Must Sleeeeep

        It seems that many of my friends are saying the same thing, that they are not getting enough sleep. I too am not getting nearly as much sleep as I feel that I need. For one friend of mine her 7 mo. daughter who was sleeping through the night has suddenly and inexplicably gone on revolt. Another friend's three year old daughter, who once again always slept well has also dug her heels in and gone on a sleeping strike. For me, all four of my children for the last two days have been up before the sun rearing and ready to go. What is this anomaly? Have the sun moon and stars suddenly lined up under the sign blah blah blah and decided that all the children must be awake? What is this, and most importantly how do I get my much coveted sleep to return?
     Let me just state the obvious, sleep is important to everybody. When we sleep we rest and gain energy for a new day. When we don't get enough sleep we wake up cranky and irritable. When we dream we process all the events of daily life. Deep sleep is also the time when our brain lays down all of our long term memories. This is why it is so important for us and our children to get the proper amount of sleep, it affects the mood of the entire family.
      There are several reasons for your little one to be missing out on her Z's. She could be teething, sick, overstimulated, or ready to make a developmental leap. If your baby is teething there are several tried remedies that seem to work. Teething rings that can be chilled provide relief as well as a topical such as baby Oragel, health food syores also sell teething tablets that have also been known to provide some relief. Overstimulation is a big problem in our flash bang culture. So many times we will sit our kids in front of an exciting movie or cartoon and when it finishes we say all right now go to sleep. Meanwhile your child is completely excited from the film or whatever else excites him. Bedtime should start a good hour before they are tucked into bed. It should begin with a nice warm bath followed by a story which is proven to quiet the mind much more then a video. Then lie down with your little one and, if they are old enough, talk about what happened that day. Pray with them and give them lots of cuddles and love then kiss them goodnight. If you have a child who repeatedly gets up then continue to place the child back into bed without any more cuddles or kisses until they fall asleep. This is important because if you kiss them every time they will think woohoo I get up and I get more kisses and attention from Mommy. Also don't yell or get excited because that is still attention and sometimes bad attention is better then no attention at all.
      For those of us who have a baby over five months old who is still waking up several times during the night, there is no need for nightly meals no matter how much you baby night convince you otherwise. You need to teach your baby that nothing exciting happens during the night. Keep the lights down, and do not talk or play with your child. If she needs changing then do so with as little fuss as possible. Then put your baby back to bed. She might cry at first but let her cry, it will not hurt her. Maybe every 10 to 15 minutes go in there and rub her belly then leave. Eventually she will fall back to sleep. Teach your baby that they do not need to eat or drink at night. This may sound a little harsh but now is the time to establish good habits.
     Older children should know to stay in their beds. This, however, has been a battle in our family since we first became parents. So what I like to do is establish a rewards system. I buy things like cereal bars, dried fruit and other healthy snacks that they like and maybe don't get too frequently and then I tell them that if they stay in bed that they will get a treat for their morning snack. What do you do to get your kids to stay in bed? Comment and let me know.