Sleeping Tips
All tips tagged sleeping ✕
Give up all ideas about what type of parent you'll be! Baby will dictate how it will go.... they may only sleep if they co-sleep or be allergic to breastmilk and have to be formula fed. Be prepared to be flexible in your approach to raising your child and everyone will be happy.
They say sleep when baby sleeps..... but this can be tough! Take shifts sleeping when you have a newborn. If Mom takes a few hours here, and Dad a few hours there, everyone will be a lot happier!
Don't get your newborn used to sleeping in a silent house. Babies who grow up in a normal, noisy environment are much less likely to be woken by the smallest things!
If you have a coffee maker with a timer, get it ready the night before. It will help you wake up in the morning and keep you from spending extra money at a coffee shop.
Use visualization to relax and fall asleep faster. Picture yourself being transported to a place where you are completely at peace.
Give kids a 10 minute warning before it’s time to start getting ready for bed, then set a timer. When it goes off everyone knows it’s time for bed.
Find ways to empower kids with choices as they get ready for bed. For example, you can let them choose which pajamas to wear or whether they’d rather bathe or brush teeth first.
Feel refreshed each morning by doing the following three times before getting out of bed: wiggle your toes, rotate your ankles, wiggle your fingers and rotate your wrists.
Consider having an older sibling read a bedtime story to the younger ones, this promotes bonding, empowers young readers and allows you to get something else done while you listen in.
When bedtime is near, stagger tasks that need parental help with those that kids can do independently so that one child can do something alone while you help another with a task that needs your attention. Then you can switch off and help the other child.
If your child struggles with anxious thoughts when it is time to go to sleep, consider giving him/her an idea of something pleasant and calming to think about. Ask him/her to think of all the animals you can find at the zoo or all of the things in your house that are yellow.
Playing soothing music at a low volume as kids wait to fall asleep can set a restful mood and discourage talking between siblings who share the same bedroom.
End your bedtime routine with a favorite (sleep promoting) activity like reading a story together or 15 minutes with a special quiet toy. Have a set lights out deadline in place. If the child isn’t ready for bed by the deadline, then the final activity gets cut from the routine.
Give your child a “get out of bed” token of some kind (a small stuffed animal works well). After lights out the child can get out of bed once to ask a question, get a drink, etc., but must turn in the token. After that give no attention if the child gets out of bed.
If you find your child consistently gets out of bed to read, play, etc., when they should be sleeping at night, you can try removing the lightbulbs from any lamps in the bedroom until the morning.
If you’re going to let your kids stay up late, try to have them change into their pajamas before the final activity of the evening. This can help them begin preparing for bed mentally and emotionally in advance of the later bedtime.