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Sleep is everything in this house. I have always been a person who not only needs a lot of sleep but I’ll do anything to get it. Most nights Sean and I will watch one episode of our current show and I hit the hay before 9pm. So when the kiddos are not sleeping well, you can count on me to go to any lengths to fix it. Toddler sleep is a whole other beast. Sure newborns are hard but they can’t wear you down at bedtime with their demands like toddlers can.
Georgia has had trouble at bedtime since October. She became terrified of shadows and I’m pretty sure it had something to do with her love of Halloween. Over time, the bedtime routine was getting longer and longer. She needed lots of reassuring and even then she was just a mess. We tried nightlights, different sound machines, later bedtime, earlier bedtime, you name it. We were striking out left and right and losing patience. Finally I dug in, did some hardcore research and even spoke to her pediatrician.
I’ll admit it; I’m a millennial through and through and it really shows in my parenting style. I was initially just going to call this post “Toddler Sleep Hacks” but it goes way beyond that. I researched my little butt off and implemented a whole bunch of stuff to get my three year old to sleep more and have a less stressful bedtime. Once it was all compiled I had to laugh at myself; this was the most millennial guide to sleep that was ever written. I’m sure the Baby Boomers are hardcore side-eyeing me if any should stumble upon this post but I can’t help it. Below are my tried and true ways to get more sleep if you are a parent born between 1983-1995 (although I know those dates are up for debate:)
Pool Noodles Under her Sheet
So when I first tried this hack I only did one pool noodle and it didn’t work. Figuring it was just a Pinterest fail, I thought of purchasing a bed rail. Literally right before I did I saw this hack on Pinterest where you tape three noodles together. DUH! $3 well spent:) It has worked perfectly. No more stuffed animals falling out of the bed causing her to wake up in a panic and call for us. It also prevents her from falling out, although that had yet to happen.
I had to eat crow on this one. Initially, we tried a couple types of nightlights and they caused shadows in her room which scared her even more. So I was extremely anti-nightlight at that point. A few people suggested the star/moon projector style night lights and I was like “Nope. Nightlights don’t work for her.” The insanity continued until one night Sean next-day Amazon Primed this bad boy on a whim.
To say it’s been a godsend is underselling it. Bedtime immediately showed signs of improvement when we hooked this up. With the stars and moon twirling around her ceiling, it gives her something to look at that calms her down. Along the lines of counting sheep, IMO. It lights up in 9 different color combinations and the stars and moon can rotate or stay still. Best part? It’s only $16!
Georgia has always been an early riser. It never really bothered me until the wake-ups between her and Kerrigan had one of them up at 5am routinely. This coincided with me changing up my morning routine and getting up early to have some time alone to work on things. Perfect storm for having an irritating day. I remembered a friend mentioning this clock to me over a year ago and that it had worked great for her daughter. I decided that for $28, it was worth a try.
You program the clock to whatever time you want your kiddos to stay in bed until. For us that is 6am, though I do plan on pushing it back 5 minutes every week until we’re at 6:30am. At the designated time it will turn green. We have instructed Georgia that if she wakes up and it’s not green, she may play quietly in her room until it does. Then she can call for us and we will come get her.
I upped the ante by telling her that if she can wait to call for me until it turns green, she will get a sticker on her chart. (A piece of computer paper that I crudely wrote “Georgia’s Stay in Bed Chart on, lol!) If she gets 5 stickers, she gets to pick out a toy at Target. I’m not above bribes; it’s basically what 50% of parenting is amiright? This strategy is working wonders. She’s very incentivized by treats but what kid isn’t?
With summer on the horizon and it getting bright earlier and earlier everyday, we needed to keep the sunshine out of her room. Sean grabbed these Bali Blackout Shades at Home Depot and he was able to install them in less than an hour. We had them in her nursey and I have no idea why we didn’t install them when we moved her to her big girl room in the first place. There’s just peace of mind in knowing we aren’t losing sleep because of the sun.
At Georgia’s 3 year old check-up back in February, we expressed our concerns over Georgia’s sleep to her pediatrician. She gave us some recommendations and a few of them were supplements. She said we could try a half tablet of Zarabee’s Melatonin and see if that helped Georgia fall asleep. We didn’t start using it at first, like any parents we were skeptical of giving our kid a “sleep enhancer”.
However, weeks went by where she could just not settle down and fal asleep without over an hour of reassurance. That wasn’t good for her and it wasn’t good for us. So we gave in and tried the melatonin. Game changer. It helps her effortlessly fall asleep about 30 minutes after giving it to her. This has made her bedtime routine peaceful once again.
(As with any supplements, speak to your pediatrician before administering melatonin to your child. I am NOT a doctor and this is not medical advice. Just momvice if you get your peds okay!)
So that’s it. The Millennial Mom’s guide to getting your toddler to go to sleep quicker and stay asleep longer. I realize that I’m being a little nuts with all these things. I’m a millennial and I can’t calm the eff down! But maybe you’re in the same boat and want to give one of these a try. I’d love to know some of your bedtime hacks, from any generational stand point!
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Taran is a self-proclaimed undomestic mom. She thrives as a stay-at-home-mom by consistently carving out time for herself and practicing realistic self-care. As a busy mom of 3, she knows that if mama ain’t happy, nobody’s happy! With a focus on how SAHMs can carve out time for themselves everyday, she teaches fellow SAHMs how they can do the same.
I love these tips because though I am a baby boomer I would try each and every one of them! Our kids were terrible sleepers and I hope Katie and Paul have better luck! John was “Five O’clock Charlie” every day and since I am an owl by nature I couldn’t get up with him. Plus he was number 4 so NOWAY! So he just lugged his blankie into our room or the hall, plopped down and dozed with his thumb in his mouth for an hour, 6 am was the ealiest doable for me. I did have a couple anxious kids which Georgia sounds like. I did own shadow books which are so cool, you put a flashlight in them (regular, not i-phone) and the shadows of pictures in the book go on the wall. The first one we had was Halloween themed so probably bad idea since thats what first traumatized your girl. Look on ebay for them if they no longer are marketed. You can make the shadows fun and lie in the dark and read to the child and get them drowsy. I also know that small dose of Benadryl like one 12.5 mg chewable works great for rough nights, it is a mild anxiolytic as well as drowsy inducer. But yeah, I know, that is using drugs so melatonin is more natural. Still once my doc said go ahead once in a while I sure did it. Call me Nurse Jackie/mom desparato for sleep!
So happy to hear your kids were the same! Sometimes I feel like mine is the only one who acts this way, lol! Those shadow books sound amazing, I will definitely look for them on eBAy:)