Hello!
My name is Emma Hyde, I’m a final year student at Ulster University studying Product Design. For my final project, I am creating a product that assists children at bedtime and enables them to get into a good nighttime routine, for around the ages of 4 to 10 years old.
It’s a problem I have faced personally. From a young age, I have always struggled with settling for bed and my mother tried a lot of products to aid this problem, but nothing stuck. The only thing that somewhat helped was having something to cuddle and hold, but this didn’t always work.
There is a clearly identified need for a product to assist sleep. The NHS did a study, that in 2023 alone, 37.8% of children aged 8 to 16 years had a problem with sleep, 3 or more times a week.
Even though I do have experience with this issue I want to hear from those who are struggling with it currently. This is a problem that not only affects the child but also the parents/guardians too!
Answer as many of the questions as you like in the comments below! Anything would be a great help and your feedback is greatly appreciated, thank you!
- 1) Is your child struggling to settle for bed and if so, why do you think that is?
- 2) Does your child struggle to sleep alone in their bed, do you find they migrate to your bed or another sibling’s bed?
- 3) Does your child sleep through the night?
- 4) Is there anything that your child currently uses that helps them to sleep at night? Nightlight? Toy? Blanket?
- 5) Do your children sleep in the same room? (if applicable)
- 6) Most children change their sleeping posture through the night, does your child favour any particular posture?
- 7) How important do you think environmental factors such as light levels, light colour, ambient temperature, noise levels are?
- 8) Do you feel introducing soundscapes, such as rhythmic patterns, melodies, pulses, drones, white noise, and pink noise would help your child sleep?
- 9) Does your child have a structured night-time routine or does every night look different?
Any questions or if you need any more information on my project let me know!
[email protected]