Any good bedtime tips?

Question

We have tried lots of things...she has a night light, a flashlight next to her bed, she knows how to put a movie on by herself, water by her bed, a night light in the bathroom...we have a routine for her...but still I get the complaining at night "I'm scared!" "What if I need something?" Any good tips out there? My daughter is six years old. She wants to sleep with us, but we will not let her.

Answer 1

The dark is a true fear of every child at some point in their life. The best thing is a routine. I had to do monster patrol for my brother every night before bed. We looked in the closet, under the bed, in the toy box and everywhere one could hide. We had to do this in the dark with a flashlight (because that is when they came out) We did everything that we could think of to make sure they werent there. The thing that helped was when my mom and dad (in the earshot of my brother) said, did you hear that the monsters that normally live under the bed moved to Canada? Yep they are all gone, and they say that the beds nowdays are too little to get under and that is where they like to go... so I guess we wont have to worry about them anymore. They are all gone!!! My brother came in and asked about it.. and my dad told him that they had to move.. that they cant fit under the bed anymore so they moved to Canada where the beds are bigger. They made a HUGE joke about it.. HAHA the monsters cant fit.. HAHA they had to move.. I know this sounds dumb but it worked. I dont know how, or why, but he asked about it a few more times, and then BOOM no more problems. Now that my brother is 26, we still kid him though. hahahaha Good Luck!

Answer 2

first of all...the lights from tv, computer, night light and flashlight prevent her from REM sleep...the water by the bed encourages her to spend time drinking instead of sleeping which naturally leads to time spent in the bathroom instead of sleeping...the "I'm scared" is just the phrase that gets you into a rescue mode and gives her attention and something else to do instead of sleeping. Recent parenting advice was to turn off tv and computer at least one hour before bedtime...check your current routine to see if it gives her other things to do instead of sleep...what worked for us was a warm bath about an hour before lights out then 2-3 stories then lights out then prayers then kiss then we would talk softly about the day or the next day or just words of praise for being so good then we told her that she did not have to go right to sleep but she did have to be quiet and stay in bed because others(mom, dad, sister, dolls...) were trying to rest and sleep and needed peace and quiet and that we would see each other in the morning then I would start a 30 minute lullaby tape or cd (same one every night...part of routine) and I played it so softly that she had to be still and quiet to listen to the words) then we would leave the room quietly and watch tv with the closed captioning on until she dropped off to sleep!

Answer 3

No lights, night light, flash light, TV, movies. Take away the water as well. Make her bedroom a dark and pleasant place... A good environment for sleeping. I also suggest that you can do is lay down with her, comfort her and help her to fall asleep. You might also want to talk with her about what her fears are.

Answer 4

My daughter is 9 years old and she would no way sleep on her own, she only wants to sleep with her sister, be patient cause I don't blame them somehow, I tried something once and it worked till we changed our home, that is I bought lots of tiny things like stickers, bubbles, stamps...etc and I promised her a present each and every morning when she sleeps all night, it really worked and 10 days later she was able to do it.
Try it , hope it works

Answer 5

What is a child doing with a television in her bedroom? The light from a television flickering is not conducive to REM sleep which is the most RESTFUL and most BENEFICIAL sleep that every human NEEDS. PULL that telelvision plug and remove the television from her room. No wonder kids are cranky all day these days they don't get the correct sleep that they need. The very LAST thing a child needs in there room is a television followed closely by a computer. If you want your child to SLEEP in her room then make it conducive to just that and not television viewing.

Answer 6

First off no t.v. in her bedroom. That only makes it worse. Reassure her that she is safe over & over again. Simply, take her back to her bed and tell her it is night time and she needs to go to sleep. You might have to do this many times but it will pay off in the end. Super Nanny does this...and it has worked for me!

Answer 7

Keep not letting her I was terrified when I was little about being in the dark or alone at night because I was afraid that someone might try to hurt me because I couldn't see them. Aithough my problem did end up being that I was parnoid my parent helped a lot by sticking to their guns about me sleeping in my room.

Answer 8

Leave the light on in her room but get a low wattage bulb. My daughter is 8 and has to have the light on.

Answer 9

I have put glow in the dark stickers on the wall that the kid can only see when the lights are off. Makes him want to shut the lights off to look at them.

Answer 10

Stick to your guns and don't let her sleep with you, because then she will have won the battle. Try asking her what she's scared of, and taking her to the library to read books about kids being scared about going to sleep. Hopefully nobody's told her that someone who was dead was 'just sleeping', because that really freaks kids out. Just listen to her, and don't make her feel dumb or silly for having those fears.. and know, it will pass.