Your Child(ren) will Not Sleep by Themselves...

What is a parent to do? When we first got started that was a battle; our little ones were not going to go to bed without a fight. We asked our pediatrician to give us some suggestions on what we could do.

Because between the two little guys; my husband and I were not getting any sleep. The pediatrician told us, and you have probably heard this before. “Just put them in their rooms; tuck them in and walk away, and let them cry themselves to sleep”.

Now let me make something really clear; I'm not saying don’t listen to your pediatrician, they do have some good advice. I just personally couldn’t do that; I was one of those mommies that hated to hear my baby’s cry.

So I sat down one morning and tried to think of something that we could do. I put some steps down on a piece of paper; hoping and praying it would work.

Simple Example:

Step 1: Bath time - to get them to relax and wind down for the night.

Step 2: Bedtime story - reading a cute little story to them each and every night.

Step 3: Night Light - No sleeping in the dark

Step 4: Teddy bears: Giving them a teddy bear or a stuffed animal of their choice to have in bed with them to make them feel safe or in some cases; feel that they were not sleeping alone.

Step 5: This step is optional, this might not work for some child(ren) - (Right outside their door) Let your child(ren) know you will be right outside their door until they fall asleep. Our children felt comfort in knowing that we were very close by.

Let me tell you it was hard work to do that each and every night. It took my husband and I a good month or so to get these little ones in a routine. But we were pleasantly surprised that keeping to this routine each and every night finally did pay off.

I’m not going to sugarcoat anything, we did go through a lot; our children at first did put up a fight, I’m not going to sit back and say that it was a piece of cake once we put these steps into place it took a lot of hard work and dedication.

Parents you are probably going through a lot, and are not getting enough sleep at night because one of you is sleeping with one of your child(ren); just so they will sleep through the night. Or maybe your child(ren) are sleeping in your bed between you and your spouse.

Now how crowded can that be? I know that you are not getting a good night sleep at all. You are probably waking up the next morning with a arm in your face and a foot in your side.

Or your about to fall out of the bed because your child is laying across your bed, and there is no more room for you; and lets not forget that your body is killing you from laying in the same position all night long.

Parents I have been there, and I can tell you we were a mess; we couldn’t even think straight. I have given you some suggestions that worked for us. But the bottom line is you owe it to yourselves, and your child(ren) to get into a routine and stick with it.

By the end of the day you will look back at all of the things you went through; and realize that sticking with the routine that you came up with was well worth all of the hard work.

Your child(ren) will now know when you say it is bedtime; that means it is time to stop playing and rest their eyes. When that day comes; that will be the happiest day for you and your spouse.