Hit me with your best bedtime tips and tricks. What routines have worked for you and what hasn't?
I have a 4 and 6 year old who seem to be fighting bedtime now more than ever and 9 times out of 10 end up in bed with me during the night.
Bedtime routine advise before I have a mental break down.
Bedtime routine advise before I have a mental break down.
Posted in:
Kids
9 Replies
What time do they go to bed hun?
What's your normal Bed time routine with them?
This may help with people answering
Have set times for everything each night.
Example: dinner at 5:30.
Bath at 6:00.
Cartoons/wind down at 6:30 (abc kids).
Brush teeth at 7:00.
Lay in bed with a story.
Lights out by 7:15.
Being consistent is key.
Reinforcing things also works.
At dinner say "next is shower".
In the shower "quiet time before bed is next".
During quiet time/wind down time "it's bed time at 7".
Reward them for staying in bed. "You can have a lolly if you stay in bed all night" (multivitamin lollies are good).
My 3 year old is a hassle, I have recently figured out that she needs a shower before bed to help her relax and then she sleeps the whole night through. But our bedtime routine goes like this. 7:30 she has a shower, she then gets her nice warm Pj's on and says good night to her brothers, she's then allowed to sit in her bed with her favourite toys her books and can read them and cuddle them until she goes to sleep. Sometimes it's 15 mins sometimes it's an hour but as soon as 8pm comes around there's no more tv no more mummy cuddles she has to be in her room. Her brothers are easy. Bed at 7:45 lights and TV off at 8pm and they are both usually asleep until 6am. They used to go to bed at 7pm and were up again at 4am but I wasn't coping so made there bedtime later. I stay cool and calm until my daughter comes out of her room the third time and the. Cranky mummy comes out. Cranky mummy works a treat and she then knows she's pushed to far. Good luck it's all trial and error no two kids are going to follow the same routine.
My kid got sent back to his own bed 99% of time. It was the only way I could teach him my bed was for me. Yes it meant a couple of sleepless nights putting him back to bed, but consistency was worth it, and we both got more sleep in the long run. The only exceptions were for illness, but usually that was a mattress on the floor, as my son is a kicker.
It's fine if you enjoy bed sharing, then let them bed share, but the only way to stop it, if you don't like it, is to keep returning them to there own bed.
I think that putting them in with you may be the reason why you are having trouble (not judging!) from day one all four of mine have had their own bed they have slept in a bassinet the cot in my room then moved to their own rooms
My two oldest have a tv when going to bed and are usually out with ing 20 mins and o usually don't hear anything from them either
My youngest two share as well and they go to bed at the same time
They have a bottle and heir music night light and are asleep within 5 minutes
I think what you need to do at their age is lay it out for them and let them know it's how it will be
No more sleeping with mummy they sleep in their bed work out what they think will help them fall asleep better and do that (tv, radio whichever works)
Good luck!
Getting up in the night to come in with you you just have to get up and put them back. If you do that consistently they will stop. They will then probably go to sleep in their own beds more happily too.
Bedtime routine is dinner, bath, pjs, by 6, dessert sometimes, brush teeth, half an hour of play today was adult colouring, wind down quiet play sitting quietly no horseplay for half an hour then bed at 7.
At first it was a story and nice talk for fifteen minutes and say goodnight and that was it. But now we dont always have time for a story tucking in can take two minutes if need be.
And we did bedshare tgeir whole life until this year and now at four we do this. Cosleeping doesn't make it any harder but you do have to be consistent in whatever you choose.
I have 2 kids. The oldest (5) has always been a horrible sleeper. He didn't sleep for longer than 20 min at a time for the first 7 months. I read every sleep book and tried every sleep training method ever described. I nearly lost my mind and was told by so many, including doctors, it was something I was doing wrong. Fast forward several years and I now know he is border line sensory processing disorder and strongly believe this is wear his issues with sleep come from. Now, he mostly sleeps through the night, but getting him to wind down for bed is difficult. I am telling you this because I strongly believe that you need to find what works for each individual child. My youngest (2) has always self settled, been a much better sleeper, and I did the same 'wrong' things with him. What works for us is a consistent bedtime routine. We eat dinner about 6. At 6:30 both kids have a warm bath (you can try lavender oil it calms some kids) and put on warm pjs. I make sure their room is a comfortable temperature. They have a small snack (bananas are great they promote sleep hormones), drink of water, go to toilet, and then clean their teeth. By 7 they say goodnight to Dad (whoever isn't doing bed), are read to for about 15min, hugs and kisses, lights off, sung a couple songs then sleep time. My oldest has a heavy blanket on his bed, the weight helps him settle. If he comes out we just say it's bedtime and put him back to bed. My toddler is still in a cot, but most nights is asleep in a few minutes. My oldest went through a phase of coming in our bed a lot. I put a spare cot mattress on the floor next to my bed and said he could chose their or his bed. He really comes in now. I hope you find something that works for your kids. Best of luck.
Have you tried doTERRA essential oils? They have really helped my family. If you would like some information on them I'd be happy to help.
Agree with other posts about a firm bedtime routine, we do dinner, then shower, jarmies, half hour of abc kids, teeth, then they pic a story each which we read in their room in our reading nook. When I first implemented this, I put them in their own beds and red them an amazing book called 'the rabbit who wants to go to sleep' which is almost like hypnosis, puts them to sleep normally before the book is finished and quicker each time! After doing that for a few weeks I transitioned to them picking a story then save the 'magic book' for when they're a bit ratty and over tired. My little boy comes to our bed in the middle of the night because he's cold so he has a wheat bag that we warm up before we go to bed and tuck it in his bed which works most of the time. Good luck!