The Importance of a Good Sleep Routine

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The past six months or so have been really strange for us all. When lockdown restrictions came into force, we went from going to school and work to being taught at home and being put on furlough. I basically became a home educator overnight!

If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know that I posted about our daily homeschooling through Instagram stories. I knew right from the beginning that I wanted to stick to a routine because when things got back to normal, or as normal as they can be now, it would be hard to get back into the swing of things again.

I drew up and printed a timetable for the living room wall for both children so that they knew what to expect from the day. It really helped that the school teachers communicated with us each morning with a rough timetable too. We started our days with PE with Joe, releasing endorphins and getting us "pumped", as my almost eight-year-old son would say, for the rest of the day.

Having these timetables eliminated the element of surprise, reducing their stress and it is something that I was keen to stick to mostly because my son is autistic. With a routine, we could keep his day as easy as possible. The "school" day would finish around 2.00pm so they were free to play and do as they pleased until the bedtime wind down.

Again, I wanted to keep this consistent because if I didn't, getting up for school in the mornings come September would be a shock to the system if bedtimes were all over the place in the summer. I am back to work now too so there are days where they need to get up early to stay with grandparents while both my partner and I are at work.

C and E are 7 and 5 respectively, and although they are not babies, a bedtime routine was and still is really important to us. We eat dinner around 5.30pm and afterwards they will take baths. I will allow screens or TV time for one child while the other is taking their bath but afterwards, all screens are off. From past experience, they find it very hard to shut their brains off at the end of the day if they have been playing on tablets or watching TV right up until they go to bed.

They can then choose whether they would like to play with toys (LOL Surprise dolls are usually E's choice) or read a book quietly on their own (this is usually C's choice). They will then have a glass of milk before brushing their teeth and flossing.

For the time being, they are sharing a bedroom with bunk beds so we will all go upstairs, and I will read a story to the both of them before it is lights out. This brings us to around 8.30pm. 

Keeping to my own bedtime routine is important too, especially if I am working the next day. We actually purchased a new bed and mattress at the end of March, right at the beginning of lockdown, spending a lot of time deciding which base was best and consulting a mattress size guide to visualise what would fit into the space we had. We ended up settling on a divan with a tall mattress so we spent the first week or so feeling a little queasy as it was so high off the ground!

I am an avid reader, so I use the screen rule for myself too. I'll more than likely fall asleep in the middle of a chapter or drop my Kindle on my face because I've nodded off. I don't include the Kindle under the screen umbrella as I can adjust the brightness!

Not having bright screen in our faces, getting the recommended eight hours of sleep and sleeping on comfortable beds mean that we are all feeling refreshed and raring to go in the mornings.

The Dream Pillow - Review

(AD/Gifted - We received this item for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

At the age of 5, E has a wonderful imagination which calls for fantastic stories and drawings. One downfall can be that at bedtime, it can run a bit wild and cause nightmares if she thinks of scary things.

The idea behind the Dream Pillow is to encourage your children to think of positive, happy things before bed to hopefully manifest them in their dreams. Children thrive on visuals so it wasn't enough to just think them, it is nice to have a physical object to cuddle up to as well.

The Dream Pillow comes in two different Dreamimals; Sharkie and Lamby, and I knew E would love the lamb so I opted for the latter.

Inside the box, which is beautiful itself and encourages creativity as you can colour it in and draw, you get a brief explanation about the Dream Pillow, a fortune teller (remember making those at school?!), a 60-sheet lined cloud shaped notepad and the pillow itself.

Upon opening, E became totally besotted with Lamby. She has been a little under the weather lately with a cold so she just wanted to cuddle up with it instantly. I discussed with her what the Dream Pillow was and how it worked and she had lots of ideas of what she wanted to dream about so she set to drawing them on a piece of the cloud shaped paper.

The pillow is shaped a bit like a hand muff so you pop your drawing inside and hopefully whatever you've drawn will appear in your dreams. She did wake the following morning saying she dreamt of " a million doggies kissing her" which was in fact one of her drawings so I'll take that as a win! The fortune teller comes in handy to give your child some ideas of what to draw because as the days go on, it might be a bit difficult for them to think of new things.

Lamby is so fluffy and soft, sort of like a teddy fleece material, so it's very easy to want to snuggle up with it. C has even asked for the Sharkie one so I'll definitely be buying him that one!

I think the Dream Pillow is such a wonderful idea, especially for little ones who are prone to nightmares and can be quite anxious at bedtimes.

You can watch the video below for a bit more infomation or visit fellow blogger Cassie (Lily's Little Learners) post here.

They retail at £22.94 each and can be purchased from the Dream Pillow website. You can also find them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Summer Infant Slumber Buddies Deluxe Puppy - Review

Back in February this year, my eldest child C was formally diagnosed with autism. I've written about the possibility of his diagnosis in the past and I will go into more detail on receiving his diagnosis in a separate post soon.

C is very much a sensory seeker meaning that he loves different textures, sounds and lights. I was recently offered the opportunity to review a Slumber Buddies Puppy from Summer Infant and although that might seem a little strange for me to accept for an almost six year old, I felt that it would be something that he might enjoy and may give him that sensory stimulation that he looks for.

  The Summer Infant Slumber Buddy is effectively a sleep aid for babies. The one we received was the Puppy but it is also available in a range of different animals from dinosaurs to bunnies. As well as just looking like a puppy soft toy, you have the plastic "shell" on its back with cut outs of stars, moons and planets with three buttons at the bottom. The first button shines a coloured light through the shapes, projecting them on the ceiling and walls. If you continue to press the same button, you can switch the colour (red, blue and green).

  The second button plays a sound. There are five different ones that you can flip through from heartbeat, lullaby and nature. C tends to always opt for the nature sounds as I think they can be more calming for him, especially when he is starting to feel himself getting upset or angry. The final button is just three different volume controls, we tend to keep ours on the lowest to make it more peaceful.

  C took to the puppy straight away, mostly for the light aspect. He is very aware of feeling himself getting angry or upset and recognises that he needs to take some time away on his own. He's been taking his puppy to his bedroom and burying himself under the duvet, playing a sound and light of his choice. Usually this does help diffuse his bad mood and he gets a lot happier faster - it definitely cuts down on meltdown time!

  Recently he had been a little bit afraid of going to bed and would come downstairs at least four times a night, in hysterics, and we found it difficult to calm him down. I started leaving the Slumber Buddy next to his bed with the light and sound already on, hoping that it would make him feel 1) sleepy and 2) safe with the lights. There are three settings inside the puppy where the battery pack is where you can choose whether to shut it off after 15, 30 or 45 minutes which is great as you don't need to worry about it being left on all night and wasting the battery. I don't know if it's a coincidence or not but we have had no issues with sleep since!

I think this is absolutely amazing and it surpassed my expectations. His little sister E loves it too, the fact that it is cuddly is a massive plus! We have been using it all through the day, not just at night time. It's great for anyone with sensory issues and I can definitely see it being brilliant for smaller babies too.

The Slumber Buddies retail at £24.99 each and you can find out more at the Summer Infant website.

(We received this item for the purpose of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep - Review

The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep is a book that, honestly, I was really skeptical about even though it is the No 1 bestseller. It's been described a genius book that helps any child fall asleep and I thought, "Yeah, right! As if!" So when we were offered the chance to review it, I was intrigued as to whether it really did work. We had nothing to lose.

The first night, it was my turn for the bedtime story and we got five pages in and C was out for the count. Impressive. The next night, Chris took C up to bed. Usually he would be up there for quite a while but not even five minutes later, he had come down telling me that C was asleep and he had almost drifted off too!

The story itself is the perfect length for a toddler. It follows your child and Roger Rabbit on a quest for sleep and they must visit Uncle Yawn. At the beginning you get instructions such as you must read bold text with emphasis and italics should be read slowly and calmly. You are also to yawn when it says [yawn] and use your child's name when it reads [name]. Both myself and C love that it seems personalised to him.

It is quite repetitive with the words "fall asleep now" and it does keep mentioning "sleep" and variations of it. Clearly this does help and kids will in fact drift off to it. It is a little difficult to read if I'm completely honest and I did get a little mixed up but I'd think to think I'm a pro now with the amount of times it's been read!

Psychologist Carl-Johan Forster Ehrlin really knows his stuff and he has created sentences in such a way that messages are sent to your child, encouraging them to sleep and I honestly cannot believe that it has worked so well. 

On the third night, C kept asking for "the rabbit book" so not only do I love it as it gets my child to sleep - he loves it too! 

I recommend this book wholeheartedly as it has changed our bedtime routine in the best way. My mind has well and truly been changed.

The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep is available from Amazon, price dependent on format.

(Disclaimer: We received a copy for the purpose of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.) 

Five Tips for a Better Night's Sleep

Before having C, I never realised how much I loved sleep. Having said that, I was a stereotypical lazy teenager before that so would happily stay in bed until 1 in the afternoon. Now though, I really miss it so I've compiled a list of my five top tips for better sleep!

1) Don't use electronic devices before/in bed - The best way to wind down is with a good book. I am totally guilty of playing about on my phone and before I know it, 2 hours has passed and I'm still wide awake at 2am! No TV in the bedroom either. Phones and TV's only stimulate the mind when really, you should be trying to relax.

2) Camomile tea - Now, I'm not one of those people into all these herbal remedies etc, but I genuinely believe that camomile tea helps relax you before bed. Try it, honestly. No caffeine so won't keep you up!

3) A good mattress - Of course a good mattress will get you a better sleep, who wants to sleep on an old lumpy one? Make sure you get the right one for you. The mattresses at John Lewis are FAB. Just seeing the photos of them makes me want to curl up and fall asleep!

4) Don't nap late - Sometimes I'll nap when C is napping because I'm just so exhausted (10 month olds are tiring, you know!) and I regret it when I can't get to sleep later that night. Setting regular bedtimes and waking up at the same time is a good idea too. Your body will get into the routine.

5) Get out of your head - This may be easier said than done and if you know how to do this, tell me how. I'm awful for stressing, over-thinking and over-analysing things and I only do it when I lie down in bed! Poor Chris is desperately trying to get some sleep and I'll keep nudging him and asking him questions! I find it very hard to do this.

What are your top tips? 

Do you agree with what I've mentioned?

This is a sponsored post.

Silentnight Beds Scotland Sleep Aids Review

I was recently contacted by Silentnight Beds Scotland and asked "Did you sleep well last night?" I'd never given it much thought but no, I didn't. I hadn't had a good night's sleep since before I was pregnant! I find it hard to shut my brain off and I'm left thinking about the most stupid things. I'm also a pretty anxious person so I'm always waking up to check if C is okay in his cot.

Last year Silentnight conducted research and found that only 1/4 of parents are getting a good night's sleep. They then wanted to find out if sleep aids could help. Do their claims have any truth in them? I filled in an online questionnaire on my sleeping habits and received sleep aids in the post.

They sent me two boxes of Twinings tea bags; Sleep and Awake.

The Sleep tea is a herbal infusion including camomile, lavender and vanilla. It is naturally caffeine-free so perfect before bed.
The Awake tea is a herbal infusion including rooibos, ginger and ginseng. It is also naturally caffeine-free and claims to make you feel bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

To be completely honest, I didn't expect much. In my eyes, tea bags are tea bags and I didn't believe that they could make you feel a certain way.

I used them for a week. I drank my Sleep tea about half an hour before going upstairs to bed. Obviously, they don't just suddenly make you drowsy then you doze off. I would usually play about on my phone while lying in bed until I feel tired but as soon as I lay down, I just couldn't keep my eyes open. I was just so relaxed and fell asleep almost instantly. I had come upstairs literally ten minutes before my partner and I didn't even hear him come up and more importantly, I didn't wake during the night. I didn't put it down to the tea. Maybe I was just super tired because C is so energetic, but this continued throughout the week.

In the mornings, I would get up and give C his bottle straight away (through yawns) then I had my Awake tea. I would normally spend most of the day yawning away as, like I mentioned before, I wouldn't get a good night's sleep and C is so wriggly and always on the move. With the Awake tea, I didn't feel as tired throughout the day but I can't specifically put my finger on that moment that I switched from being tired to wide awake.

I stayed at my dad's on Saturday evening and forgot to bring a tea bag for that night and the following morning and I really did see a huge difference in that one night. I don't usually say this, but these will definitely be in my weekly shop. I'm so surprised at how well they worked and was totally prepared to write "They didn't help at all". How wrong was I?

(Disclaimer: I received these items free of charge in exchange for an open and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own).