Common Bedtime Mistakes Parents Make

At 5 Little Monkeys, we're on a mission to help kids and parents everywhere experience the life-changing power of healthy, restful sleep. We've created a kid's mattress that's beloved by parents to help achieve that goal, but in addition to our children's bed, we strive to be a resource on every aspect of childhood sleep health. Unfortunately, many parents fall prey to a few common bedtime mistakes that hinder their child's sleep – so we're here to help you avoid them.

Top Mistakes Parents Make at Bedtime

Training your child to fall and stay asleep is one of the biggest parenting challenges, but it can be done. Many books have been written on how to encourage proper sleep, but avoiding these common pitfalls is a great place to start:

• Sleeping with Your Child: Kids will often plead with a parent to stay with them at bedtime, and as hard as it can be to resist this, it's necessary. If you lay with your child as they fall asleep, they won't learn to fall asleep on their own and will need you every time they wake up and need to go back to sleep. Instead, leave a few soothing activities your child can do on their own next to the bed so that if they wake up, they can comfort themselves and fall back to sleep.
• Lacking Consistency: Another common mistake is changing any details about your child's bedroom after they fall asleep. For example, if the hallway light is on when your child falls asleep, it should stay on the whole night – otherwise, the difference may disturb your child if they wake up in the middle of the night. Keeping their environment consistent is vital to promoting healthy sleep habits.
• Changing the Routine: Finally, remember that kids thrive on routine and ritual. Accordingly, your child's bedtime routine should be solid as a rock. Pick a few soothing activities for the hour or so leading up before bed and stick with them, doing them every night in the same order. A consistent bedtime routine is vital to helping your child learn to fall asleep on their own.

Try Our Children's Mattress Risk-Free

All of these mistakes can make it harder for your child to fall and stay asleep, but another common problem is their mattress. Most kid's beds aren't actually designed to provide the support that a child's body needs, so it's important to make sure their mattress is supporting them correctly for healthy sleep. Thankfully, we can help with that! Take the 100 Night Rest Test and try our kid's mattress risk-free today. We can't wait for you to experience the power of healthy, restful sleep!