Getting enough sleep when you have children to think about can be a real challenge. When they’re young, this is a particular concern for many parents. There’s nothing fun about suffering sleep deprivation. And it can have a serious impact on your life, parental abilities and work performance. So, here are some things you can do to get a better night’s sleep as a parent with young children.
Set a Strict Routine for the Children’s Bedtime
When you have a strict routine in place for your children’s bedtime, you can ensure that they don’t keep you up. And the routine needs to be as regular as possible. It’s best to put this routine in place when the child is still young. When a child gets into the habit of going to bed at a certain time without any fuss, it becomes second nature to them. But if you let them stay up and don’t put a real routine in place, it will cause problems for the whole family.
Share Responsibilities
When there are two of you as parents, the parenting responsibilities during the night should be split evenly. It’s good to have a schedule that identifies whose turn it is to deal with any problems during the night. One day, it can be one parent’s turn and then this switches each night. It’s not uncommon for one parent to end up doing all these kinds of tasks. And that leaves the one person doing the work with problems like sleep deprivation because they’re never able to get a full night’s sleep. That’s not fair on them, so ensure that you have a discussion about this with your partner.
Make Your Bedroom a Haven
Your bedroom should be somewhere that you go to when you’re tired and ready to sleep. The more tranquil and peaceful your bedroom is, the better you’ll be able to relax when you go to bed. So, start by getting rid of the kinds of distractions that might prevent you getting a good night’s sleep. This mean removing gadgets and televisions that can persuade you to stay up just a little later. If there is no television in the room, then there is also no temptation to watch it before you go to sleep. You should also make your bed as comfortable as it possibly can be. At places like Sleep Ridiculously Well, you can buy comfortable pillows that aid sleep.
Create a Work Routine That’s As Flexible as it Can Be
If your work routine can be made a little more flexible, you will have a better chance of sleeping well. If you spend hours during the night looking after your children, you don’t want the alarm to go off as soon as you fall asleep. Many parents with young children find it easier to start and end work a little later. It means that they can deal with crying children and night time feeds and not sacrifice their sleeping time. Of course, whether this is possible will depend on what kind of job you do and what your boss says when you ask about it. But it’s worth enquiring about.
My grandsons are excellent sleepers. My daughter sleep trained them well and always in their own beds from day one.
These are great tips! I find it hard to try and stick to a schedule with a newborn, but we're definitely working towards that.