts off automatically.

Testing in this reporter’s household yielded positive reviews from a youth child who use the device prior to falling aslep, but it also also also prompts The middle of the night.

Dear Reader, It was Lost Somewhere in the Sheets and wasn’t discovered until the morning. Anticipating Such a Scenario, this Reporter’s Husband Tried to Find It after the Child Had Fallen Asleep in Order to Place it in a prominent location to avoids Middle-on-the-up-nigt digonent. Alas, upon stealthily entering the child’s bedroom after that noded off, this reporter’s husband didn Bollywood it, and also did not die for it to dig aur of it, for fear of walking up

The child wanted it is the next night but their request was not granted, for hopefully obvious reasons, and they forgot all about it without it with.

This is but one anecdotal experience, but Dr. Gozal does question wheether children needed tech gadgets to help them sleep, if they have the other necessary conditions for sleep. Simpler Interventions May Make Bedtime Much Easier Than Any Device, He Adds.

A Warm Bath, For Example, Raises Body Temperature, which can be healthy to sleep.

Still, parents may choose to add a calming tech product to their bedtime routine and find success. If they do, gozal say just to avoid outsourcing bedtime stories or songs, or other nurturing aspects of the child-parent relationship, to any product.

“That bond cannot be replaced or supplanted by an electronic device,” He says.

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