Sleep - A distant memory

Well as most parents would know sleep is a distant memory!!!
Neither of my kids are the best sleepers
both of them had bad ears, well actually Temperance still does and hopefully grommits in October

Paul Gringras's top sleep tips for children (and their parents)

1. Create a good bedtime routine and environment
• No screen time (TV, iPad, smartphone, laptop) for at least an hour before bed.
• Wind down properly (bath, book, time with Mum and Dad).
• Good blackout blinds.
• Good bedtime expectations ("We expect you to stay in your bed, and if you do we may even reward you").
• Soft, continuous-play music often works; it masks traffic and sibling noise, and if they go to sleep to music they will go back to sleep to it too.
• If the child demands a nightlight, it should be dim or red. The brain is not so sensitive to red light.
2. Encourage "self-soothing"
It is perfectly normal for a child to wake up four or five times in the night, but they should be able to "self-soothe" – go back to sleep on their own. "Concentrate on what children need to get to sleep at the beginning of the night, and remove everything that won't be there when they wake up in the middle of the night." So:
• Cuddle by all means, but not until your child falls asleep.
• Sit and talk, but likewise.
• Break any association between milk or food and falling asleep.
3. Behavioural problems
• Nothing beats a sleep diary. Both parents should write down what they do when putting the child to bed each night, and when trying to get them back to sleep. Simply writing it down will allow you to realise the patterns that have developed, and you will often be able to solve the problem.
• Cold turkey, or less dramatic variations on it, is harsh but invariably effective. If you're strong enough, simply leave your child to cry; Gringras describes sleep units in Australian hospitals where trained nurses are on hand specifically to help mothers not to go in to their crying babies.
• If you can't do that, opt for a more gradual approach, spending a little less time with your crying child each night.

www.theguardian.com › Life & style › Sleep‎ Cached

Temperance is up and down all night, although at least she is old enough to get up and come into my bed!

I am usually a walking Zombie and this last couple of weeks she has been getting up at 5am and once it was 4.10 am!

The days are soooo long !

Here are some tips to get your kid snoozing past the break of dawn:

Make sure the room is dark! If too much light is coming into the kid's room, buy blackout shades (also good for napping). Make sure the room is quiet! If an external noise—garbage trucks, noisy birds, dad turning on the shower—is waking your kid, try putting a white noise machine or fan in his room.

• Stop hunger pains! If your baby is under 8-months-old and you think he's waking up early because he's hungry, try waking him for a final feeding at about 11pm. Also work on making sure he eats more food during the day.
• Do the Shuffle! The Sleep Lady Shuffle that is, until 6am. Treat any waking before then like any other night waking and assume your shuffle position.
• Alert her! For kids over 2, Set a music alarm to signal to your kid when it's wake up time! Toddlers obviously can't read a clock, but the alarm will let them know when it's morning.
• Nip it in the bud! When your early bird stirs, go to his room immediately and try to get him back to sleep ASAP. Don't let him scream himself awake. Give him his lovey and try to soothe him back to sleep without picking him up. Again, treat all wakings before 6am like night wakings.
• Stick to your guns! Don't turn on lights or get him out of his crib until 6am no matter how much he protests. Getting him up earlier, while it's dark, sends a confusing message. He can't understand why he can get up in the dark at 5am but not at 2am.
• Check nap time! If your kid takes one nap and still wakes before 6am, don't let him nap before noon or he will then be overtired at bedtime which will lead to early rising.
• Rise and shine...when it's time! At wake up time, make a big deal out of saying "good morning!" Do a dramatic wake-up. Your message must be clear: "I'm getting you out of the crib because it's morning—not because you were crying."

Early rising takes several weeks of utter consistency to change so stick with it! If your child is awake at 6am, cheerful, refreshed and ready to start his day—even if you aren't—you'll probably have to live with it. Unfotunately, 6am is a common and biologically appropriate wake-up time for a baby or small child (as long as they went to bed at a reasonable hour). Just remember to adapt the meal, bedtime and nap schedule to suit his early hours!