So, bottom line, my kids really stink at falling asleep. I'm sick of every article flying around in cyberspace with the no-fail solutions because they fail at my house. They just sit up and read and play and build forts and "arrange" their toys and so on and so on. But, they're up by 7am. They run around all day...how are they not exhausted?? So I'm enlisting the help of my blog-addicted friends. Here's the sitch...
Bedtime is 7:30 faithfully every night. We have a routine that we always follow...scriptures, family prayer, brush teeth, go potty, book, prayers, and song. On average, they don't fall asleep until 9:30-10:00. Here are some of the things we've tried:
1. Patience
2. Threats
3. Tickets/Pennies
4. Taking everything out of their rooms except bedding
5. Competition
6. Taking away privileges
7. Treats
8. Spankings
9. Monetary Incentives
10. Locking doors from the outside
OK, so now it's your turn to help your frustrated friend. Tell me what to do! I am open to anything and everything...
6 comments:
oh my...have you tried monster spray? it's water, lavendar, chamomile, vanilla, and a bit of orange oil in a spray bottle. it naturally relaxes kids--either that or you could try melatonin--but i'd only do that as a last resort
Ok I would go super nanny on them this worked for Madison too. You sit in the room with them no eye contact... first time they get out you say time for bed and put them back second time and then on if they get out you dont say a word you just put them in bed and go sit back in your spot.
Good luck I know bedtime can be frustrating.
i struggled with tyler in the worst way on this....we tried everything under the sun, and then someone suggested melatonin...it worked like a charm. i have to say, that whatever works because i can't thrive on no sleep myself. melatonin was a last resort. seems like all my kids went through a stage, where it was "battle of the wills" to get them to stay in their room and go to bed at bedtime...we resorted to staying in their room till they fell asleep, and we were just happy if they stayed in their beds and tried. i am the last person to advise...but i have been through this too. four times over. the other three kids, it was a passing stage, but the one that was hyperactive would only sleep like a few hours, that was it!! till this day, if we forget to give him melatonin, we can kiss our sleep gooooooood BYE. i looked at your list, of stuff tried...impressive! u already are doing the things i would suggest. have u talked to your family doctor about it?
Let me know the winning answer. We are still trying to master this too.
We've tried the Melatonin on one of our kids, but I didn't really notice anything extraordinary. We have dealing with this for 10 yrs. now. We've just let go and as long as they stay in their rooms, so mom and dad can have some down time, we don't care what time they go to sleep. Of course, atleast 2 of them have to come out of their room every night to "tell us something". But we aren't stressed out anymore at night with yelling at our kids. If they don't go to sleep until 10 and have to get up at 7am for school, but feel like they didn't get sleep, Oh well, that's a problem they chose. We also got them CD players so they can listen to music to fall asleep. Hope this helps!
Give em' nyquil... just kidding. I'm writing this at 1:49am so you know that I don't have the answer.
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