Adults and Sleep

I know I talk about infants and kids sleep here a lot. And yes, it’s super important that your child get the rest they need. But what about you? I am just as guilty of not getting the rest I need as any other parent! I stay up late doing work, researching, snacking, working out, watching shows (where my Game of Thrones fans at?!) and spending time with my husband. It’s a badge of honor we wear as parents. Stay up late for some desperately needed adult and alone time.

What can we do? Do we give up that coveted downtime? Do we let our homes fall to pieces? No. But I ask myself each night to go to bed 15 mins earlier than I did the night before. Sometimes, I have a week long streak of abiding by that rule. And I feel great. More rested and somehow more efficient. So I try to keep that in mind on the nights I think “no, I can’t give up even 15 minutes”. Try it. See how you feel after a week of just going to bed 15 mins earlier than you did the night before.

Here is a link to an awesome article highlighting the issue in adult sleep! I think you’ll find yourself doing what I did as I read, “Yep. Yep. That’s me”. 

Wake up, America: You're fooling yourself about sleep, study says

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/16/health/sleep-myths-facts-study/index.html

Reading at Bedtime

Reading at Bedtime 

Every parent knows that you should read to your kids as much as you can, that point gets driven home to us by pediatricians, teachers, researchers , and everybody else who cares offer opinion! 

And I’m in total agreement.  Reading to your child is critical for their learning, critical thinking, and comprehension. But did you know, it could also be a non verbal cue to begin relaxing the body and brain? 

There are lots of nonverbal cues we can give our children to let them know that it’s time to start getting ready for bed. A warm bath, massage with lotion, warm pajamas, and the “piece de resistance”, a bedtime story. Or five. Implementing a bedtime routine is critical to teaching children how to slow the body and brain down and sleep. So we can add as many or as few steps to this nonverbal cue that it is time to go to bed.

Books are a step that I don’t mind at all. In fact reading to my children at night while they are snuggled in my arms, is one of my favorite things to do. And you can read any sort of books before bed to your child, but if anyone knows me, they know I love a theme!  

While we have books that we keep on a seasonal rotation (holiday ones, weather related ones, etc) There are a few that don’t really leave the rotation. These are the Good Night Books by Adam Gamble and Mark Jasper. I don’t receive any sort of payment for promoting them I just love their books because there is a good notebook for any child and any area of interest they have! They even have Good Night books for states and cities!

Check out their website, www.goodnightbooks.com 

You will find that they are super sturdy board books and at a reasonable price of about $10 each.  They last forever and are a wonderful addition to our bedtime routine. 

We have read Good Night New Orleans  to our son since he was six months old. He knows all about the city that his mother and father fell in love with on their baby moon when they were pregnant with him. And we can’t wait to take him there to see all of the things we’ve been reading about for years. 

If you need help implementing reading into your bedtime routine, shoot me an email! We can have a quick chat, talk about your child’s interests and make a few suggestions!