Parents and guardians of young children have a lot of difficult tasks throughout the day. From getting breakfasts and lunches together, to getting their children to sleep, they can often feel wrecked by the end of the day.
Getting your kids to bed at the right time and waking at the right time can be tricky, but according to a children's gentle sleep consultant, the key is in routine.
Jennifer Robinson, who uses the name The Happy Sleep Coach to share her expertise on sleeping, told The Mirror some advice about what time of the evening kids should be tucked into bed.
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She predominantly works with children aged between 18 weeks and seven years old, and tries to encourage her clients to follow a seven-to-seven sleep schedule as much as possible.
Speaking to The Mirror, Jennifer, who is a mum of two herself, explained that while a "7pm bedtime and a 7am wake up is what we would aim for”, this may not suit every child and there are certain situations that allow you to ring the bedtime forward by an hour or so.
"If you find your child is waking before six or seven o'clock in the morning then we would bring the bedtime forward to counteract that," she said.
"We generally say 12 hours awake and 12 hours asleep for a child who is nine months old and that carries on all the way until they are at least seven years old.
"Before nine months bedtimes can vary significantly as it would depend on the baby's daytime sleep and how late their last nap was."
Sleep expert Jennifer added: "Children get so tired, especially when starting nursery and school as the new environments are so stimulating for them, but how tired they are will also depend on how much sleep they've had during the day from naps.
"A lot of children start dropping naps when they go to nursery at the age of three and we often start seeing night wakes or early rising at that point.
"The loss of the nap, coupled with the super stimulating environment they're in during the day, running around getting very tired, can see children getting themselves into an overtired cycle.
"A sign of this may be that your child is falling asleep really easily in the car on the way home as they're so tired."
The sleep expert continued to explain that in this scenario, people should bring the bedtime forward to 6pm rather than 7pm, in case the overtired cycle is fuelled more.
She added that parents may mistakenly believe that if their child is waking up before 7am in the morning this means they may have had too much sleep and their bedtime should be later, however, it is the opposite and they need to go to bed earlier.
"While the aim is seven until seven and that's what I tell my clients, some children just don't sleep until 7am every day, but as long as they are getting their fill of sleep overnight and the right amount of sleep for their age, it's ok.
"Most parents don't want their kids going to bed at eight or nine o'clock at night, as they might want to eat after they're asleep and have some 'me time'.
“It might sound selfish, but parents need to be the best versions of themselves to be the best parents they can be and if they're tired and haven't had time to wash their hair or make dinner, they're not going to be in the right frame of mind."
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