Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bug bite!

When it comes to my eldest child, “sleep” is a very difficult affair. As a baby I remember, bedtimes being horrific, the whole process leading up to it was beautiful. We’d have our warm bubble bath, followed by a story, lots of hugs and kisses followed up by a sing song session..but she would not go to sleep, instead be wide awake asking “What’s next Mummy?”. I would try all methods advocated by the parental books, from the severe ‘let her cry” method to rocking, which she used to think was a dance and join in excessively, to finally bringing her to our bed and letting her fall asleep, with her feet on my husband’s face and her head nestled into my side. She was asleep, but we were not!

Her bad sleeping habits continued on as she got older, she was the last to go to sleep and the first to be up. Now as a ten year old and one of four children, I am quite strict with bedtime schedule with lights out by eight, but while the rest of the brood sleeps, I tend to occasionally get startled by her as she creeps around for a midnight snack. I worry about her lack of a goodnight sleep, being very athletic the day starts with vigorous training, followed by a busy school day and later strenuous afternoon activities. Every growing child needs a good night’s sleep. If your child is a poor sleeper here are some ways to help them along:

Babies

When you have a newborn in the house, the first 6 to 12 weeks will be sleepless nights for all new parents. But hopefully between 6 to 8 weeks, your baby will settle into a pattern of eating and sleeping. It is at this time that you must decide how to teach your baby to fall asleep. Once your baby has had their feed, being adequately burped, whilst still sleepy but not asleep they can be settled in their cot maybe with a favorite soft toy. It is important if they can be taught to fall asleep on their own, for this will make your life much easier. If you feel that you must rock them to sleep or be with them if they do, then be prepared to do that even at night. Find a sleep routine that works for you and your baby and slowly starts to implement it as your newborns grows.

Toddlers

As your baby emerges from the more manageable newborn phase we are hit with the intricacies of rebellious toddlers. They are now more aware of their surroundings and have started to express their own needs and desires. They want to go to bed at the time they want. Therefore as parents we need to revise our bedtime strategies. Here are some suggestions:
a) Have a bedtime routine, dinner, bath, story. Bedtime should always be at a particular time, therefore in this way once say seven o clock hits, your toddler knows that it is time for them to get ready for bed. They will appreciate the routine and take comfort in the normality.
b) Watch out for sleepy signs. Being excessively grumpy, crying a lot unnecessarily, rubbing eyes, yawning are obviously signs that your little one is ready for bed.
c) Do not engage in any vigorous playing or get them to watch an exciting program, this will only enliven them up even more and downtime will be difficult.
d) Also introduce some sleep aids such as a teddy, soft music, books. These provide your toddlers with some added comfort and helps them to lull themselves to sleep. My four year will spend a good fifteen minutes chatting to her doll and usually falls asleep mid conversation.

Child

Children can be a force to be reckoned with when it comes to bedtime. Full of energy its hard to pin them down as they run screaming “No” when the mention of the word bed come into play. Here are a few tactics to encourage the discouraged bedtime child.
1. For any age group, always stick to a particular time for bed. During the week this can be easily achieved, but try and maintain the continuity over the weekend as well to keep it consistent.
2. Avoid all sugary snacks, hot chocolates etc before. A warm glass of milk minus any other condiments will be fine, but leave the sugar alone.
3. No loud playing or major discussions before bed for this will easily excite the excitable child.
4. Also during the afternoon or early evening it might be advisable that the child engage in some sporting activity, swimming, a game of cricket or football, this can help to wear out the over the child with exuberant energy.
5. If possible minimize siblings sleeping together for this tends to encourage hours of chatter and play rather than sleep.

These are all recommendations to help children sleep on their own. In my opinion it always works best if children do start sleeping in their own rooms from a young age. They get a goodnights sleep and so do you. Of course this depends on the child, for my son has no problems going to sleep more waking up especially early in the morning for school. But in all seriousness children do need a good nights sleep, this is vital for their growth physically and mental stimulation. If your child has sleeping problems, make it a priority to get it right. Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite!

By Mayuri Jayasinghe