Bed Time Stories

Let me be clear here,i might not be the best father out there,nor the most experienced, so by writing what i am about to write i am not claiming to be any,but i am rather sharing what i found quite useful in my humble experience.

putting your child to sleep can be a challenge,be it a happy baby who love to be around his parents to jump around and have fun,or the angry baby who just dont want to sleep cos to him the night is still early.

just after my daughter turned 10 monthes,which was about the time we came back from Saudi arabia after two monthes of summer vacation filled with family members visiting and party,my daughter went from " just put me to bed with my little bottle and ill sleep" to "i wont sleep alone,lay down next to me and hold me" only to realize how hectic this method became especially when the parents want to stay awake for a couple more hours,or if your kid is alight sleeper who checks up on you always to make sure u are by her side,luckily my daughter is not that type.

you might argue that there is nothing wrong with having your kid sleep next to you,but it gets hard after a while especially if parents are professionals,also from other people experiences they told us it gets alot harder as the kids grow up,they might develop fear from the dark and they will simply not fall asleep unless they are in mommy's bed up to ages like 9 or 10.

after few discussions with my daughters pediatrician,she recommendedordered us to strictly follow what she says to over come the problem,which is to put her in her own crib,and talk to her out of crying and needing someone next to her.
tried it day one,hell of a trial,she cried so hard,standing in her crib with her arms reaching for daddy and tears dripping on her cheeks,i kept telling her its bedtime,and its the time where all the little birds and squirrels sleep,and i strictly avoid carrying her from the crib to soothe her,i talk to her from a considerable distance,and if i had to pat on her back,i make it in a way that she cant get a hold of me to carry her....she cried her self to sleep.
the next day,the same issue,i tried to read to her a bed time story,which grabbed her attention pretty well,and after i finished her story,i carried on reading my book loudly,which also helped in making her quite and attentive,then she fell asleep.
the third day,she started crying when she saw me carrying her to the crib,but when i put her in her crib,she saw the book,the bottle and her pacifier there,she reached to her bottle,and heard the story till she fell asleep.
the fourth day,she reached for the book,passed it to daddy,and sat there looking and listening,till she fell asleep.

That simple.
from the fourth day onwards,when bedtime comes,the moment we put her in her crib,she realizes that its bed time,the little birds and squirrels went to bed,and so she should. her sleeping pattern improved drastically,sleeping 8+ hours comfortably in her crib,though she still wakes up around 6 or 5 am asking for a feed,but as soon as she feel the bottle in her mouth she falls back to sleep on the spot "this habit will be stopped very soon as sleeping with the bottle is one of the major causes of baby bottle caries since the baby might fall asleep with his mouth is filled with milk,which contain lactose that is ideal for fermentation required for dental caries.


ill list the benefits i found from this habit for both,parent and child :
- the child becomes less dependent on his parent when going to bed,since the child doesn't require skin contact anymore to fall asleep.
-its the best way to train the child's biological clock to sleep,you notice as soon as the bed time approaches,the child start showing signs that he is ready to sleep,which will make the job of putting the child to bed alot more easier.
-i think its also one of the best way to make the toddler adopts the habit of reading at a very early age,which is something i am taking seriously to make my child a good reader.
-the child slowly becomes less afraid of the dark,because he knows that even though daddy is not holding me,i know he is there,if not sitting on the rocking chair reading his book,he is in the next room.
-its an excellent method to increase the bond between your toddler and you,with time you will find your toddler looking forward to bed time cos its the time that daddy dedicate solely to me,and my bed time story.
-somehow,and i dont know whats correlates it,the child becomes more happy,i noticed my daughter now smiles while in her crib,which is a positive way to fold the day.
-for the parent one of the major benefits i found for this is that i made its an excellent time to be dedicated to my own reading after finishing reading her book,especially after struggling with my readings and being way behind due to unorganized day schedules.
-for working parents,this is also a great time for the parent to catch up with his children,as am sure when they start speaking they will enjoy grabbing a small talk with daddy before they sleep.
-i found it also a great way to force my self to stay away abit longer from the internet,and all the time consuming social networking sites.

to all of you who are parents,will be parents,or were at a time parents of toddlers,what can u add?


P.S. yes,i know its beed way too long since the last time i blogged,and i am sorry about that,i do really miss my blog followers comments and discussions,but with twitter taking all my ideas so freshly,its kinda hard to keep my thoughts dedicated to my blog,but i am working on it,i promise!