How to Make Bedtime Easier For Your Child

Getting the children to bed can be a big challenge for many parents. Sensory experiences play the major role towards a happy bedtime. Here are some things to consider that will definitely help everyone get a good night sleep.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. 
   Soothing environment

   Children are learning and growing every minute of the day. Their sensory stimulation is much more heightened than ours. It is easy for a child or baby to experience sensory overload. An hour and half before bedtime is a time for calming the whole house down. Looking at each sensory system can aid us towards a healthy bedtime.
   
   SIGHT: Soft lighting with cool colors like blues, greens, soft pastels as pinks are calming. A child's bedroom should reflect a soothing environment with few pictures, toys, mobiles and lights at bedtime.

2. 
   Soft tones of the voice aid in a bedtime story

   SOUND: Soothing sounds with even, steady beats are desirable for bedtime. A child's bedroom should be away from outside noises. Lullabies, heartbeats, fans, or soft motors can be soft sounds with even beats. My daughter loves for me to tell her bedtime stories. I quickly learned that once I began the story and she was settled in, it no longer mattered what I was saying. She had tuned into the soft rhythm of my voice.

3. 
   Too tired to sleep!

   TOUCH: The sensations of touch are felt throughout the body. Warm water at bath time with soft towels and pajamas ( without scratchy labels or itchy elastic ) are all very important to feeling calm and at ease. After bath dry off your little one with a soft warm towel (my husband would always bring one right out of the dryer). Wrap it around them and give them a long slow hug. The younger the child the more sensitive they are to these sensations. Some of the most sensitive and calming areas of the body are neck, stomach, bottoms of the feet and palms. These areas if rubbed gently can sooth and ease a cranky child.

4. 
   Who said anything about bedtime!?

   MOVEMENT: The more rambunktious the longer it will take to settle down and go to sleep. Fast actions such as bouncing, jumping, or running will cause excitement and arousal. Gentle, rhythmic movements are calming and can ease a baby or toddler to sleep.
   
   With the crazy, often hectic lifestyles of today, we can easily overlook how sensitive our young children are to life's stimulations. When children act out with behaviors of crying, tantrums, throwing or hitting it just might be that they are affected by a sensory overload.