Bedtime routines are not just for adults; they play a crucial role in the lives of children too. A well-crafted nighttime routine can transform the often dreaded “bedtime battle” into a peaceful and positive experience for both children and parents. Just like adults, kids benefit from a structured and consistent routine that helps them wind down, relax, and prepare for a restful sleep.
We all know that our sleep quality lays the foundation for our entire day. A full and peaceful night’s rest is not only about waking up refreshed; it significantly impacts our mental and physical health, productivity levels, emotional balance, and overall quality of life. A key factor in achieving a good night’s rest is the proper alignment of our neck and spine. Our neck is composed of delicate structures that, when strained, can lead to discomfort and interruptions during our valuable sleep time. It can result from various causes such as muscle strain, and sleeping in an incorrect posture.
Even before children are born they are affecting your sleep patterns. Did you get a good night’s sleep in your third trimester? After both my boys were born all I wanted to do was sleep for a week. Little did I know that sleep is for the weak and that lack of sleep theirs and mine was something that I was going to learn to live with for years to come.
It comes as no surprise to me and yes I see the irony that this post is being written at 2.21am in the morning as I have always suffered from insomnia, but my sleeping pattern or ability to sleep got much worse when I became a mum and my insomnia became “mumsomnia”.
Going back to school takes some acclimatisation. Not only for you as a parent but for your children too. I know that I need to cut them some slack and make sure that we are all a little gentler on each other.
Not only did two years classrooms flood, but the library and ICT area also flooded. The dining hall has been turned in to a storage area and the school has been unable to serve warm meals. All this uncertainty has resulted in a very anxious Mini. This partly shows by him being filled with bravado and the other side with issues sleeping.
So in addition to working on stopping him being a reluctant sleeper and doing things to prevent nightmares, we also made a dream catcher together. When I say we, what I mean is I held the tape and chatted to him whist he made his own dream catcher.
We used, some wood from a plant in the garden with tape to make into a circle (ish) and then mini used rope to tie round it. He then strung some pretty beads on to string and attached them.
Whilst he concentrated on making the dreamcatcher we talked about their history and all the things that have been worrying him.
Sleep issues, we have had them all as most of your are aware. We are also no stranger to nightmares and anxiety at bedtime or during the night. Most of these things can be helped with some proactive thinking. Many children around five to nine get nightmares due to becoming aware of the scary things in the wide world. My friend was worried her little one might start to have nightmares when he moved in to his big boys childs bed, which was provided by Time 4 Sleep. So we compiled the ideas we for preventing nightmares in kids that we came up with below:
I have posted many times that Mini Mad has issues with getting to sleep. It is something that he (and us) has suffered with since being a toddler. In January this year it got so severe that we sought some professional guidance and we have been consistently working on it since then. So how do we go about encouraging our reluctant sleeper?
Then I move on to Mini’s room…………………..
“I love you” I say
“I love you more” he responds
“I love you MORE” I reply
“I love you the MOST” he says with such conviction it makes my heart ache
Not possible I think to myself, not possible.
I feel like crying, not that is not quite right, crying would be an improvement right now, as I am so tightly wound up I could burst. I am filled with frustration, anger, disappointment and sheer exhaustion. Mini used to be terrible at going to bed and then this time last year we put our foot down and cracked the sleep issue and our evenings were transformed. We have had a whole year of blissful bedtimes. This week we have taken a massive step backward. Again we have had tantrums and tears and Mini has refused to go to bed. He has taken to throwing his books and also banging on his door. I have no idea why we have taken this large step […]
Mid January I blogged about Mini not going to bed and going to sleep and how it was really affecting our evenings and also making him really tired and grumpy in the morning. Well I thought it was time for an update and I am pleased to be able to tell ypu that our evenings have been transformed.
Mini now goes to bed between 7pm and 7.30pm and goes to sleep. He has even asked to go to bed and taken himself up at 6.45pm one evening. Even when were were moving his room he still went to bed and sleep in all the mess and chaos.
So how have we done it. Basically it has all been about consistency. We have a strict bedtime routine. No screen time after 6pm. Dinner, night clothes, books, cuddles and bed (with a bath a couple of times a week).
What do you do when you have a child that just refuses to go off to sleep? I wish I knew. Maxi has always gone to bed like a dream and when his head hits that pillow he is off in the land of Nod till six am ish. Mini, however, is another story. He needs his sleep and is a monster without it, as most children are, but he has this ability to fight going off to sleep.
It started when he was around 3 years old and I put a lot of it down to the fact that I had been in and out of hospital and made allowances for him and for me. But the fact is he is five and a half and still doesn’t want to go to bed on a night and will make every excuse under the sun to stay up or find a reason to get up. My tummy is hurting, I have earache, I am hold, I am hot, I need a drink, I am hungry, I am scared and so on and so on. The fact is that both me and MadDad had let it go on to long and we were tired. Tired of the relentless taking him back up to bed, tired of not having our evenings together, tired of one or the other giving in and cuddling Mini either upstairs or downstairs and just plain exhausted by it all.
