A New Year and a Sleep experiment update

Kicky recovering from New Years Eve

So today is January the 01, 2015.. I am not really the type to have a "New Years Resolution" So I won't be writing about that today. I'm too lazy to write one and find they almost always fail.


However as some readers may recall from the last post I did.. a whole month ago, I was conducting a sleep experiment just for the month of December because Edison and Kicky were having a hard time getting to sleep on their old schedule. And Now that month is over and it's time to key in the results.

So. What happened?

I kept much of the "bedtime routine" that we had before such as having the evening meal served at 5:30-6:00PM as usual, followed by a bath and pajamas by 7:00PM. All the same so far.

But what I did differently was I did not tell them when to go to bed so much as I wound them down slowly with quiet play most nights. On these nights when we dimmed the lights and turned off the television and computers and read or played with toys both children were more ready and wanting their beds just after sunset, which happened to be around 8:30-9:00PM which is late on the clock but truthfully- they never adjusted to the idea that it was nine o'clock. If it weren't day light savings then it would have been 8 O'clock.. only a half hour discrepancy from when they normally went to bed.

And it was still bright outside at 7:30 so why would they want to go to bed when there was all that playing to do? So I allowed myself to be relaxed about it.

On nights where we did not turn off the electronic entertainment however the kids would be irritable and Edison down right angry that we were trying to settle them down to sleep. Edison also to my amusement developed another strategy to stay up playing computer games when we were trying to settle into bed- we had started saying "mummy and daddy are tired and we want to go to bed" so he replied kindly "okay I'll turn the volume down so you can sleep!" nice try son!

I'm NOT tired!!!

                                                   
Trying to force him to turn off the computer (only done once) resulted in a complete meltdown and he screamed his discontent well past the time he would have been likely to have kept playing when all around him was dark and sleeping. Lesson learned. Unless we wanted him to stay up while we slept (not a chance) then the computer especially was a no no after dinner.

Because of the experiment we were not to force the issue for the entire month we found ourselves all retiring to bed at the same time. The children tended not to stay up once all was dark and we went to bed. On nights when I didn't feel ready to sleep I would wait the few minutes the children spent getting to sleep then I got back up and cleaned the house or read a book, or did something else quiet. 

I also found myself sleeping in sequence more, waking after the first sleep to spend an hour or so in a quiet time. This time has been invaluable. I found "me time" in this little gap between sleeps to be extremely beneficial.

Edison also had a positive by product of sleeping in sequence- he ceased wetting the bed almost immediately. just one accident in a month and even that one he started then stopped. Kicky too.

During the small gap where he would rouse I found myself being asked to escort him to the toilet. He went and then put himself back to bed often without a word.

After the first week I did find myself feeling "tired" earlier in the evening and thought to myself "Oh no! I am just going to make myself exhausted!" but all that was really happening was my patterns were shifting. I no longer was going to bed at 11:00PM or later.. I was rousing from a few hours sleep instead! So it made sense that as soon as it was dark I started to feel more ready for bed.

During the second week was when things progressed to the more "typical" time to wake after the first sleep and I woke up around midnight or 1:00AM. The children also progressed to this timing.. but they didn't wake up and stay up. They simply went potty, had a drink and went back to sleep. Edison being a little older has had some small conversations but Kicky was all business.  Potty, milk, sleep!

In short I DO think this has worked for us. I am getting better hours than I was before and for the most part the children are happier and not washing sheets? BONUS!!

I do think we will keep this routine even if only for the summer. Perhaps when the weather is colder and the days grow shorter again the boys will want to sleep earlier. I do believe that the sun being up plays a major part in the sleep disruption.

All in all this was for me a very worth while experience.