I need help in the bed time department. You’d think that after more than 14 years of being a mom, I’d know how to get my kids to sleep. But somehow, bedtime is always a struggle in our house. Even if the kids are exhausted from a full day at school and play, bedtime rolls around and they do everything in their power to resist falling asleep.
The more tired I am, the less tired they seem to be.
I need Super Nanny’s help.
But since I don’t have SuperNanny, I have turned instead to some of my blogging friends.
Let’s talk about bed time routines
I asked some of my friends, When do your kids go to bed (ages??) and what are some of your challenges and tips to getting kids to be good sleepers?
Kristen of Rage Against the Minivan: My kids go to bed at 7:30. We are really strict about it and so they go right to sleep. My advice? Be mean. We have a behavioral chart at our house and getting out of bed or talking in bed results in losing a star.
Kadi of Our Seven Seeds: 8 pm on school nights (they do not fall asleep until 9 pm). We let them read or talk quietly until 9 pm. Weekends are pretty flexible since we play sports and do family nights on Friday. Keeping them in their own beds was hard with some of them. We had to be persistent and do what Nanny Jo instructed us to do. But it paid off.
Shana of Shanamama: Since my oldest started school all the kids now go to bed at 7:30 pm. My youngest is the one who challenges bed time. If he has napped he simply has too much energy to go to bed. So some nights I put him back to bed 4-10 times. It can be rough but keeping consistent is the only thing that has worked for me.
Jenn (MommyB) of MommyB Knows Best: Baby C goes to bed at 7:00pm and Little Miss A (4yo) goes to bed at 8:00/8:30. Challenges for our oldest are the norms, trying to get out of going to bed, I need this, I need that. We just tell her that she needs to go to bed and be quiet and usually she’s pretty good for us. As for the Baby, I’m still nursing so she wakes often to be fed. I’ve never really had great sleepers so I definitely don’t want to give tips on this but I’d love to hear some. I’m not a Cry-It-Out mom and never will be but I feel that each family needs to determine that on their own.
Astacia of mamikaze: My girls get ready for bed at 7:30 so they can be in bed by 8. They’re both ADHD, so bedtime routine is important. Daddy does the teeth, dressing, etc. Then I read each of them a story.
Allison of Alli ‘n Son: My son, 3, goes to be bed between 8-8:30 every night. We started this bedtime when he was an infant, as it seemed to be the natural time that he would fall asleep for long stretches of time. We always read a book together, even when he was a baby, which is sometime that we continue to this day. Having a consistent routine is what worked for us.
He’s always been a good sleeper, but we make sure we have some ground rules at night. He does not sleep with us in bed, although if he wakes up before us in the mornings he does get to jump in bed with us for a few minutes. When it’s bed time (or nap time) he’s not allowed to leave his bed.
As a baby we let him cry-it-out (making sure to check on him every once in a while). This worked for us because he learned how to self-sooth at an early age. Of course there are always times when you will need to go in and comfort to take care of a need, but I learned early on how to tell by his cry what needed to be done.
Valinda of Life with ElCid and The Girls: They all go to bed at 8:45 (11, 9, 6). At 10:30 when I’ve had ENOUGH I finally scare them into being quiet. We do song, prayers, kisses, everyone has used the bathroom. Nobody needs a drink and the house is quiet but they still don’t go to bed very well.
Candice of Fashionably Organized: My biggest tip is routine. Stick to it no matter what. We start bath time between 7:30 PM and 8 PM and it all goes from there. Bath, jammies and bed. The little one gets a sippy w/milk on the couch w/us and then goes to bed. We do add a book in there, but now the boys are liking taking a book with them to bed instead.
Amber of AmbyLand: Louis goes to bed at 7. And we try to get Carmen in there as close to 7 as possible. I am not sure there are tips for getting them to be good sleepers. I think its a personality thing as much as anything else. But for my kids, they need a lot of sleep and the more tired they are the harder it is for them to sleep.
Erin of Tales from a Marketing Mama: Right now, we do bath, story time and lights out (with another 5-10 minutes of back scratching and singing). He (2 yr old) is just now starting to STALL. It’s gonna be a fun ride.
Do you have any advice to successful bedtimes to add to the mix?
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There is only one way out, which I think might solve your problem. If they are not tired enough, make them even more. It might take a toll on you for a few days, but after that they’ll consider sleeping a better alternative.
I have found that if I get into bed and read for a bit the kids fall asleep quickly. I think my children to not want to miss anything, so I turn off all the lights and “pretend” to go to bed too, except I read. When I know they are all asleep I enjoy my “mom time”.
I also try to make bedtime fun. The kids always pick out their own PJ’s and even bedding. They pick which stuffed animal they will sleep with and they always read before going to bed. I read them a story but after I leave the room they pull out another book and read it.
I am a single mom of three 12, 9 and 8. I have been raising them alone since they were tingy and this routine has always worked for me.
Now, If I can just figure out how to get them all up in the morning!! LOL
Crystal Lynn xoxo