Sleep Deprivation: (noun) A form of psychological torture inflicted by depriving the victim of sleep.
(Source)
Until I became a parent, I didn’t realize how much someone else’s sleep could influence mine! Getting young children to sleep is critical not only to their own health and happiness, but often to the overall health and sanity of their parents as well! Having a consistent bedtime routine helps, though that routine will contain different things for different families. Here are a few tricks that have helped us get just a bit more sleep around these parts.
The Bed Time Basket
Children love their “stuff”. As we would put our boys to bed, they would constantly call us back in for “just one more thing”. They desperately needed that blue truck, or that pirate Lego figure, or that random piece of paper that came with their Happy Meal toys. In addition to the fact that it seemed they had a knack for asking for the one toy we didn’t even know where to begin to look for, we found ourselves going in over and over to address these requests until our “serene” bed time routine turned into grumpy parents and crying children.
Enter the bed time basket. One night, I grabbed to small baskets and told the boys that these were their bed time baskets. If there was anything they wanted to have in their beds, they needed to have it in the basket before we went into their room to put on pajamas. Initially it was an event – 5-10 minutes to gather before bed time. Now, they often leave the same items in, changing periodically as they see fit. When, out of habit, they would call us in to ask for something else, we would simply reply, “You’ll have to remember to put that in your basket for tomorrow night.”
The Nightlight Timer
Have you ever felt like 10 or 20 bucks changed your life? I have! When I was pregnant with number 3, our second son developed a habit of waking with the sun – which meant about 5:30am. As inconvenient as it was to be up so early feeling nauseated and fatigued, I knew that being up this early after being up all night with a newborn would only be worse. Add to that the fact that sunrise was only getting earlier, and I was ready to lose my mind. That’s when the dear hubby and I came up with a solution. Home Depot has held the solution to many problems in our home, and this was another one.
We purchased an outlet timer like this one for less than $20. You can find one at any home improvement store. (I linked to Home Depot simply for illustrative purposes. Aside from the fact that our purchases have probably funded the pensions of at least 4 employees, Home Depot doesn’t even know I exist. So this is not an endorsement, and it makes no difference to me whether you buy one from them or from Mo’s Hardware down the street.)
We plugged in the timer along with our boys’ favorite nightlight and set the timer to go on at bed time and go off at a reasonable hour – for us, that was about 7am. We explained to the boys that as long as the nightlight was still on, it was still night time and they needed to stay in bed. If they felt they just couldn’t sleep any longer, they were welcome to play with the toys and books they had in their bed time baskets.
It only took a couple of mornings for them to get the hang of the new system. If they woke up early and were uncertain as to whether or not it was “morning” or “obscenely early morning”, they simply had to look at the nightlight. Sometimes I would hear them rustling around at 6:00 or so, and then fall back to sleep until after 7. It was a beautiful, beautiful thing. Then we had a newborn, and sleep deprivation began again. But that is a story for another time….
The solutions to bed time dilemmas are as diverse as the children and families who come up with them. So share yours here! What has smoothed out bedtime at your house? Maybe your solution will be the answer to someone else’s narcoleptic prayers.
Top photo by CPERONI.
Center photo by hoefi.
I had to get blackout curtains last week for my boys’ room. With summer’s longer days it was difficult to get them to relax with the sunshine blasting through the room. They were tired but their bodies weren’t registering that it was time to rest. I made a dash to the store for the curtains and they were sleeping quickly and easy.
Light makes such a big difference!
So I’m curious about pottying – do they wait until 7am to use it or do they come back to their rooms afterward? I have a nearly 4yo and he nearly always has a big big pee right after he wakes up.
They are always allowed to use the bathroom when they need it. They just know that if it’s not morning, it’s time to head back to bed afterward.
I seriously need to get that nightlight. Parker is always up at 7:00, I’d love for it to be even 7:30, it’d make such a difference. Amber & Aubrey always sleep until 8:00! Great tips!
I have seen people use morning time routines to teach their kids to read a clock. They had a picture of 7:00 and the kids could not get up until it matched. I like the light on a timer though, especially for younger kids.
I love the idea of a bedtime basket too! I can’t wait to make one in a year or two when my little one is old enough to understand.
I am so grateful to have read this article. My, oh my, it’s also nice to know that we’re not the only parents with a kid who doesn’t “need” sleep, like your middle child. It’s a tough thing when he or she is a nightowl & a morning bird, seriously 3am and 5am are his wake up times some days. But never, ever past 7am. I may have to make a trip to Home Depot or Lowe’s or somewhere today for a night light. Our oldest LOVES to sleep, so this is the first time we’ve had to deal with the sleep deprivation, going on about 3 years now, as I also had insomnia while pregnant with the baby. Hahaha! Now that I think about it maybe that stemmed from his nocturnal schedule as well.
Anyway, the bedtime baskets are a great idea as well b/c the baby LOVES to sleep with 2.5 million toys in his bed, and books, clothes, etc. I’m glad he has a full size bed so he has room to sleep.
Blessings,
Jen
Hi Amanda,
Thanks for the great advice. I’m wondering at what age did you start using the bedtime baskets and the nightlight timer? Our daughter is 21 months, and I feel like she’s probably a little young to understand, but I could be wrong. I’d love for her to at least stay in her room til 7am instead of crying out over the monitor, “Mama. Dada. Wake up!” We have another one on the way, and I’m definitely not looking forward to the 6am wake up call after being up all night.
My younger son was probably 3 when we started this system, and it definitely changes and adapts with age. It really depends on your own child. Hopefully you kind find a version that works best for you!