As a Mum of three right now, I feel quite lucky that all three pretty much sleep through the night. However, if you are a reader of my blog, then you may know that this wasn't the case when Freddie was born. Freddie was the worst sleeper out of all three, he would wake up every half hour to every two hours, no longer. It was exhausting, and I was sleep deprived - which isn't good when you have to function to look after all three kids the following day. Now at 18 months old, he is much better. He has improved so much, and I honestly believe just sticking to a bedtime routine, just like I did with both my girls, has really helped.
I don't know what I would do or how I would cope if I didn't have a bedtime routine if I'm honest. I for one need my evenings to myself. I need to know that there is a time that I know the kids will be in bed and sleeping. My evenings are my work hours, but one or two evenings a week I will relax in the living room and watch tv with my partner. Having a good bedtime routine and sticking to it is a must do in this house and it's worked and still working well so far.
I have had many people ask me how did I get Freddie to improve his sleeping habits. All honesty, I didn't really do anything. I did move him to his big cot, and it did take a couple of months again for him to get used to that but that is just Freddie. There are so many other ways you could help try and improve your baby's sleep. A good and comfortable mattress may be one way, and Mattressman have many to choose from - from kids to adult size beds. Your baby or child may have a certain preference of a mattress, possibly a softer one such as a memory foam mattress. But it's all about finding out and trying out to see what works for your child.
After finding the right mattress, you could go to look for new bedding. If your toddler or child is old enough to understand then you could bring them with you to look for some bedding they will like. But putting bedding and mattresses aside, keeping a good bedtime routine is crucial I think. Making sure you stick to the same routine each evening and that way your child will understand when it is time to go to bed. This is a simple idea of our bedtime routine most nights:
Get changed to pyjamas one hour before - Normally I will tell the kids to change into their pyjamas straight after they have finished their tea. They do this pretty much every evening unless they are going for a bath which is normally every 2-3 nights - sometimes 1-2 nights - all depends.
Brush their teeth and tuck themselves into bed for a story - We don't read a story every single night, but some nights we do. We always have some quiet time or a little play time where Freddie will join in too. But brushing their teeth and going to the toilet is something that they have to do each night before getting into their beds.
That is our simple bed routine put in short. I wish I could say that it takes little time to do but it can take up so much time some evenings and little time other evenings. As parents, we all know that each day comes as surprise. We never know how the kids are going to behave or if they will massively play up when it comes to bedtime but my aim each day is too make sure all three are in bed by 7.30pm the lates. Most evenings they are in bed between 6.30pm and 7pm.
What is your bedtime routine like? What time do your little ones go to bed?
* This is a collaborative post with Mattressman. However, all words, opinions and images are my own.
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