Did you ever think you were going to be the parent who co slept with your child? My husband and I didn’t. However we ended up having our daughter in our room til she was 14 months old. She kept us awake to comfort nurse a few times a night as well as from rustling around. One night my husband said “This is it! We are taking her to her own crib, she is not staying another night in our bed!” He walked her up the stairs cold turkey.
I was a MESS!
How would my little baby do all alone in her own room after so many months of being with mom and dad? But guess what? Our sweet daughter slept 9 hours straight and has slept upstairs in her crib since (she is now 24 months old) and all of us have never been happier.
How do you make a child love bedtime when it seems to be such a struggle for some kiddos to want to go to sleep at all, and in their own bed nonetheless?
Routine, routine, routine.
Our daughter thrives off of her routines and they make her feel happy, safe, and content. She reminds us when we aren’t doing HER routine just so.
Last night my husband and I were watching TV and our daughter was tired and wanted to cuddle with daddy, so I said let’s put her in her pjs and let her fall asleep on dad. No, no, no- that was not what she had in mind. As soon as we put on her pjs and tried to lay on the couch to watch a show, she fussed until we carried on with her normal bedtime routine.
So what is an effective bedtime routine? The one we have in our house is simple and nothing fancy or special. What makes it effective is that we do the same thing every night and that even when we are away visiting grandparents or on vacation, we try to make it as similar to our home routine as possible.
Below are the components to our daughter’s bedtime routine. The constancy is what helps her enjoy bedtime so much.
- We have a wind down period- About an hour before bedtime we turn down the lights and use only lamps or candles and turn down the volume on the TV or electronics we are using. We use hushed tones and try to turn off the stimulation we have experienced all day.
- We put pajamas on- We try to make it super fun and exciting with characters or animals she likes such as sheep or unicorns. We say in an enthusiastic tone, “Do you want to wear your unicorn pajama’s, they are so pretty!”
- We get her water or warm milk in a cup- We gave her milk for a long time but now with her eating more food during the day we get her a little water before bed that she can drink during story time.
- Read stories- We read 4-5 storybooks each night that she likes to pick out of her book basket.
- We brush teeth- Singing the ABC’s is a great way to get kids excited and involved in brushing their teeth.
Then she knows we give hugs and kisses, and the next part is impressive for a toddler- she leads US to the stairs for bedtime. We go up and turn on her singing elephant that plays lullabies for 30 minutes, rock her for a few minutes in the rocker and lay her down in her crib with no fights or no crying.
Our daughter looks forward to bedtime every day because she knows what to expect. It is a structured time where she gets to read stories with mom and dad and then sleep in her own room.
Also adding bath time to your routine and using kids epsom soak with lavender can help soothe and calm before bedtime.
My husband and I haven’t done anything special or extravagant to make our toddler fall in love with bedtime other than making a routine and sticking to it.
Your kids can love bedtime too!
I would love to hear what helps your kids at bedtime, leave your ideas in the comments!
How have you overcome any bedtime challenges?
Are there discoveries you’ve made as you have had more children or as they have grown older?
Disclaimer: Use all general, life and parenting advice contained herein at your own risk