Category: Sleep

1. Tips for helping your child fall asleep faster

   Posted on 10:00am Wednesday 15th May 2019

   Anyone that has a child will have had those days where you want all the help in getting them to sleep faster. At the end of the day bedtime can be a struggle for families. When your child struggles to fall asleep quickly at night you can easily become frustrated and upset. These simple tips can help your child fall asleep faster. 

   

   Cutting off-screen time is a vital part of helping get your child to sleep faster. The bright blue lights of electronic devices can make it difficult for your child to fall asleep. Cutting off-screen time an hour or two before bed (easier said than done, we know) can lead to falling asleep faster and sleeping better.

   

   Give your child a warm bath before bed. Warm water with or without lavender bath products are great for helping to relax your child so they fall asleep faster at night. 

   A great way to ensure that your child will fall asleep faster at bedtime is to start a calm down time an hour or two before bed. This is a time for your child to read a book, do a puzzle, or participate in a quite hobby in their room before bedtime. 

   

   Helping your child fall asleep faster starts at the beginning of the day. Getting your child on a morning routine of waking up in the mornings can make it easier to get them to be tired and ready to sleep when bedtime rolls around. 

   Wear your child out during the day with plenty of active play. When your child is burning off energy during the day they are more likely to be ready to sleep when night time rolls around. Get your child to play outside, ride bikes or join in a sport to use up excess energy during the day to help them fall asleep faster.

   Challenging your child's mind can help them fall asleep faster as well. When your child's brain is challenged during the day it is more likely to be tired and ready to fall asleep without random thoughts keeping your child awake at night.

   Making a linen spray or running a diffuser with essential oils designed to calm, relax, and induce sleep is a great way to help your child fall asleep faster and get a deeper more restful sleep. Lavender and tangerine are both great single oil choices and several safe for children sleep blends are available on the market.

   I remember a product called Medised many years ago and it was withdrawn from the market as parents were abusing its "drowsy" properties to help their children sleep. Obviously no one advocates using medicinal measures to get your child to sleep and hopefully some of these tips can help on a restless evening!

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2. 3 Expert Tips For Decorating Your New Home

   Posted on 11:00pm Tuesday 16th Apr 2019

   We have been talking about new houses recently but moving to a new home isn't necessarily the most fun activity for many. There are several stages involved in the process and it is quite understandable why many would rather just skip to the final stage, which would be walking into a home that has already been set up. But unfortunately, we all have to do the job from start to finish. It can be extremely rewarding and fulfilling from the moment you install the last piece. For many mums, decorating their new home is an ongoing process, but it is advised that you get most of it done, if not all, as soon as you get all your stuff to the new house.

   The part that many dread is the process of packing up stuff in the old house, arguing over what to take or leave behind, or sell. And then unpacking all that stuff and trying to fit them into the new space. For sellers, setting up the old house to look presentable and attractive to potential buyers can be challenging. It takes a lot of work, but it is worth it in the end.

   Decorating the new home in itself is a task that can both be fun and stressful, especially for mums, but it all boils down to how you approach the task ahead and how much information you have. There are so many factors to consider from colours to furniture and fittings. Mums resort to “home designer mode” to think of creative ways to decorate their daughters room. 

   You might need to think like a designer in order to decorate like one. You need to find a balance between what the house needs and what you want. Here are the top 3 expert tips that you might need to decorate your new home.

   1. Take Proper Measurements

   You need to apply some math when decorating your new home. Take Proper measurement of the new space, you take it to the next level by sketching on a notebook (to scale). This might seem a little too technical for some, but it does help give you an idea of how space you have to work with and dimensions of new furniture if you are shopping for new stuff.

   

   2. Choosing The Right Colours

   For most mums, decorating the new home starts from picking out colours. This can set the tone for everything else that will go into decorating the space. The colour of the walls will determine what kind of furniture will fit perfectly. When choosing colours, make sure that you also consider the natural lighting of the space. Your favourite colour may not be best for that room, so you need to have several options that you can try if one will not work.

   3. Pick The Right Furniture

   When it comes to furniture, maximizing space is very important. You need to take into account the amount of space you have the size of the furniture you are shopping. There are several options that you can find at furniture123.co.uk that will meet all your requirements.

   Space management in your child’s room is important, you do not want the space to be cluttered with unnecessary things. Opting for cabin beds and mid sleeper can help you make the most of your child’s room. Furniture123.co.uk offers furniture that is designed with space management in mind. This is how we maximised the space in our youngest daughters room and it works really well. She sleeps up high and plays underneath. So contrary to what some people suggest ..... size isn't always everything! 

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3. How much sleep do children need?

   Posted on 9:00pm Monday 15th Apr 2019

   It is no secret that I love my bed and my girls are very similiar but what time should a child go to bed? Parenting experts and grandmas might have differing opinions, but the best bedtime for a child is one that allows her to wake up on time feeling rested and happy. 

   

   How Much Sleep do Children Need?

   Children need more sleep the younger they are, with newborns sleeping on and off throughout the day and night. According to The Baby Sleep Book [Little, Brown & Co, 2005] by Dr. Sears, children need the different amounts of sleep at different ages. Dr. Sears recommends:

   Age 0-3 months, 14-18 hours of sleep
   Age 3-6 months, 14-16 hours
   Age 6 months-2 years, 12-14 hours,
   Age 2-5 years, 10-12 hours.

   Of course, there is a wide natural variation between individual children, but these figures can act as a guideline along with an individual child’s behavior. If a child is hard to wake in the morning or has frequent tantrums at the end of the day these behaviors might be caused by lack of sleep.

   What Time Should My Child Go to Bed?

   From the amount of sleep an individual child needs based on her behavior and age, the most appropriate bedtime can be worked out next. If mornings involve waking up to an alarm clock and getting out of the house to get to school or daycare on time, then work out first how much time is needed for the morning routine to go smoothly. Then, count backwards the number of hours a child needs to be well rested to find out the best bedtime for that child.

   Family Routines Can Affect Bedtimes

   Bedtimes can be pushed earlier or later to suit family needs, although the more a parent relies on the child’s natural sleep cues the easier bedtime will be. If children are allowed to stay up late to play with mom or dad who works long hours and returns home late in the evening, they will need to sleep later in the morning to make up for the lost time. Likewise, if a child sleeps late in the morning he will tend to remain wakeful until later at night as well. The key to finding a bedtime that suits the entire family is searching for the balance where the child is well rested and also has time together with the family, whether that is early in the morning or in the evening.

   Children need different amounts of sleep, but ensuring that a child has an age-appropriate bedtime will help her feel better during the day, pay more attention in school and avoid behavior problems related to sleep deprivation. Whether a family is early to bed or night owls, agreeing on an age-appropriate bedtime requires cooperation from the whole family.

   As for parents, get as much sleep as you can! 

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4. Creating space in your bedroom

   Posted on 12:00pm Monday 25th Feb 2019

   

   It is no secret that I love sleep and love my bed but not every bedroom is as big as we would like, so it’s important that you maximise every square inch that you have available. There are a number of ways you can make the most of the space in your bedroom, in this blog we are going to give you some of our top tips.

   The Storage Bed

   Despite what Marie Kondo saya, storage boxes aren’t always aesthetically pleasing, they can look cluttered and are sometimes the issue that stops you from achieving that flawless finish. So what options are there out there that will allow you to achieve a stunning look in your room, but yet keep your things stored? A storage bed may well be the answer you are looking for.

   

   There’s a huge number of options for you on the market, in a variety of styles that will fit any interior design specification. A Divan Frame will be ideal if you have a narrow bedroom, as they are side opening so don’t need any extra room for you to access your stored items. It won’t compromise any of your space. You can have one side of your bed against the wall, and simply lift the other side up to access the storage area.  

   Do you really need a double bed?

   Often people get double beds for the sake of it. Simply because they are bigger, and we all like that extra space to stretch out into on a night. However, are they really a necessity? They can compromise the sometimes-limited space you have available, and there are other options available that won’t take up anywhere near as much space.

   Providing you get the right smaller sized bed; your night time comfort will not be affected. There are small double beds and wide single beds available, and they could be what you are looking for. They are compact and don’t take up as much space as a double bed, but they do give you more room to breathe than a single bed.

   Providing you get the right smaller sized bed then you can have an equally as comfortable night’s sleep. There’s a great selection of styles available, with chic and classic looks very popular, alongside modern and contemporary styles, suiting all bedroom characteristics.

   Don’t forget your guests

   Pretty much everyone has guests staying over at some point, so obviously it’s key that you cater for their needs without using up too much space. The guest rooms are often the smallest in the house, so we would recommend you take a look at pullout beds. They make the most of the space, but also allow you to have more than one guest staying over at a time.

   If you ensure your bed is kept right up against the wall, then there will still be plenty of space for your guests to move around. It’s a far more convenient option than having a space hugging double bed in the room on a permanent basis.

   

   These are just some of the tricks that you can apply in your home to maximise the space in your bedroom. With these solutions, you could allow your space to flourish, and it can be used in a far wiser fashion.

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