Sleep routines got really out of whack during the summer. My schoolaged kid is back on track, but the preschooler and 1 yr old are sleeping most of the day and up all night. I tried to fix it but only made it worse I think. Suggestions please?
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Anonymous
ANSWERS: 8
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Do a bedtime routine and at the same time every night. What we do is we are strict about them going to bed at a set time 8:oo pm every night. We have dinner no later then 6. After dinner they all take baths and brush their teeth and also read a book. Usually our routine is done by 7:30 and we don't ever hear complaints.
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Commenting as a question(no confirmation yet) I've been doing that, it works well with the 7 yr old, but the 4 and 1 yr old are resisting. I think part of it is that they keep each other up. The 7 yr old only gets sleep I think because she has her own room and I can close the door to keep the other 2 out. I've tried separating them and putting the 4 yr old(who's supposed to be sharing the 7 yr old's room, but for obvious reasons isn't)in my room, but she just finds too much to get into. Getting the 1 yr old to sleep isn't really the problem I guess. It's getting the 4 yr old to sleep so she's not disrupting everyone else.
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Use the same routine every night and add some incentive to stay in bed. My 3 year old loves to come out of her room... I will think she is asleep and all of a sudden at 11pm she comes strolling down stairs. I put 3 numbers on the wall outside her door. She loses one everytime she is out of bed (if she even steps off her bed!!). If she loses all 3, the next day she won't be able to do an activity that we had planned (painting, play date, ballet, going to the park...). It took about 3 weeks and a lot of missed activity. But, it worked. She is in bed by 9pm and asleep by 9:30 every night. And occassionally, she still gets out, but never more than once. Good luck! I feel for you!!
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We're not strict schedule kind of folks here, but I know that if I can get my kids out of bed early for about a week straight, then the night time stuff kind of takes care of itself. I can get my entire family out of bed by making a good breakfast. Smells of bacon, or cinnamon toast, or pancakes usually bring them stumbling out. If not, then at least the smell is a good incentive when I go in and tickle them awake :) Of course, this when I NEED to enforce a routine. For the most part, we're pretty flexible and I am usually the last one to get out of bed.
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Same thing happened to me. My family doctor told me to give my daughter and myself Benadryl at our desired bedtime. Ask your doctor before you do this,but, Benadryl is harmless and not habbit forming,but, made us both very drowsey. We were able to fall asleep quickly. Within 3 days my baby and I were back on track and we were able to stop taking the Benadryl at night. It was easy and very effective.
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Make night time a no play time. They can sit up and just sit or goto bed and sleep, but no playing! Also make day time full of activities for the kids!
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When we were in school my parents usually made us return to our school sleep schedule about a week or two before started because they knew it would take some getting used to.
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Let em run ragged when they're at home during the day and into the evening. Cut out the sugar / salts etc from lunchtime onwards and a hot drink before bed. Get them into a routine that lets their body clock adjust to a pattern. Also, stories at bedtimes and if unable to sleep, a backrub, a cuddle and if nothing else, lights out and no more stalling (ie, I want some water, I need this, I need that, can you...). Oh, and try for an emptied bladder / bowel before bedtime - nothing worse than needing to go to the toilet to keep you up and stop you getting to sleep.
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