Getting a child on some type of sleep schedule is imparative. This is one of those lessons we had to learn the hard way.
i remember hearing people with children say things like "if johnny isn't in bed by 8, he falls apart" and "We'd love to meet you out, but it will be past little Jenkin's bedtime." I'd always assumed these parents were a bunch of damned crybabies. How the hell is staying up an hour later going to mess up their kid's schedule?
Well, now i have a kid and would like to apologize for doubting my friends.
For the 1st 6 months of Bryce's life we pretty much set his schedule around ours...or tried to anyway. We put him down around 9. Then he would wake up a few times during the night, we might pull him into bed with us, he was all over the map. It just wasn't working.
At his 6 month appointment Ashley mentioned that he still wasn't sleeping well. When the pediatrician found out that we were putting him down around 9 she immediatly called social services and had Bryce removed from or home. Not reaally. But she did say that we were putting him down way too late. (Just an asdide: our pediatrician is kind of hot and likes to get real close to me when she talks. If you want her name, shoot me an email)
So the next 3 or 4 nights were the suckiest sucks that ever sucked. Bryce's new bedtime was somewhere between 7:30 and 8. We had basically been putting him down when he was so exhausted he could barely keep his eyes open, so when we switched it up on him, he wasn't pleased. Nothing is as heart-wrenching as listening to your kid cry himself to sleep. It was difficult, but neccesary.
here are a few tips for getting your kid on a schedule:
- Start a night time routine. Bath, bottle, then read 3 books....something like that. This also makes it easy for babysitters to put your kid to bed.
- Do not get in the habit of letting your kid sleep with you. It's an easy thing to get stared, but a difficult habit to break. The longer you do it, the more anxiety it's going to cause you and your child. I could go on about this for days and I know different things work for different people, but in my opinion this is a bad thing to get started. Your relationship with your husband or wife will be permanetly damaged if there is a little rug rat in your bed for the next 6 years.
- Background noise. We have a humidifier that runs every night. Some people use fans or one of those white noise machines. This is good because you won't have to creep around your house on tipppy-toes all night. It is also helpful in sitruations where you are traveling and the kid has to sleep in a new place. I think the familiar noise comforts them.
I'm sure others have some good tips or disagree with some of my opinions so i'd like to hear them before i am killed by a live Cobra in my mailbox.
Here are the previous parenting tips for your Brent''s Parenting Tips scrapbook or stamp it up project.
Wednesday Parenting Tips I
Wednesday Parenting Tips II
Wednesday Parenting Tips Part III - Children's Television Programs
3 comments:
I crate-trained my dog Hailey. Can you crate-train a kid?
Ask your pediatrician next time and see how close she gets when you ask.
give them a PBR, that'll put them to sleep.
Chiming in late on this one - finding it appropriate as I sit here at 2 AM with Gus in my lap knowing I will finally get him down for less than 2 hrs after his next feeding and then will put him between Mike and I in bed around 7 so I can finally get some sleep.
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