Teenage Sleep Dilemma

Teenagers need about 8.5-9.5 hours of sleep a night. For many teens it is difficult to fall asleep as early as they need to in order to get this needed sleep and making it to morning classes or just to school. As a parent you do need to advocate and set boundaries that encourage and promote your child getting this needed sleep.

Turning off tv/video games/computers an hour or two before bedtime, stopping exercise a few hours before, not eating or consuming caffeine a few hours before are all ways to help promote an easier trip to dreamland. Also, providing your child with an understanding of the importance of sleep can help (wait until they are in a receptive mood!). You may even encourage them to come up with a bedtime routine of sorts- shower or bath, brush teeth, read for a little bit before bed (not in bed) and then turn in for the night at a time that allows for their needed 8.5-9.5 hours of sleep.

Two Fun Products

iTurtle is a cute, fun speaker to plug an ipod, iphone, or the like into. It sways, bobs its head, and changes colors. Kids will get a kick out of it and have a way to blast their favorite tunes.


My Little Pony So Soft Newborn Sweetie Belle doll is a sweet little bedtime companion for your toddler who has suddenly become obsessed with babies, purses, and copying everything mommy does. As you put your sweetie to bed, she can put the Sweetie Belle doll to bed as well. Give Sweetie Belle her paci and off she goes to sleep.

Congrats to Merino Kids and Their New Safety Certification!!

I reviewed and raved about the Merino Go Go Bag earlier this year... here is some news on these great bags: "The Merino Kids Baby Sleep Bag is the first to be certified to the new sleep sack safety standard published by the British Standards Institute, which is the national standards body of the UK. In April it published a new standard specification for baby sleep sacks that gives minimum safety requirements relating to: chemical hazards, thermal hazards (overheating), entrapment, entanglement, choking, ingestion and suffocation hazards, structural integrity and flammability.

Question for You?

What are your school-age or teens biggest sleep struggles?

Naptime

Naptime is important. It gives your child the chance to recharge, and you the chance to get some stuff done and recharge as well. Please make sure that you have children nap. Children will stop napping between age 3 and 5. I encourage you to also continue with a rest time after naps have ceased- great for that necessary recharge.

How I knew my kids were ready to stop napping?

The transition from 2 naps to 1 nap happened the same for all of my kids. They kept taking their 9:30 nap and then wouldn't take their afternoon nap. At that point, I transitioned them to an afternoon nap and dropped the morning nap.

The transition from 1 nap to no nap also happened the same for all of my kids. They would take their afternoon nap fairly consistently, the amount of protest increased, and more often they would take longer to fall asleep. AND when they would take a nap, they wouldn't go to sleep at night at their usual 7pm bedtime- it would take them until 9 or 10pm to fall asleep. As that became more of the norm, I dropped the afternoon and opted for an earlier bedtime- I would have them go to sleep as early as 6:30pm during the transition. I would also have them lay down in their room and read books in the afternoon for a bit.

Share your nap transition story.

Bedwetting

According to the National Sleep Foundation, bedwetting, technically called "nocturnal enuresis", is not considered a problem until a child reaches the age of 5 to 6 years old and continues to wet their bed two or more times a night (bladder control at night is the last stage of the potty training process.)

So, why do some older children continue to wet their bed:
- it may just be maturity
- it may be a health problem
- if bedwetting starts up after they have been dry for months- it could be due to a psychological issue/stress

What should you do:
- if your child is still wetting the bed at the age of 6-7 you should consult your physician
- if your child is over 5 and wetting the bed 3-4 times a month you should consult your physician
- don't make your poor child sleep in pee night after night- use pull-ups or try the eco-friendly and underwear like Kushies Training Pants
- make sure going potty is part of your bedtime routine (start this as soon as your child is potty trained)
- limit evening beverages to help your child be more successful
- a reward system may work
- talk about it with your child

AND BE PATIENT NO MATTER WHAT!!

National Sleep Foundation has more information if needed.

Question for You?

How old was your child when he/she stopped napping? How did you know they were ready or how did it happen?

Tick-Tock Let Me Help You Choose a Clock

Different ages, different purposes... you may be in the market for a clock. Here are a few options to peruse:

My Tot Clock is a favorite product of mine; I really could go on and on. I have it in my three-year old son's room. This is a great tool for teaching little kids when it is time to go to sleep and when it is an okay time to wake-up. It also has many bonuses: a time-out timer, an encouragement timer, stories/music, white noise.

My son knows that the yellow light means it is okay for him to get up. He knows for his rest time he pushes the light blue button and has some quiet time in his room until it goes off (which I set for an hour), he knows that he pushes the red button for his time-out, he knows when it is time to clean his room he presses the green button and has that much time, and he knows that it is bedtime when the blue light is on.

The lights provide clear indicators of different behaviors for a child that cannot tell time. This could be a great solution to your child's too early wake-time. It also has a great development story behind it- check it out.

Readers can receive a 20% discount when using the CODE: LullabyLuna at checkout (only available 9/15-9/30.)

Once your child is older and is honing the skills of telling time a good choice may be the Teach Me Time! Talking Alarm Clock by American innovative. This clock has a time teaching game, is a nightlight, and an alarm clock with ok to wake nightlight timer. My older daughter thought it was a fun clock to play with. This clock would work especially well for a child telling time pretty well, who also needs to be woken up everyday.

And for your time aware child say "Hello Moshi". The Moshi Voice Controlled Alarm Clock can be a fun and effective clock to get you up and running in the morning. Along with the alarm, it features three sleep sounds to rock your teen to sleep, and time/date/and temperature. Make sure your child learns the voice activated commands!

Bedding FITTED for You

Olive Kids is a fun line of kids' bedding that was created to avoid the bedding options tied to popular TV and movie characters. The goal was to create affordable, fun bedding that promoted creativity and play. They offer a variety of prints that relate to the interests and dreams of the young: cowboys, mermaids, trucks...

Not only do they have a wide and appealing selection of prints they offer regular comforters and "huggers." As a mom, this "hugger" concept is wonderful. Every morning I have to retuck in my sons comforter around his mattress, and every night in his wild slumber it gets untucked. The hugger is the solution. It is hugs the mattress. "The hugger comforter is sewn at the foot and tailored to fit the mattress. The corners at the foot of the comforter wrap around so that the Hugger "hugs" the mattress." Not only does it make it easier for mom to make the bed. It also makes it easier for your child as they learn that big boy skill.

I highly recommend tucking your sweet little one into the soft Olive Kids bedding...

Kushies: Some Great Products for Naptime!!

Green and clean! Do you ever get tired of the waste of diapers and then pull-ups? Every night I put a pair of pull-ups on my three year old son and put him to bed. Some mornings they are dry and most they are wet. We tried being hardcore and just have him do undies- this did not work- weeks of changing sheets most nights- this was tiring for me and sad for him. My daughter never did pull-ups, but my son is a different child. We will transition to undies when the time is right, but for now I am trying to cut down on my environmental impact. So....

Kushies makes these great pull-on training pants. Reusable! Great feeling material! No leeks! And they feel like we are moving more towards undies...


And for all you mommies with a new baby another travel bed option by Kushies. This bed folds up very compactly. You could easily keep it in your car without decreasing storage space, or pack it in a suitcase. It can be used inside or outside (with its UV protective material). All ready for a nap at a friend's house or grandma's. Great nap-on-the-go solution.

And when your sweet baby grows out of the travel bed and into a portable crib. Kushies has an extremely soft portable play pen sheet to throw on (this is a great tip- you never know when drool, spit up, throw up, or some other bodily fluid will need to be cleaned from the portable crib.) These sheets are fully elasticized for a tight fit and come in a variety of colors and prints.

Readers can enter the code lunanap10 at checkout for a 10% discount.

When Does School Start?

School has started- fun and exciting and busy to say the least. The rush of the morning- getting everyone dressed and fed and out the door on-time. The rush of the afternoon: school pick-up, extra activities, homework, reading, dinner, bedtime routine... the list just seems to grow as I run through my own nightly ritual... you can fill in the rest of the to-dos that exhaust the hours from the time the school bell rings until the time our child's head hits the pillow.

In all the busyness of the school year we often forget about our children's necessary sleep or by virtue of the busyness it gets pushed aside as we try to get it all done (an aside: is that even possible?)

I encourage you to know how much sleep your child needs on a daily basis to function as a kind human that is able to focus and perform at school and home. I also encourage you to make it a PRIORITY that they get that sleep and when they don't that you make sure that they make it up.

This is a great table to help you figure out about how much sleep your child needs, from the National Sleep Foundation:

Question for You?

Do you have to wake your child up in the morning? Or do they have enough time to wake up on their own?

Nap 26 Winner!

D you are the Nap26 winner! Please email me your contact information, so I can send it out to you.

Earth Mama Tea Winner

Bella won the Earth Mama Peaceful Tea. Congratulations!!

Queen B Winner

Congratulations to Dawn- the winner of the Queen B!