Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Kids And Sleeping

While reading the tips over at Rocks In My Dryer I noticed how many were about sleeping tips. Getting kids to sleep through the night, or at all, seems to be a universal problem for exhausted parents everywhere.

All 4 of my children had different sleeping patterns but one thing I tried worked for them all. For night time it is obviously important to try very early to establish before bed routine. But my tip is for naptime. I learned to not make the situation one that the child can only fall asleep unless everything is just so. This also helps at night. Have you ever been around an exhausted crying baby that cannot go to sleep unless he is in his bed? Not fun.

Early on I started putting my kids down for their naps in different places such as their carrier, the stroller, a blanket on the floor, or on our couch if I was available to watch them, my bed etc. As a result my kids could nap or go down for the night in an unfamiliar place such as a hotel room, in a shopping cart with a blanket in the bottom, or Grandma's house with very little effort. It worked for me.

Pic: Butterfly Bush (maybe!) Townsend, Tn.

2 comments:

Karen said...

Hi Carrie! I am glad you de-lurked and I could come visit! I love your picture of the church! It's neat when bloggers can share some of the same experiences! We love the mountains and would love to move there one day.
Thank you for visiting. I will be back to read more of your posts soon.
Blessings,
Karen

Sonny said...

AMEN! I had a friend that her youngest child could not go to bed unless in her own bed. It was horrible until she got schoolage to try and do anything with them.
You can also put a radio in their room and turn it on low so they have background noise. A inexpensive one like at Wal-Mart or similar stores can usually be found for10 bucks and in enough colors to coordinate with almost any color scheme.I suggest the cheap one because when they get older they like to carry it on battery power or operate it themselves and your not out much money if they break it. Meaghan's finally broke last year when she was 14 when she carried it outside to lay out and she forgot to bring it back inside . Rain and radios don't mix well*LOL*.
Your Sis