According to my mother, I have been an insomniac since the ripe old age of 2. So, it's no surprise that my kids have inherited that gene.
Cruel? Yes. Surprising? No.
But, I have found at least one fool proof method for getting them to sleep even on the toughest of nights.
Hypnosis.
Okay, I'm kidding. But, not totally. See, on nights when they seem like they will never get to sleep I employ a little bit of relaxation therapy. Start with some soothing music. Add a bit of back patting. And top it off with the most important step of all: the power of suggestion.
I have found that if I quietly and calmly tell them to relax each part of their body starting with their toes and working their way all the way to their head that by the time I get to their shoulders they are completely asleep.
It goes a little something like this:
"Relax your toes. Let the muscles relax and go to sleep. Your feet are tired and sleepy and they're falling asleep." It works like a charm. Every single time.
When I was a kid a counselor suggested I try this to get myself to sleep at night. Focus on relaxing each part of my body and feel myself falling asleep. It never worked for me. But, for some reason, the power of suggestion and the calming sound of someone's voice telling them to relax just puts my kids to sleep.
It takes about 10 extra minutes to do and I only really do it when I'm at my wit's end since I'd rather them learn to fall asleep on their own, but on nights when we're all about to lose our mind it is worth the extra effort and it's a heck of a lot better than spiking their milk!*
To find out what is working for other moms, head over to Rocks in My Dryer for Works for Me Wednesday!
*For the record, I would never spike my children's milk even if my grandmother does swear it is the best way to get a child to sleep. I'm fairly certain she may have pulled that on me when I stayed with her as a child and look how I turned out. Yeah, it's a warning people. Don't spike your kids milk. Or they may just turn out like me...
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
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7 comments:
I used to use this method when I was younger too...and when my kid's complain about not being able to fall asleep, it's about the only thing that works.
That is a really neat idea. Fortunately Big Brother is always up for sleeping. Baby Sister might need something like this when she is older. When she does not want to sleep she DOES NOT want to sleep. :)
LOL!!! I'm laughing because I'm trying to imagine myself doing this with my 9 and 11 year old boys. I think we'd all just collapse into fits of giggles!
I do this for myself...but love the idea for Lydia! Hmmm...your toes are getting sleeeepppyyyyy...
ps--can you believe i'm here? why don't i come to your blog more often??!!
We use the same technique, Spencer calls it the "relax game". At 8 he still asks for it, and as the child of two night owls and one genuine insomniac, he still needs it too.
I am a believer in this method. It totally works. I also "plant" my daughter's dreams in her head before she falls asleep. Works like magic.
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