Toddlers Bedtime

I think most parents sooner or later will go through a phase where their kid’s bedtime goes haywire. Among my friends who faced and are still facing this problem are azza and irin. And by looking at their comment box, i see other parents having the same problem.

I managed to get back the kid’s bedtime on track and i hope it stays this way. Previously we have problem where my kids will sleep around 11pm for the elder two and passed midnite for uZAir (latest being 2am, but average would be 12:45am). I have no idea where the kids get their energy. They wake up around 9-ish, NO NAP (they simply refused to have nap) during the day but yet they sleep late at night. Although their school starts at 9am, but since they get up late and by the time i get all 3 ready, they ended up going to school almost 10am. It was partly my fault for allowing them to wake up after 9am coz i took that opportunity to get some extra sleep too…haha

But after awhile i had to call it a stop. I became strict with their bedtime. I will pull them out of bed latest by 8am. No afternoon nap allowed and tv / laptop off by 730pm.

When i first stop uZair from breastfeed, we had few stages in putting him to sleep without breastfeeding. The 1st stage was to bring him on a drive until he falls asleep. But we couldnt continue that for long as it would be costly to pay the petrol since everyday we have to go for a minimum of 40mins drive. So the 2nd stage was to on The Wiggles on the laptop until he falls asleep by himself. Well, alhamdulillah that manage to divert him from asking for breastmilk BUT he ended up watching it pass midnite, full with energy jumping about to the music. Since the elder two were already asleep, that surely annoyed the elder two. Soon we put a stop to that too coz by then uZair dah adapt to the no breastfeeding, so we reckon we no longer need the distraction from bf and afterall the elder 2 need some peace to sleep.

However, uZair already have the music in his heart…he will be jumping about non stop, to the music that was playing in his head, and of coz, “singing” to. Or shall i say it was more of screaming than singing. He will be jumping and “singing” in the dark. Seriously i dare to say that uZair jump a total of at least 500 a day. I am not surprised if it reaches 1000 a day. He is really full of energy. I ended up being strict in his food diet making sure no sugar loaded food. I really have no idea where he gets his energy. We also stop him from taking milo.

I knew i had to do something about it, i then decided regardless how late they sleep the night before, i pulled them out of bed by 8am latest. No nap allowed during the day and that did help a lil, uZair ended up sleeping latest by 11pm as opposed to pass midnite.

(random pics of them during their playtime)

And past 2 weeks, the kids didn’t go to school due to runny nose. The weather been very kind, gloomy all the way. My kids have this habit where the minute they see weather is good, they will be standing in front of the door screaming “mommy, sun is hiding behind the cloud!!!!”, asking me to open it to play outside. For few days they were outside more often than inside. That really burnt out their energy. I stop them from having their afternoon nap (but in most cases mmg they hardly take afternoon nap), and by 730pm i could see they were really tired. I switch on the aircond, lights off, tv off…and by 9pm they were already asleep. I was like “wow”!!!. The following day, i pulled all 3 out of bed by 8am. Again, weather was good…so they ended up being outdoor a lot: by 9am they were outside till almost 12, came in for their lunch and at about 3pm they were out again till 6-ish pm. Same routine at night;  i switch off the tv and lights early and all retire to bed by 9-ish pm. After about a week of such routine..i no longer need to pull them out of bed by 8am coz even b4 8am…they were all awake by themselves. Alhamdulillah my 1 week effort paid off.

they sweat like a marathon runner, sgt “harum” ye! – tgk rmbut athirAh bepeluh2, kusut masai

When this new-bedtime-training-in-progress happened, syauQi was away for work, so we didnt go anywhere at night. Hence managed to stick to the routine. And since it is working perfectly well now, alhamdulillah, I tend to be strict on the no-going-out-at-night-policy. I wouldnt want to risk it: screwing up their bedtime again. Oh don’t get me wrong, when we used to go out at night (mostly to the in-laws) we usually be back by 10-ish, not that we bring them out till pass midnite.

However recently we had a dinner wedding to attend. I told syAuqi, wanna avoid from bringing the kids along. I managed to put the elder 2 to sleep b y 830am…but uZair refused to sleep. syauQi carried him hoping he fall asleep in his arm. But nope he didn’t. We were already running late. Had no choice but to bring uZair along, but the minute i change his clothes, he went to bed, toss and turn..showing sign that he wanted to sleep. We thought of leaving him behind but afraid he cry for us and ended up we have to balik. He then tag along with a very sleepy zombie looking face, some even said he looked as though he was on coughing mixture…hahaha.

abis bunga Pah kena petik

We didnt stay long for the wedding, by 10pm we made a move, the minute naik kereta…he fall asleep and alhamdulillah the next morning, he was up by himself by 730am 😀

Really hope this sleeping arrangement will continue for long. Gonna stick to the

• no-going-out-at-night policy, lights and tv off by 730pm
• pull them out of bed latest by 8am if they are not awake, regardless what time they slept the night before.
• no afternoon nap. IF they happen to fall asleep during the day, i limit it to 1.5 hours and pull them out of bed when it reaches 1.5 hour

my “enegizer bunny”

I notice that it is always more successful to do a new routine / rules when the dad is not around. Just like when i wanted to wean them off from bottle. I did that when syauQi was not around. Partly because i had a total control of it and if tak bejaya pun syauQi is not around to laugh at me, hahaha. So i can do watever method i want and wats important is the end result upon his return :D. How i get to that point is a different matter..haha

**I think, maybe (yes, maybe) it is easier to get ur kid to sleep if she/he is the only child. coz u can just switch off the light and let him scream / cry as loud as he wants until she/he gets tired. I couldnt do that coz that will disturb elder’s 2 sleep, that y at the early stage i had to allow uZair to watch The Wiggles, to stop him from crying wanted breastmilk.

Oh lucky thing the wireless internet strength is strong enough, i can still surf the net outside while i monitor the kids at play…