Sleeping like a Baby...Literally!

Whoever came up with the line, “I slept like a baby,” must have been someone who NEVER had a baby! Seriously. We all know full well that most babies don’t sleep like we wish they did. In our experience, they are up every 2-4 hours demanding food and needing diaper changes. Then they grow and they change and so does their sleep schedule. Oh my gosh…it’s nonstop adjusting.

So what is the secret? How do you get your rest and sanity back? I’m glad you asked! I’ll share what has worked for us, and I invite you to share your “sleep hacks” in the comments below! Try these and let me know how they work out for you…

1. Set an Atmosphere Atmosphere is HUGE for us. I remember growing up spending late nights watching Cartoon Network with junk food sliding out of my hands as I dozed off fighting the school night sleepiness. I would have weird dreams, I was always restless, and I woke up stressed with really disgusting breath and eventually had cavities to deal with. Just gross! As an adult, I’ve learned the value of setting an atmosphere for healthy rest, and I wanted to extend that to my children because they deserve healthy rest! Their rest affects your rest, and your rest will affect their development. We don’t let our kids fall asleep to the TV or at the table in the middle of eating dinner. It’s not something that we think is healthy for their minds or bodies. Instead, we feed them about an hour before bedtime, and 30 mins before bedtime we do what we call “wind down” time. We turn off all electronics and allow them some time to do a creative artistic craft or to just read a book (For Amor, this means looking at pictures in books and calling out the words she’s familiar with. For Amaris, this means eating as many pages as she can before we catch her). We do our best to stay away from our phones while we’re winding the kids down so we can model the habit of preparing for rest. In this we also dim the lights and play calm music. We’ll talk more about this in a bit. Setting an atmosphere allows us to transition the kids to a bedtime mentality, and it also allows us to spend time together as a family before bed, which I love!

2. Stick to a Consistent Routine Having a consistent bedtime routine has been crucial for getting our girls healthy rest. We bathe them before bed and play the same Christmas piano music each night so when they hear it, it lets them know that it’s time to wind down. They’ve preferred Christmas music since July, but it doesn’t bother us as long as they respond properly to it. Making a routine of setting a bedtime atmosphere creates triggers for your little ones. After awhile, you won’t even have to tell them that it’s time for bed. We’ve caught our girls in mid-tantrum and turned the lights down while bringing the music up and they melted into wind down mode. We aim to get them to bed by 8:30 on nights that we aren’t coming home late. Jon and I are able to have the rest of the evening to tidy up, talk, be husband and wife (OMG, I LOVE being with my husband), and just enjoy undivided time together. And HONESTLY, I personally can’t handle being up at 10:30pm or midnight with two energetic kids. Kudos to you parents who can! I think it’s also worth mentioning that you should resist the temptation to let your kids take excessively long naps during the day or to allow them to go to bed too early on a regular basis. I know you’re tired but STICK TO YOUR GUNS! Allowing them to break the routine will cost you dramatically in the big picture. If you let them go to bed too early, you can expect for them to call for you in those wee hours of the morning when you’re still trying to figure out who you are.

Kids often throw tantrums and fight consistency, but it’s one thing they need more than anything and one thing they’ll appreciate most when they get older. Keep yourself on a routine and hold your kids to one, and I PROMISE things will get much easier.

3. Let Them Cry NOTE: You are the best parent for your child and you do know what’s best for them. Some kids need the extra comfort, and others will benefit from crying it out for a few minutes and learning how to self-comfort. Be sure to consult with your child’s pediatrician before dramatically changing your response to them.

We took Amor to her one-year appointment and told her pediatrician that she had been waking up 2 times every night to drink water. Her pediatrician asked us how long this had been going on and I said, “About 6 months.” She laughed and said, “She’s been playing you guys!” At that moment I felt dumb, frustrated, in shock, and thought to myself, “I could have been resting a full 8 HOURS for the last six months?! What the heck!” Ohhhh man, all of the nights I was giving that girl some water, and she ended up playing instead, and I sat there trying to rock her back to sleep with tears streaming down my face because I was so exhausted that I felt dead. Her doctor told us that teaching them to self soothe is one of the best decisions a parent can make (if they are willing to do that, of course). She explained how allowing them to put themselves to sleep makes them more independent about bed time, helps with problem solving, and aides their overall development. Besides all that, they rest better. The best part is that YOU GET MORE HOURS OF REST AND YOUR SANITY BACK! Amor cried the first night for about 30 mins (and we did comfort her without picking her up and rocking her), the next night she cried for 10 mins, the following night was 5 mins, and a full night of sleep with no crying after that! A few exceptions were nights that she was teething or fighting colds. Although I do miss rocking her to sleep when she was little, I will say that I do not regret this decision. Lord knows how much I needed rest.

I hope these 3 steps are helpful to you. Jon and I have made it through the sleep storm for the most part, but we still welcome your insights on sleep hacks. What do you recommend for getting the best rest for you and your little ones?