sleep - BonBon Break https://www.bonbonbreak.com Simplify. Inspire. Connect. Fri, 11 Oct 2019 04:34:20 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.5 https://www.bonbonbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/cropped-BB-logo-square-1-32x32.png sleep - BonBon Break https://www.bonbonbreak.com 32 32 10 Sleep-Inducing Activities for Easier Bedtimes https://www.bonbonbreak.com/easier-bedtimes/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=easier-bedtimes https://www.bonbonbreak.com/easier-bedtimes/#comments Mon, 07 Oct 2019 23:42:55 +0000 https://www.bonbonbreak.com/?p=27979 Do you battle every day to get your child to sleep? Do these battles end up with you getting exhausted and sleeping before your child does? Are you looking for easier bedtimes? Your goal is to make your child sleep. You devise a strategy in your mind and get him to bed. However, whatever you try […]

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Do you battle every day to get your child to sleep? Do these battles end up with you getting exhausted and sleeping before your child does? Are you looking for easier bedtimes?

Your goal is to make your child sleep. You devise a strategy in your mind and get him to bed. However, whatever you try never seems to work. You scream, you pin him to the bed, you call in the army…but in vain. Nothing seems to work! Your child’s boundless energy and refusal to sleep compromises your daily mission.

The fact that we all need sleep is understood. Children need it the most as adequate sleep is essential for their growth and development. Toddlers are said to require about 12-14 hours of sleep every night. By pre-school, they need about 11-13 hours. Once they are older, children will need about 10-11 hours of sleep. However, these days, children have a lot of sleep disorders due to various aspects like illness, improper intake of food as well as psychological factors.

So how do we get our children to sleep without having to put in so much effort? Here are some of our favorite tips:

10 Sleep-Inducing Activities for Easier Bedtimes

  1. Playing Soft Music: This is a short-term solution, yet used widely by most mothers. Playing soft music in the background can help him drift into sleep effortlessly. The calming music will help induce dreams and make your child fall asleep. Lullabies are also fine, because the child may best respond to your voice. However, a music box or a CD of your kids’ favorite tunes will work equally well. The only thing to remember is not to make this a daily routine where your child will only sleep if he has music!!
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  3. Building Trust: A reason many children do not go to sleep is the fear that their parents aren’t going to be around. While trying to put him to bed, slowly say that you’re going to run an errand like wash dishes or feed the dog, etc. Promise him that you would be right back. Remember to keep that promise so that he knows that he can trust you. Then, repeat the same after a few moments. Leave for a longer duration this time. Do this for the next few days and make sure that the period you leave becomes even longer. Gradually, in one of those waiting sessions your child will fall asleep without you there.
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  5. Read stories: The good old-fashioned book reading technique works wonders with toddlers. Just make sure you have the right book, and you keep the toddler interested to listen to your story. Make sure your child is tucked in and comfortable before reading the story. Slowly as you read on, your child’s concentration levels begin to lessen and sleep starts to take over. Make sure your child doesn’t use any gadgets, watch TV or use a computer before sleeping as these can affect his chances of gaining a sound sleep.
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  7. Drink Warm Milk: The traditional strategy of drinking a glass of warm milk before bed can help your child fall asleep. Milk products are rich in the amino acid L-tryptophan, which induces sleep by increasing the levels of serotonin and melatonin in the brain. The effect is also psychological for your child as your toddler might just get reminded of memories when he was an infant and was fed and held in your comfortable arms. The warmth of the milk can also make the child sleepy. Just make sure that your child brushes his teeth to avoid cavities from forming.
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  9. Provide a comfy room: Every child’s room should be a comfortable space to be in. It should bring happiness and relaxation each time your child goes in. Set your child’s room temperature at a comfortable, soothing level. For a good night’s sleep, make sure the room is dark enough for your child to fall asleep. Check if the clothes and blankets do not restrict movement while lying down. Keeping a table lamp handy would be ideal in case he is afraid to sleep in complete darkness. Give advance notice about the child’s approaching bedtime, which can keep his mind ready for a rest.
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  11. Brain Muscle relaxation: This helps for older children who have a tough time trying to sleep. Ask them to apply a brain relaxation technique. From the toes to the head, ask your child to tighten and then relax every muscle group from the bottom up. Make them repeat out loud after you, “let your toes relax, and then your ankles and now your calves.” Make them do these relaxation exercises all the way up to your scalp.
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  13. Play Five Things: Ask your child to play the game ‘five things’ with you. This simple game just needs your child to name five things they can see, five things they can hear, five things they can feel and you can continue on and on. You could also use a book or any other material to make the game more interesting. Before you know it, your child will be so tired, that his eyes will shut midway through the game!
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  15. Reduce After School Activity: One of the chief reasons for your child not able to sleep properly could be his/her participation in too many after-school activities. They would be overburdened with work, pushing back dinner, study time and eventually bed time. It is important only to make your child do what he/she can handle. Plan play-time with more stress-free sports like running and jumping. Keep this time scheduled for a fixed duration and ensure that your child doesn’t drain out all his/her energy by exerting too much. This way, when the time for bed arrives, your child will feel sleepy automatically.
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  17. Set up a Reward System: Kids love to be appreciated by their parents. A good way to make sure they sleep on time is to set up a reward system, where you can gift your child a sticker or a star for each night she goes to bed on time. As she collects a particular number of stars or stickers, you can get her a bigger prize. This will motivate and provide incentive for the child to keep the sleep schedule at all times.
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  19. Give them protection tools: Children sometimes feel afraid of “the monster under the bed” or the spooky shadows on the wall. Provide him with tools that help him feel safe in bed. A flashlight, a stuffed animal like a teddy bear, an “anti-monster spray”, etc. are some examples of tools you could arm him with. He will feel more protected this way and won’t feel worried. Assure them that you are just a call away, and the table lamp is close by just in case he needs it.
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Getting your child to sleep can be quite worrisome for some parents. With patience and the careful following of the above techniques, you are sure to get your child slipping into a healthy sleep routine in quick time!


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16 Reasons My Kids Can’t go to Sleep https://www.bonbonbreak.com/16-reasons-my-kids-cant-go-to-sleep/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=16-reasons-my-kids-cant-go-to-sleep Sat, 05 Nov 2016 21:23:43 +0000 https://www.bonbonbreak.com/?p=47766 I like to sleep. Let me rephrase that. I LOVE to sleep. The whole night, if possible. From the moment your first child is born, the amount of sleep you get steadily declines and really never gets replenished. Me, I’ve been exhausted since 2008. With each child, less and less sleep becomes the norm. As […]

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I like to sleep. Let me rephrase that. I LOVE to sleep. The whole night, if possible. From the moment your first child is born, the amount of sleep you get steadily declines and really never gets replenished. Me, I’ve been exhausted since 2008. With each child, less and less sleep becomes the norm. As parents, we muddle through the sleep deprivation the best we can in hopes that someday, just maybe, we will sleep once again.

My kids, on the other hand, enjoy pretty much anything BUT sleeping. It seems that I am constantly arguing and struggling just to get them to go upstairs, let alone actually get into bed. They are amazing at coming up with different excuses, scams, stories, and reasons, and some of them can be quite creative and entertaining. Even if we have sung 7 songs, read 3 books, had snacks, and tickled backs, they still act like they are buzzed on Mountain Dew. Once they are asleep, it never fails that one of the three will wake up and climb into our bed for the night. Bad dreams, thirsty, sick, cold, you know how it goes.

I often wonder what goes through my kids’ heads as they are coming up with reasons to get out of bed. Why not just got to sleep? Those little jokers definitely have minds of their own and there is really no predicting what they will come up with. Here’s my list of 16 reasons my kids can’t go to sleep:

  1. I’m hungry. I wonder what’s in the fridge? Do we have parmesan cheese?
  2. I just peed in my pull up. I was too lazy to go to the bathroom, so I just peed. Now I need a new one…but I can’t get it myself. No, not daddy…mommy needs to do it.
  3. I think I am going to cry. Now, I can’t stop hysterically crying for absolutely no reason. I need mommy. I just can’t stop.
  4. I need help getting my 100 stuffed animals into the correct order and position in my bed. No, the blue puppy goes on the OTHER side and an inch to the left.
  5. I want to sleep with you. Let me just climb over you, kick you in the face, and then lay horizontally across the bed with my legs on your head. OK?
  6. This feels like as good a time as any to ask for a Band-Aid for the non-existent boo boo on my left finger. HURRY!
  7. I need socks on. Even if it is 90 degrees in mid-July. No, not those socks. I hate those, they are too fuzzy. I need the medium fuzzy ones.
  8. Do I smell popcorn?
  9. My closet is open. Can you close it? Oh, and I have dirty laundry on the floor. Can you put it in my hamper? I can’t sleep when it is messy.
  10. Look what I can do! (Coming up with a new silly face)
  11. My sister is looking at me. I need to report it to you right now.
  12. I really need lotion. Immediately.
  13. I’m thirsty. I need the pink sippy cup with the lime green lid, not the pink sippy cup with the blue lid. Idiot.
  14. One more huggie (for the 100th time). Please?
  15. I wanted to check to see where the cat was. I’m was worried. Where is she? Oh, she’s on the couch like every other night. Great.
  16. I’m naked. I just wanted to run down and show you I removed my diaper AGAIN. I might even pee on the floor.

What crazy excuses have your kids come up with to get out of bed?


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My kids enjoy pretty much anything BUT sleeping. Here are my 16 reasons my kids can't go to sleep.

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If I Could Only Dream https://www.bonbonbreak.com/if-i-could-only-dream/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=if-i-could-only-dream Thu, 28 Apr 2016 12:00:17 +0000 https://www.bonbonbreak.com/?p=45494 I don’t want to alarm anyone. There is no easy way to say this. So I am just going to say it. I think I am dying. I haven’t slept, like really slept, since 1995.  I am meeting up with some friends in Florida in a couple weeks for a retreat. We are going to […]

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I don’t want to alarm anyone. There is no easy way to say this. So I am just going to say it.

I think I am dying.

I haven’t slept, like really slept, since 1995.  I am meeting up with some friends in Florida in a couple weeks for a retreat. We are going to play…and sleep. I can’t stop thinking about the sleep.  

I just want to sleep.

Hopefully, these old friends won’t think I am crazy or narcoleptic.

I actually can do a few things, somewhat efficiently, while asleep. I am writing this after preparing a bottle for the 6-month-old, setting up Sesame Street for “the vandals” – our 2-year-old and 4-year-old sons – which includes orange juice in SPECIFIC colored sippy cups for each boy and their special blankets, and I haven’t opened my eyes yet.

I am a high functioning zombie.

I cannot really complain.  I signed up for this life. Our biological children were in their teens when we started over with adoption and foster care.

But really, the teens don’t sleep either. The man-child sons — both well over 6 feet tall with beards — wrestle, kick, hit, chase, jump, roll, and belly laugh with snorts, at all hours of the night.

Imagine trying to sleep in a Hell’s Angels bar with pool tables and a bowling alley.  

When they aren’t behaving like outlaws, they cook bacon. Or steaks, eggs, popcorn, or maybe a cake. Once at 4:00 a.m., I woke to the smell of Thanksgiving…in July. The man-child sons had roasted a turkey.

A turkey.

The eldest daughter, God love her, is studying abroad. Her day is my night. At least she’s polite. She texts: “Are you awake??? You’ll never believe….”

The youngest tween daughter texts: “Are you awake? I can’t sleep. Do I smell bacon?” Or “Are you awake? I can’t sleep. Can I come take a bath in your room???”

And you might ask why I don’t just turn my phone off? Alas, the last time I did this I woke to these texts from the man-child sons:

Son: Are you awake?

Son 2:  Are you awake?

Son 1: MOM! ARE YOU AWAKE? IT’S AN EMERGENCY!

Son 2: Where is the fire extinguisher?

Son 1: MOM!

Son 2: FIRE EXTINGUISHER!!!!

Son 1: Never mind… it is too late.

And indeed, it was.

So, we don’t sleep. And we haven’t slept, and we are committed to this life. Although I meant to encourage young sleep-deprived parents, I must confess…I have no words for inspiration. I am tired. Excruciatingly tired.

I am out of bacon, turkey, cheese, eggs, and there are no spoons in this house.

Not one.

I have looked in every room, under every bed, and in the laundry baskets.

I don’t know where the spoons are.

I don’t want to know where the spoons are.

In my experience the spoons are with some unfortunate dirty underwear…under a recliner or stuffed in between the cushions.

These dear lives that live in our house, eat all our food, do heaven knows what with our spoons…are my babies.

From the 17-pound squishy baby girl who is just here until her momma and daddy are well, I am blessed you woke me at 2:00, 4:00, and 5:23.

The 2-year-old vandal who climbed out of his crib and knocked over a lamp at 1:44 – you are angel boy.

The 4-year-old vandal who wet the bed at 3:12, I adore you, and it was time to change your sheets anyway.

The 13-year-old, sweet girl, yes. I smell bacon, too.

To the man-child sons…I am begging you, bring back the spoons, and I adore you.

To Miss World Traveler… I am so glad I heard from you tonight/today.

I am tired.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way.


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3 Tips to Get Kids to Stop Waking the Whole Family https://www.bonbonbreak.com/sleep-solutions/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sleep-solutions https://www.bonbonbreak.com/sleep-solutions/#comments Wed, 14 Oct 2015 15:00:00 +0000 https://www.bonbonbreak.com/?p=36558 When I was pregnant with our second baby, I worried a crying newborn would wake our older child in the night. But motherhood has a funny way of surprising you at every turn. The baby never ended up waking the toddler. The problem is, our toddler wakes the baby. Loud outbursts at inappropriate times are […]

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When I was pregnant with our second baby, I worried a crying newborn would wake our older child in the night. But motherhood has a funny way of surprising you at every turn. The baby never ended up waking the toddler. The problem is, our toddler wakes the baby.

Loud outbursts at inappropriate times are essential job functions of a typical three-year-old, and our Chloe is no exception. Most days, she startles her little sister awake, yelling “IT’S DAY! CAN I COME OUT OF MY ROOM?” well before sunrise. She has also mastered the art of cutting the baby’s nap short whenever she tires of being in her room during rest time, shouting to come out.

The baby is 15 months old now. For a year, I endured the madness. But when we hit the year mark, two things happened: Ellie was finally sleeping through the night and my mental fog lifted. Instead of resigning myself to the status quo, I came up with some sleep solutions. Here’s what’s working for us so far:

1) The Quiet Chart

I promised Chloe if she was quiet five mornings in a row, she would be rewarded with a lollipop. I made a chart to track her progress using just a scrap piece of paper, a marker, and Hello Kitty stickers. On it, we keep track of her success by placing a sticker on the days she is sufficiently quiet and an “x” on the days she is not. Since she can’t read yet, I drew a picture of a girl with her pointer finger to her lips (the universal sign for “shhhh”) and a balloon. We hung the chart in her room together, and every night at bedtime, we talk about how important it is to remember to be quiet in the morning. With the reward system in place, Ellie has been known to sleep past 7:00 am, versus being awoken by her sister’s shouting between 5:45 and 6:30.

2) The Tot Clock

It’s an alarm clock designed for young children. The face can toggle between analog and digital. Even if you can’t tell time or understand the numbers on the digital reading, when you press a button, the clock reads the time out loud. The ability to ask the clock what time it is anytime she wants, instead of relying on me to tell her what time it is, gives Chloe more control over her nap time. When she asks me if her rest is over yet, I remind her that rest time is over when the alarm goes off. This makes the clock the bad guy, not me, thereby minimizing the frequency of screaming and crying that used to occur during almost every “quiet rest.”

3) Relocate Nap/Rest

Our house is a small ranch with a finished basement. The girls’ rooms are next to each other on the main level. One afternoon, in desperation, I carried my screaming toddler to the guest room in the basement so she could at least cry without waking her sister. Since then, Chloe has been taking her afternoon rest in the guest room, where she is allowed to bring in whatever books she wants. I have caught her jumping on the queen-size bed a few times, but I can’t say I blame her. The jumping doesn’t wake the baby, and that’s what matters.

Everything I know about parenting I learned by trial and error. It only took me a year’s worth of trial and error to realize by the time I was stage whispering “SHHHHH!!!!” it was far too late.


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Let’s Talk About Sleep https://www.bonbonbreak.com/lets-talk-sleep/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=lets-talk-sleep Mon, 31 Aug 2015 00:00:45 +0000 https://www.bonbonbreak.com/?p=33212 It’s a favorite topic among mothers. No matter if you have children in high school, or if you’re still in the fog of new motherhood. We all talk about sleep. Does he sleep through the night? When did he start doing that? She wakes up how many times? Do you sleep train? How do you […]

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It’s a favorite topic among mothers. No matter if you have children in high school, or if you’re still in the fog of new motherhood. We all talk about sleep.

Does he sleep through the night? When did he start doing that?
She wakes up how many times?
Do you sleep train?
How do you get them to go back to bed?
How much sleep should she be getting?

I don’t want to talk about the children’s sleep though. I have been a mother just long enough (5 1/2 years) to know that each child is different and they will come into their own eventually. They will go to bed, stay asleep, and wake up when the sun comes up – all in good time.

I want to to about my sleep. Your sleep. Mothers. Do YOU sleep? How much? How often do you get up in the middle of the night? Can you go back to sleep? Do you ever get to sleep in? Do you nap? For how long? If you don’t, why not? Are you functioning?

I have four children. They are unique individuals. There is one common thread though – none of them ever slept through the night when they were babies (in the case of my twins, they are still babies, and they do not sleep through the night). My first was the worst – up until he was 18 months, he woke up every hour to two hours. I would nurse him, rub his back, pick him up, rock him, put him down, sing to him, nurse him again, and mutter to myself, “Sleep, sleep, SLEEP, child”, like a broken record. I was (barely) living on sleep increments of 60 – 90 minutes, for months.

My second child was my easy one. Easy in every way except sleep. The first three months of his life, I spent wearing down our floor, pacing thousands of steps every night for two hours while he cried. Nothing worked. He was gassy but full. Tired but alert. My husband would come into the room and urge me to take a break. I came to dread the hours of 6 to 8pm. I wish I could tell you how and when he finally did learn to go to sleep, and stay asleep, but I was too tired then to remember.

Now, I am in the deep, deep trenches of first-year motherhood, the third time round. It’d be easy if we had just one baby. We were blessed with fraternal twins! True to form, sleep is a big topic around here. How much, how little, how, where, when.

But enough about my children’s sleep, or lack thereof (though my older two children sleep through the night now, but the 5.00 am wake ups? Another story.) I want to talk about mine, or lack thereof.

The downside to having children approximately two plus years apart, is that when one isn’t pregnant, one is breastfeeding babies. That translates to not sleeping though the night for the past six years.

For someone who doesn’t sleep, I’m happy to say that I function fairly well. I am up at the crack of dawn (thanks to aforementioned early risers), and I don’t get to bed until midnight. I drink two strong coffees by 8.00 am and pop a vitamin B complex pill. I nod off during nursing sessions, and jerk myself awake because there’s always something to do.

What, you ask, trumps sleep? Apparently, writing while drinking another coffee while it’s hot, and eating chocolate. Or watching the latest episode of Scandal in one sitting. Or just sit in silence for a few minutes and dream about sleep.

I do wonder how I’ll feel if I get a full night’s sleep every day. Or even just one night. Will this general malaise go away? Can I muster the will to workout instead of lying on the couch during the short respites from child caring? I’m pretty sure the teenage acne that’s popping up on my chin will disappear. My short-term memory will likely reappear.

I have no idea when all of my kids will sleep through the night and wake up only when the sun is up. But when the day comes, you bet I’ll enjoy that shut eye.


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10 Ways to Help Your Kid Get a Good Night’s Sleep https://www.bonbonbreak.com/10-ways-help-kid-get-good-nights-sleep/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=10-ways-help-kid-get-good-nights-sleep Tue, 31 Mar 2015 03:18:47 +0000 https://www.bonbonbreak.com/?p=30577 By Erin Wilkey Oh, Common Sense Media editor Parents know firsthand the impact a poor night’s sleep has on kids. Lack of sleep can contribute to crankiness, problems with attention and learning, behavior issues, and even health problems such as obesity. Though the reasons for poor sleep vary, many parents worry that media and technology […]

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By Erin Wilkey Oh, Common Sense Media editor

Parents know firsthand the impact a poor night’s sleep has on kids. Lack of sleep can contribute to crankiness, problems with attention and learning, behavior issues, and even health problems such as obesity. Though the reasons for poor sleep vary, many parents worry that media and technology interfere with bedtime routines and sleep.

Studies on how media use affects kids’ sleep aren’t conclusive. But they do highlight certain behaviors that are associated with poor sleep. We’ve put together a list of tips for ways your family might manage tech use to help your kids (and you!) sleep better. We hope you find something that works for you.

Encourage physical activity instead of screen time after school. After a long day at school, many kids just want to plop down in front of a computer or TV and veg out. Although kids definitely deserve a break, studies show that increasing physical activity during the day can lead to better sleep.

Keep devices off the bed. It’s possible that the blue light emitted from laptops, tablets, and smartphones interrupts sleep patterns. Set up other comfy spots in the living room or on the bedroom floor for tweens and teens to do computer work or just enjoy their screen time.

Try white-noise apps to calm babies and toddlers. With bedtimes for young kids starting as early as 6:30 or 7 p.m., you may find it hard to provide a quiet environment for sleeping babies. Apps such as White Noise (iOS/Android, $1.99) or White Noise Baby (iOS/Android, $0.99) can help soothe little ones to sleep while the rest of the family carries on with regular evening activities.

Limit young kids’ exposure to violent content. Especially for kids under 8, seeing violence in videos, on TV shows, in video games, and in movies can directly affect quality sleep. Exposure to media violence can increase kids’ anxiety and lead to nightmares that interrupt the sleep cycle.

Keep TVs out of the bedroom. The connection between bedroom TV and poor sleep is well established. Kids don’t sleep as well or as long with a TV present.

Make the bedroom a “no-connection” zone. The growing trend of sleep-texting is a disturbing enough reason to play it safe. Confine online activity to common areas such as the dining room or living room and have kids charge their phones in another room at night.

Minimize screen time right before bed. Try to establish the hour or so before bed as a screen-free time for kids to wind down. A calming routine such as a bath followed by quiet activities or reading will help young kids make the transition more easily. Getting teens to “unplug” before bed will help them disconnect from the excitement and drama happening online.

Introduce your kids to meditation or calming apps. Meditation apps can be a quieting addition to kids’ bedtime routines. Stop, Breathe & Think (iOS, free) offers 15 guided meditations that encourage kids to take stock of their mental and emotional states.

Set up a phone/iPod charging station in the family room. Some studies suggest that simply sleeping near small devices such as phones is associated with poorer sleep. With notifications and texts coming in at all hours, tweens’ and teens’ sleep will get fewer interruptions if they leave their phones in the living room or kitchen for the night.

Model healthy sleep habits. No matter which ground rules and routines you put in place for your family, it will be a hard sell if you don’t practice what you preach. Young kids emulate their parents, and tweens and teens will question your rules if you don’t follow them yourself.


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Lie With Me https://www.bonbonbreak.com/lie/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=lie Wed, 28 Jan 2015 17:52:37 +0000 https://www.bonbonbreak.com/?p=28577 “Lie with me, Mommy,” his little four-year-old voice says. “I can’t sweep well. I need a friend to lie with me.” I almost always say no. From the time he was born, I’ve never let him sleep in my bed. I’ve always been hesitant to lie down in his, even for a moment. It’s because I […]

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“Lie with me, Mommy,” his little four-year-old voice says. “I can’t sweep well. I need a friend to lie with me.”

I almost always say no. From the time he was born, I’ve never let him sleep in my bed. I’ve always been hesitant to lie down in his, even for a moment.

It’s because I want him to be able to soothe himself to sleep on his own, I tell myself. It’s because I’m teaching him independence, I tell myself. It’s because I don’t want to create bad habits, I tell myself.

But I know the truth. At the end of a long day, I’m just done. I’ve been touched, hanged off of, pulled on and snuggled against for too many hours in a row. My introverted skin needs distance.

So I almost always say no, and I tell myself it’s for his own good.


In Her Own Words Chip

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On this night, though, I say yes. I say yes because he’s battling a cold. I say yes because my mother is visiting, and I know he’s sad that he’s had to say goodnight to her after a full day of fun. I say yes because for once, I haven’t gotten enough of him that day.

I lie down next to him, face-to-face, and he curls into me. I rest my arm across his body, my fingers tracing light circles around his back. I pause for a moment to cup the back of his head, his soft, baby-fine hair, in my hand. I breathe in the musky smell of his soap from his night’s bath.

I marvel at how big he’s become since the day he was born, when he felt as light as a feather as he was laid across my chest for the first time. I think of all the nights I should have been lying right here, memorizing the growing size of him, the rhythmic pattern of his tired breathing.

He raises one finger up to gently close my eyelids. He wraps his beloved worn yellow blanket around my neck, the same way he usually does to himself to soothe his own body to sleep.

He doesn’t fall asleep. He can’t. He’s not used to having another warm body next to him.

So on this night, I pull myself away as he reaches for me to cling harder, not because I’ve had enough, not because I want to but because I created this. I taught him how to fall asleep on his own. I taught him how to be independent. I created what will ultimately be a good habit.

But now I wish I hadn’t.


In Her Own Words Chip

Listen to Meghan read this on Stitcher –  LIBSYN – iTunes


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Lie With Me - Should you lie with your kids to help them sleep?

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Sleep Training (Trains Parents To Never Sleep Again) by Lollygag Blog https://www.bonbonbreak.com/sleep-training-trains-parents/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sleep-training-trains-parents https://www.bonbonbreak.com/sleep-training-trains-parents/#comments Sat, 12 Apr 2014 00:00:54 +0000 https://www.bonbonbreak.com/?p=19740 After feeling entirely too competent one weekend, blogger Keely of Lollygag Blog and her husband decided to test the gods by moving their toddler into a Big Girl bed in the room she shared with her sister. That same night, they threw caution into the wind and went full court press on sleep-training their three-month-old […]

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Sleep Training (Trains Parents To Never Sleep Again) by Lollygag Blog

After feeling entirely too competent one weekend, blogger Keely of Lollygag Blog and her husband decided to test the gods by moving their toddler into a Big Girl bed in the room she shared with her sister. That same night, they threw caution into the wind and went full court press on sleep-training their three-month-old son. The resulting evening of sleep deprivation and moments of “Did I just say that out loud?” are pure hilarity…and might just inspire you to refill your birth control prescription. Here’s a link to the worst night’s sleep of their lives, in helpful timeline form!

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Keely of Lollygag BlogABOUT KEELY: Keely Flynn is a Chicago playwright, freelance writer, and mom who resides in the fixer-uppiest house this side of The Money Pit. She blogs at Lollygag Blog (a 2011 Top Five Parenting Blog nominee for The Bloggies) and Chicago Parent Magazine, is the Moms in the Mix Blogger for WTMX 101.9FM, and is a proud Chicago cast member of the 2014 Listen To Your Mother show. A fan of Golden Age cinema, hair metal, and napping on any available surface, Keely also uses hyperbole more than anyone in the whole world. When not wrangling her three children, she can be found at Lollygag Blog for humorous musings on parenting, city living, and live theatre reviews; on her Twitter page; on Facebook; or at the tamale cart at the end of her block.

You can also follow Keely on PinterestGoogle+, and Instagram.

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photo credit: demandaj via photopin cc

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“Mommmmmeeee!!!”: 5 Ways To Shut Down Nighttime Call Outs by Pecked To Death By Chickens https://www.bonbonbreak.com/stop-toddler-nighttime-callouts/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=stop-toddler-nighttime-callouts https://www.bonbonbreak.com/stop-toddler-nighttime-callouts/#comments Fri, 07 Feb 2014 02:33:48 +0000 https://www.bonbonbreak.com/?p=17693 Do you have little tykes at home who consistently interrupt your child-free post-tuck-in time with call outs? Are you constantly summoned back to your toddler’s room for any of the following reasons? Thirst, stories, songs, request and dedications, irrational fears, nonsense talk, scratchy tags in the pjs, darkness, brightness, questioning, bad knock-knock jokes, missing loveys, […]

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"MOMMEEEEEEE!!!": 5 Ways to Shut Down Nighttime Call Outs by Pecked To Death By Chickens

Photo from Morgue File. Image by Ellie C.

Do you have little tykes at home who consistently interrupt your child-free post-tuck-in time with call outs? Are you constantly summoned back to your toddler’s room for any of the following reasons? Thirst, stories, songs, request and dedications, irrational fears, nonsense talk, scratchy tags in the pjs, darkness, brightness, questioning, bad knock-knock jokes, missing loveys, missing pacifiers, shadows or, in our house, ‘magic lotion’ (aka Vapo-rub) applications on their feet (this is one of those little rituals that seemed clever at the time I invented it to ward off monsters, but is no longer cute)…

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Pecked To Death By Chickens headshotABOUT SUSAN: Susan Maccarelli is a temporarily retired sales and account management professional who has been a stay-at-home mom since 2010. As mom to 2 toddlers, wife to a work-from-home husband and executive director of the Maccarelli family meals, activities, cleaning, laundry, shopping, real estate endeavors, travel and general errands, she derives constant inspiration for Pecked To Death By Chickens from the little annoyances that pop up daily as she tries to keep an eye on all the moving parts. Susan enjoys travel, reading, cooking and talking about herself using the third person. In fact, Susan is writing this bio about herself right now.

Follow Susan on Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Google+ | Linked In

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