Secret Sleep Weapons
“What hath night to do with sleep?”
I am for almost ANYTHING that will help kids sleep and sleep well! Why? Because when kids sleep well, kids feel good and act better. AND, when kids sleep, parents sleep and can just be better parents!
I have several posts describing strategies that should help your child sleep including: Do You Have an Early Riser?, Please Go to Sleep, Why Won’t She Stay Asleep?, What are Sleep Passes, and Sleep Training Clocks. Below, I will share some additional resources that might help implement the strategies described in these other posts.
Dogs!
Several years ago a doctor suggested that we get Claudia a therapy dog. I was very resistant as I had just brought home my 4th and 5th children and was not loving the idea of bringing home another mouth to feed! But, we did end up getting a great mutt from a shelter who has totally bonded with Claudia and helps her a ton. One of her jobs is to sleep with/on her at night. This has helped her nighttime waking immensely. I think it is part heavy blanket and part warm body in her bed that is helping, but I will take it! As soon as we brought this puppy home from the shelter, we put her “on” Claudia at bedtime and they were instant sleep buddies.
Weighted Items
In lieu of a dog, heavy blankets and stuffed animals have helped many kiddos coming through my home as well. For some kiddos, feeling pressure on their bodies makes a huge difference when they need to calm down and sleep. If you can find them on sale, they are not too ridiculous. My mother was so kind as to make me a couple of them with rice! Use extreme caution using these with young children as they can get their heads under them and their ability to breath could be hindered.
Bedtime routine
I know, we have all heard this a million times. But truly, for most kids, having a routine that they can count on most nights really does help get them TO SLEEP! I am sure there are tons of idea of the “perfect” routine and what should and should not be included in it, but my opinion (and experience) is that ANY calming and consistently expected routine will be helpful. Whether you have 10 minutes every night before bed or 1 hour - choose from things like:
teeth brushing
shower, warm bath or wash hands and face
take all nighttime vitamins, sleep aids, or prescriptions
reading a book or having them read themselves a book
pick a sleep story or night time meditation
watch a calm cartoon or tv show (I know, everyone says not to, but sometimes it is all you can do at the end of the day!)
sensory diet - massage, vibration, roller, essential oils, yoga poses…
You can even have a list or visual with these choices (and any others you can think of) and have your child choose 2-3 every night. Giving them some control will also help!
Natural Help
There is too much to read about natural sleep help than I can digest. I will NOT try to summarize everything out there, but I will say that there are some natural remedies that have helped in our home. If you are interested in any of these, do your research, talk to your doctor or naturopath and even and herbalist at your local natural food store. Some simple things that you may want to research include:
Melatonin
Theonine
Essential oils
Meditation
Night lights
Food (there is so much research about dairy, gluten, artificial colors, preservatives…and how they affect sleep)
Sleep Stories (there are many apps that have sleep stories - like Moshi)
CBD Oils and creams
24-Hour Sleep Adjustment
There was a period of time when I was so desperate for Claudia to sleep that we considered doing a 24-hour sleep adjustment. Thankfully, we never had to do this. But, if you are so inclined and so desperate, I would research this strategy. Every day your child goes to bed an hour later until they have gone all the way around the clock back to their normal bedtime. So, for example, the first night they would go down at 9:00 pm, the second night 10:00 pm, the third night 11:00 pm, the eighth night 4:00 am, the sixteenth at noon and so on! I have heard that this works amazingly well to reset anyone’s sleep cycle. But you have to be willing to give up a month to this strategy and be home all the time! Again, if you are desperate, check it out and learn more.