Spotlight on the Child
At the core of our business are the children and the care and safety of them. This year, in each issue of the newsletter, we will cover a child-related topic that hopefully will be useful and of interest to both childcarers and parents.

DEALING WITH NIGHT TERRORS Night terrors, sometimes referred to as confusional arousal, occur in five to 15 per cent of children between the ages of four and six, though they can appear in babies as young as nine months. Technically speaking, they are caused by partial awakenings from non-REM, or non-dream, sleep. A child in this state may cry, whimper, and flail.

How are they different from nightmares? Nightmares occur during rapid eye movement (REM) or dream sleep. A child who has had a nightmare is likely to have a clear idea of what scared him, though before before he is about two, he probably won't be able to articulate his fright. He may also be afraid to fall back asleep, and in the morning, he may remember that he had a bad dream.

How long do night terrors last? An episode may last anywhere from two or three minutes to around thirty minutes. A child having a night terror cannot be calmed down. It can be very frightening to a parent because repeated attempts to soothe the child have no effect.

How should I handle them? Of course, you'll want to comfort your baby, and you should, but that's not enough. Since the baby is stuck between two sleep stages, you can try to offer him a bottle so he can go into deeper sleep, or take him out of his bed to another room, which might rouse him. If neither measure has any effect it's important to remember, say the experts, that the child isn't actually awake. And though it's upsetting to see your child thrashing about in distress, attempts to comfort may not help; in fact, in many cases, your baby won't even know you're there.

What should I do when one occurs? It's best to sit nearby and wait for the episode to pass. You can try taking your child into another room or outside where the temperature is very different. This may bring him into a lighter sleep state. Within 15 to 20 minutes your child should calm down, curl up, and fall asleep again. He won't recall the incident in the morning, and it's best not to remind him of it.

How do I prevent them? There are steps you can take to head off night terrors. Children who go to bed agitated or overtired are more likely to suffer these sleep disturbances. Babies under a year old usually need between 13 and 14 hours of sleep a day, including two daytime naps, whilst older children may sleep nine or ten hours at night, with a one-hour nap. So that you know your child is getting enough sleep, lengthen his nap time, let him sleep a little later in the morning, or put him to bed earlier. And make sure that there's plenty of time for calming bedtime rituals, such as bath-time, songs, stories, and lots of cuddles. Since night terrors tend to happen in the first part of the night, after your child has been asleep for two or three hours, you can try to prevent them by gently waking him up about 15 minutes before the typical episode would start. This should alter the sleep pattern and prevent the night terror from creeping into his slumber.
http://www.babycentre.co.uk

Keeping the Children busy
RAINY DAY FUN! - As the wonderful British weather is keeping us inside a lot of the time, here are a few ideas to keep the children happy and occupied. Children love to be allowed to get messy and also be creative, so why not join them and have some ‘rainy day fun’!

RECIPE FOR FACE PAINT

For each colour you will need:

• 1 teaspoon of water
• 1 teaspoon of moisturising cream (cheap and cheerful not the good stuff!)
• 2 teaspoons of cornflour
• a few drops of food colouring

Mix the cornflour with the water in an old yoghurt pot, then stir in the moisturising cream. Add the food colouring a few drops at a time until you reach the desired colour. Use a soft paintbrush to apply the paint to your kids' (clean) faces!

Will all wash off easily with warm soapy water!

WRAPPING FUN! - A useful and fun activity to use up all those old Christmas cards and odd bits of wrapping paper. For toddlers and younger children, help them to practise their present wrapping skills. If someone in the family has a birthday or a special occasion coming up, they will be very proud of being able to help with the wrapping:

You will need:

• Any old wrapping paper or comics/magazines
• safety scissors
• bows, sellotape, and ribbon
• smallish objects/toys/cardboard boxes or a real present

If they know how to use scissors, then instruct them on how to figure out what size to cut the paper. If they are not good with scissors or have not mastered cutting skills yet, pre-cut the paper for them. Make sure you have an abundant supply of sellotape because to a toddler there can never be enough tape on a package! Decorate the package with bows, ribbons or string and they can even make a small card or tag from old birthday/Christmas cards.