My Five Year Old Twins Bedtime Routine: That We Started
The other day I read an outstanding post from Tom who blogs at The Unlikely Dad about how his little boy has gone from being a brilliant sleeper to him having to lay down with his son at bedtime to go to sleep. His little boy is three years old. You can read it here.
This resonated with me because when the twins were about two and a half years old we started doing exactly this. My twin girls will turn six years old next February and we are still laying down with them every night for them to go to sleep. OMG ! Nearly three years on and we are still doing it. We certainly started something there. The secret I guess is how do you stop this habit the girls have formed which we have in truth started ourselves.
The difficult situation of the girls going to bed and staying in their own bed until asleep started a couple of years ago, but it was easily remedied by laying down with the girls while they went to sleep and at the time I remember thinking this is just a phrase. Well it's one of the longest phases of my life, let alone their lives.
We still every night go through the same routine even though the girls will turn six years old next birthday.
At about 6.30pm the girls get their pyjamas on and then have a bedtime story usually by 6.45pm they are ready for sleep so we lay on the bed with them until they are in the land of nod, normally that takes about 15 minutes. This has been happening now for three years, maybe longer.
During the night the girls will wake up and come into our bed. I can't actually remember when I slept in my bed without the girls lying next to us. In the winter it's perfect because they can be like hot water bottles. Of course during summer it's a totally different story. Sweaty nights are the order of the day. Although my tip for this situation is to buy a super king size bed. Which, yes, you have guessed it, is what we did. So at least there is plenty of room.
The strain it puts on your relationship is actually quite big and it is so easy to accept it as normal. Of course it's not, but at some point because of that wonderful condition, sleep deprivation, you will do anything to get sleep. I believe that is how it all started. It has become a very difficult routine to break.
After all your children when they are little they need security and I guess us lying down with them as they go to sleep is their security blanket.
I guess as the girls get older they will eventually stay in their beds all night asleep. I just hope it's before they finish primary school. Ha ha! We live in hope!
Do you wake up and find your children next to you in bed? I would love to know your thoughts.
4 Comments
Melanie
August 1, 2017 at 8:09 am
I never let my boys into our bed unless poorly. Taking them back to their own beds every night was very hard to do, especially in the early days but to be honest thought I would be letting them in for a cuddle more for me rather than them. After a little while they soon thought it was pointless getting up and coming in to our room. My Hubby used to think I was too hard on them doing this and it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they came in for a cuddle, but as you know this is very habit forming and a good sleep pattern (for us as well as the boys) is, I feel hugely important. Now I have great boys with a fab sleep routine, and it was certainly worth my efforts of getting up 3 or 4 times a night to take them back to bed and we get our cuddle time through the day, instead of the night 😊😊😊
Morgan Prince
August 1, 2017 at 2:17 pm
My boys have always been good sleepers (they get that from me!) and it was only when they were very young that they slept in our beds, and then it was only when they were ill. We were quite strict with our boys’ bedtime routines and it seems to have worked out well for us. 🙂
Hope your girls stay in their own beds soon. xx
jeremy@thirstydaddy
August 2, 2017 at 4:35 am
I’ve been pretty lucky. Every once in a while she’ll appear next to me in the middle of the night, but its rare. Tonight I came home from work and was surprised to find her sleeping in my bed when I went to change. Her older sister had put her to bed, mom off fishing, and I guess she decided to come wait for me.
Mark
August 2, 2017 at 11:16 am
My boys are six and seven, and even now it’s a daily lottery who I’ll wake up next to or in what bed/sofa.
Long since given up trying to manage it. Keep telling myself it won’t be forever but I’ve been saying that for years now. Only comfort I can take is that it won’t be long before they need bigger beds. Maybe then I might at least wake up without a head of bruises from banging my head on their headboards each time I stretch.