Last week we posted a plea from Elite Blogger Liveotherwise .she needs help with better sleep tips for her young family and, as ever, you guys came to her rescue. Sleep can be one of the biggest issues a parent can face and when you’re in the thick of it it’s hard to see a way out. Here at Babyhuddle, we make a promise never to judge another parent for the decisions that they make when they raise their children.
After all, we- the team- are all parents ourselves, and we know better than anyone how hard it can be to travel this road. This is why we’re so grateful for all the constructive advice and tips you’ve given us on this one. And here they are: Better sleep tips – no matter how you got there in the first place!
Better Sleep Tips
- It’s never too late to introduce a new and improved bedtime routine. Katie says that her son was 18 months old when they decided enough was enough and that he needed to be able to sleep independently.
- Get dad involved. Katie knew that her son was depending too heavily on her to fall asleep, so her partner took over to make sure the new routine went as smoothly as possible.
- Be consistent. Another of Katie’s tips. She found that breaking the new routine resulted in broken sleep patterns once more, which were difficult to amend. When you find a plan that suits the whole family, stick to it.
- Helen at Kiddycharts top tip is to write down everything that needs to be done and work out a reasonable time to do it. Then stick to it. Eating earlier will help with an earlier bedtime and younger children should adapt to this quite well.
- Katie at Sluiter Nation advises to remember that teenagers and young children both need around the same amount of sleep each time, so she too recommends bringing bedtime forward. Calculate how much sleep your kids are getting and use this as your guide to adjusting your routine.
- Katie also says that imposing a routine on yourself is a good idea too- kids that go to bed earlier will rise earlier, so you need a good night’s rest too.
- Karen at Woman,wife and mum agrees, and adds that kids should be woken at the same time each morning too. If the kids lie in late, they won’t be ready for bed when you want them to be. So be strict and start your day early and be consistent with this too.
- Some children may respond better if you introduce your new routine gradually. You know your child best so take it at a pace that suits them. Jennifer found this worked.
- Best for her youngest and eventually both her children were following the same sleeping patterns.
- Don’t sweat it. If you have a bad night, move on to the next one and try to work out what went wrong. When you work out what it was, make sure you put changes in place to rectify it. You may find, like Emma, that your child naturally falls into a better rhythm once you have a calmer bedtime routine.
- Make downstairs a no-go area. Donna’s family has a strict “No children downstairs after 7pm” rule that works well for them. Decide on your boundaries and make sure the kids know what they are.
However you look at it, not getting enough sleep or sleeping at the wrong times can affect your every day life. If being up at all hours suits you, then fine. But if you’re finding that you want to make changes, then these tips should help you to implement them. If you do try some of our parent tips, do please let us know how you get on. We’ll be publishing Jax’s follow up post in a couple of weeks too.
