Share your top child and adult sleep tips with BleepBleeps – £300 voucher to be won! NOW CLOSED

[EmmaMumsnet]

Whether you have babies or tweens, getting a good night’s sleep isn’t always easy. In fact, bed-time can be a long and tiresome task. There’s getting your DCs to sleep in the first place – often taking hours – and then there’s waking up in the night and early mornings. BleepBleeps wants to know what your top tips are for making this process easier. Have you mastered a bed-time routine which means you and your DC both get a great night’s sleep?

Here’s what BleepBleeps has to say: “BleepBleeps has made, and is still creating, neat little gadgets which make parenting easier, including your night-time routine. We offer a range of devices which make it possible for you to keep an eye on your DCs from your smartphones so you have peace of mind whilst they’re sleeping.”

Do you have a bedtime strategy in place such as co-sleeping or controlled crying? Do you use devices like nightlights and baby monitors? Or other products that help your child fall asleep and/or keep them in bed till the morning?

Whatever your tips and tricks are, add your comments below and you’ll be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 Love2Shop voucher.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard T&Cs apply

Our magic moment was when we realised that if we let the youngest sleep in the double spare bed as opposed to the Cotbed, we could just get in with them when they were unsettled or sick. That way we could sleep too.

Make bedtime fun but relaxing, just get them to have a warm bath an hour before bedtime- I explain this is quite time for winding down and then we do reading- school books and if they have been good a story in bed with a warm milk drink.

I meant 'quiet' not quite time.

We often have a car journey about an hour or so before bedtime - and whenever we do, we just click the clock in the car dashboard forward an hour. Then we tell the kids oh no, look at the time, almost bed time - I guess we can let you have 15 mins more if you brush teeth/behave/go upstairs quickly and get ready. So they think they won 15 mins extra and we know we got them in bed 45 mins early :)

I always keep my little girl in a her routine, after her dinner she has play time and watches in the night garden then bath time finishing off with milk,cuddles and a lullaby before sleep time

A warm drink before their bath, then straight up to bed to a cool, dark, and quiet room

the best thing I've done to help my sleep over the past few months is to leave my iPad downstairs and to stop the weeknight beer. Life is a little less fun, but sleep is so much better.

Blackout blinds essential for kids and adults alike

Routine, blackout blinds, and if you are exhausted nudge DH!

Whatever age you are, the basics are the same - have a routine, keep your bedroom dark and quiet, relax and wind down before bedtime

My DS always ended up in our bed each night leaving us all exhausted. We finally got him to stay in his own bed by letting him choose his own sleeping present that he could have if he earned enough stickers by either staying in his own bed all night or returning to his bed after getting up for a drink or toilet visit. Four weeks, and 28 stickers, later he happily got his hands on his present. Since starting this he has received his sleeping present every month and has only been in our bed twice as a result of being ill. We have since altered the rules slightly to now include going to bed as well as staying in bed, a simple statement of "settle down or you won't get your present this month" soon gets him back on course. (I just wish it worked on cats too!)

We try and stick to the same routine before bed so they know that's it's time to wind down. Bath, story, milk and then bed.

We've always been consistent with bedtime, and touch wood DS has always been a good sleeper. Think this is often as much about luck as it is parenting, though!

The strategy here is to just get through the night with our 1yo and try not to compare to other children.

DD got there in the end at about 18mo when she was old enough to start to respond to shush/pat and pick-up put down. Before then she'd just scream and work herself up into such a state she stood no chance of sleep! We now use a gro clock and she sleep brilliantly.

It really does all pass! I found I got lots of advice - some good, some not so good and you need to do whatever works for your own household. I read to my children from when they were tiny and now stay around 10 minutes after reading to them or with them while they fall asleep. When my son was a baby and my daughter a toddler she was allowed to fall asleep in my bed and was moved later. Some friends disapproved but it made for happy bedtimes all round.

Sound sleeper app set to rain. She now has her daddy's old phone in there as a iPod so we get to keep our gadgets.

With two children that were/are terrible sleepers I know that sometimes there is absolutely nothing you can do to make it any better. Sometimes its out of your control and you just have to wait it out. However there are times when different factors will contribute. Decent naps are paramount. Also, dont underestimate the power of white noise.

Luck and when that fails, begging!
Routine is a good starting point and a degree of flexibility to change this when the usual routine seems to be failing.

There is a book called the Yawning Game. Before this book it would take me hours to settle my daughter. It is a miracle solution! In the story the dog keeps yawning and the animals fall asleep. You do an exaggerated yawn each time. It has never failed me and has saved my sanity!!!

Blackout blinds. Blackout blinds. Blackout blinds. Baby 1 had 2 blinds (one in recess, one out) and a pair of curtains and she's always slept 11-12 hours.

A quick fix alternative is to wet the window with a cloth and apply tin foil.

Routine routine routine, and no screen time at least two hours before bedtime, I have found that has made a big difference to my boys settling down at bedtime

I find a spritz of lavender sleep spray helps all the family dose off more easily

Consistent bedtime routine is vital for us. Comforters work well too for ours but essential to be able to source more should they get lost. Also really need to remember to pack comforters when going anywhere otherwise you could be looking at 100 mile round trip to pick it up (not that that has ever happened to us...). Also I really do believe that some kids are just more keen on sleep than others. My first was very resistant to sleep, second at 2 points to her bed and loves snuggling down for 12 hours. Felt we deserved that after nightmare with first!! Anyway message is to not beat yourself up if you are trying all the tricks in the book and they are not working, as previous poster said 'this too shall pass' and it does, it really does.

Cuddles and songs.