Bedtime

 Question: 

6 year old weaning off melatonin. Takes 2 hours to sleep. Help. 

Answer:

My theory has always been early to rise, early to bed. Can you get him to wake up at 5 or 6am? 

If the house is noisy, I usually play wave sounds to drown the noise. If you have a Google Home with you, that’s easily done. Other than that, any phone will do. You can either get a sound app or play it on YouTube.

Also, just make sure he has had enough for dinner which means some healthy carbohydrates (not the bleached ones). Healthy carbs are like potatoes and brown rice. If your child is on a strict veggie and fruit diet, he might be too hungry to sleep.

Another way is try praying or worshipping really long. After praying about an hour, he should be sleeping. If that still doesn’t work, then play some Jesus Image worship. They usually go on for 2 hours. If you can find one session that makes him sleep, make sure to remember which one it is!

If not, just hold him to sleep every night for at least a week or two until he is cold turkied off the meds.

Taking 2 hours to sleep is normal I think. My 7 year old needs some time to unwind as well. Try a long and warm bath as part of a good bedtime routine. And part of that bedtime routine is to reflect upon what he has done that day, etc. I usually play with the kids before the bedtime stories and prayer. That’s our family time.