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

A consistent bedtime routine which for us is:
bath, pj's, teeth, book, bed

We use a gro-clock for our 3 year old which works well (most of the time!)

We always say the same thing at bedtime too - just a simple 'I love you, sleep well, goodnight' - but it seems to end the day on a nice note and is a sign that it is indeed time for bed

Black out curtains (for Dc and these days for me too).
Be mercilessly unfriendly and not at all fun before 7am.

With my daughter, she has a blackout blind in her room which helps alot.

We get her changed into a sleepsuit at 6pm then have quiet time with her favourite soft toy, no tv or distractions, just a cuddle on our bed with a warm bottle then straight into her cot in her own room.

Then i go treat myself to a nice cup of tea

To get upstairs, get on pjs and clean teeth etc we make it a race. Ds only 4 though so he might catch on to it soon. Works for now though. Never stay with them until they go to sleep (lovely as it is) otherwise they'll never learn to do it alone, meaning any night time wakes become an issue as they need your company to get back to sleep again. Also times tables repeated quietly make children sleepy and teach them essential maths at the same time!

My son always sleeps better overnight if he has had a good meal and plenty of exercise since his last nap. Lentil soup is the best, with toast fingers to dunk. If he's been fairly stationary between naps, e.g. playing with toys on the floor or just gone out to town or the park sitting in the pushchair, he really doesn't nap well. Twenty minutes of holding him up while he walks round the house or garden makes my back ache a bit from bending over but makes a huge difference to his sleep so is well worth it. The baby walker or bouncer work well too but I know many people don't like them.

Over the years of our 2 boys having varied sleep patterns we went with the flow. I used assistive technology such as music, dimmers and monitors. We found that this helped us as parents cope much better with what was happening.
Eventually they went to sleep. At the time it's debilitating to parents and we found it difficult. We tried many different methods and found that as with daytime routines which change with time, so did the nighttime ones, they were subtle, but they changed. We changed with the boys needs. That was us, it's different for everyone:) if all that fails....send them to nanny and grandads for a night!😉

We always have a bedtime routine, but it isn't so restrictive that it doesn't allow for growth spurts and getting older in general.

Typically, wind down time while I cook dinner, bath after dinner, teeth brushed, cuddle and a story in bed and then sleep.

I have found that sugary snacks or drinks can throw this into dissarray, so those are limited to weekends.

Full tummy warm bath (including heated towel and p'js) seems to make my dd sleepy and always has. She is almost five.

There's no trick to getting kids to sleep is there. I'm a poor sleeper myself and know all the good sleep hygiene rules inside out, so I just carry the same rules into my sons bedtime.

Quiet time before bed, choosing a bedtime story early in the day so we know what's coming up, never show anger and demand 'go to sleep' (son just enjoys it).

Get the tricky things done earlier so half an hour before bed he's into Jammies and teeth are brushed do we aren't getting wound up just before bed if he reckons he doesn't want to do things.

Realising that routines need to be changed. In summer the lighter evenings mean he stays up a bit later but gets up at the same time, we don't get wound up demanding he must do as he's always done or so and so's kid can sleep til 9 at weekends why can't you etc.

Mega fan of a good bedtime routine, bath, book, boobie then bed.

No sleeping past 3:30
keeping noise and light low after bath time to create a relaxing bed time.
Having a video monitor meant if I was lying awake in bed worrying I could check their movement and listen to their breathing so I could get back to sleep confident they were OK.
Sleep promotes sleep, don't keep babies up in the day thinking they'll sleep better at night, they usually get over tired and really upset.
Sit in a rocking chair to get them back to sleep if they wake in the night, it's relaxing for both of you.
Having a light up teddy which played soothing music helped my eldest go back to sleep on his own from age 1.
Co sleeping with Breast fed baby.

Teeth, toilet, story, sleep.... every night!

Blackout blind and consistent bedtime routine that works for your family.

For children - a consistent bedtime routine.

For adults - cut out the caffeine. I thought i was an insomniac for years until dh finally persuaded me to cut out caffeine after lunchtime and my sleeping problems disappeared.

We co-sleep. Eldest is five and still in the family bed. We all get a great night's sleep. It works for us.
We also let them go to bed when they are ready, rather than trying to get them in bed too soon. And they can get up when they want too (homeschooled.)
I know not everyone can or even wants to live our lifestyle but it works for our family, we are well-rested and happy.

We have a nightlight - she had chosen this one, so it is her friend (a penguin), and we try to follow the same routine every day

We had two who didn't sleep too well but our third baby is just a dream. We are still using a monitor with her as it gives us peace of mind and means we can deal with any waking quickly so that she doesn't disturb others.

Using a grobag sleeping bag has been amazing as the other two by this age would be hopping out of bed but she hasn't even figured out that she could if she wanted to. So grobag would be one of my top tips!

Black out curtains another essential for a good nights sleep.

For us grown ups, spending time unwinding before bed and a lavender pillow spray works wonders.

Do what works, if you're all existing on 20 minutes sleep you're going to be grumpy, stressed out, and pretty much the opposite of what a baby needs to go to sleep.

No iPad but tv in moderation is okay, DD watches Balamory while she has a bottle. Teletubbies however turned her into demon child!

Being physically and mentally exhausted is the key but some days it's hard to achieve both.

Lay with you little one while they sleep, their only young once and you will never have this opportunity again, savour every moment and breath in their baby scent, you will need them forever but they will need you only years!

GIGGLING!

No - I am not losing my mind.

After we have changed our 18 month old, brushed his teeth and popped him in his sleeping bag we have a good old giggle. We pull out all the stops to make sure he laugh as much as he can - those proper hearty belly laughs that are hard to stop and have you writhing around the bed. Have you ever had a proper good laugh or cry and afterwards, when all of the endorphin's have settled down, felt completely drained and exhausted? Well I know it sounds a bit crazy but I'm pretty sure this is exactly the feeling he gets after we have our bedtime giggles. He lies down next to me and nods straight off, still giving the odd chuckle.

Some people swear by calm peaceful rooms and silence - but I am pretty sure belly laughing at your parents pulling stupid faces and going to bed feeling happy and content is far more conducive to a good nights sleep!

Just do what's working for you and mix it up when necessary.

All adults are different- they find different things relaxing and need different amounts of sleep. So why would it be any different for children?

DD2 is a perfect example of sleep begets sleep but DD1 is a child who has x amounts of hours per 24hrs. Any naps deducted from the total!

This period of time is short so build those bonds and be responsive

Consistent routines have worked for us. However with DD that routine included an hour of me rocking her to sleep! In this case gradual retreat was a great solution for us, allowing me to go from 100% direct contact and comfort to get her to sleep, eventually moving to tucking her in and leaving the room.

Breastfeeding on demand and co-sleeping saved my sanity.
Now we try and have 'quiet' time before bed, no leaping around and play fighting!
Always have a bed time story and some lullabies. Still stay with little one (2) til he's asleep, but DD (11) goes to bed later than me most of the time- she's quite a night owl.

We've started using this pressure game as part of our bedtime routinewww.kidsplaysmarter.com/calming-cookie-dough/ , it's helped a lot! That and growing clock, blackout stickers and a nice calming audio book :)

don't make it seem a task. don't make it "the bedtime" its just comes around it it time for bed. don't make it something to fight against.

a good sotry before bed helps
a warm bath always helped to ge tthem snuggly and tired.bath and pjs.

music can help.
listen to them have a little chat before bed.helps calm them and subcontiously even unburdens them before bed.

if they wake try your very best to go in calm.they can sense your every emotion.if u go in tense they wll automatically feel something is even more wrong than being awake.

if they have clocks show them a time when its best to get up or come about. explain it.say they need the rest til certain time so there bodies can feel better or keep healthy. then they often look at the clock at stupid o clock and think oh ok and that in isteslf ive found has sent them back to sleep. or jus to play by themselves.

Having 4 children under the age of 10, I have to deal with night feeds, night terrors, light sleepers, deep sleepers and various bedtime routines. I would love to say that I have mastered a routine but 'one size' doesn't fit all as each child is different. New parents definitely feel the pressure of establishing a routine. I think that pressure wears off when you have more than one child as you realise how impossible it is to work to the clock when your little ones are demanding your attention (all at the same time!)

I have tried various methods and these are adapted depending on age. For me and my family I have found the following things to be useful: I have found singing the same song every night (from birth) is calming and reassuring; massage helps to relax; blackout blinds to convince them is really is bedtime; night light to ease frightened little minds; monster spray for the monsters under the bed; womb noises/white noise for the baby; bedtime snack/drink to ensure no rumbling tummies waken them up early; story (just an excuse for mummy to snuggle up with them)........and lots of kisses and cuddles.