This toddler sleep remedy is all natural, and comes to you in the form of a poem.
Hush Little Toddler
to be sung to the tune of “Hush Little Baby”
Hush little toddler
You’re so tired,
But you’re running around
All crazy and wired.
You can’t sleep when you’re wound so tight,
All pumped up on ‘fight or flight’.
If you can’t settle
Down to sleep,
Mama’s gonna tickle
Your tummy and feet.
And when you’ve giggled
All the giggles you can stand,
You’ll be ready to drift right off…
To dreamland.
*****************
This works well with two of my kiddos who have a harder time winding down to sleep…especially if they’ve missed some sleep and are overly tired. To quote Mark Weissbluth in his book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child: “The children are fractious because they are overly tired.” Amen to that.
After years of frustration and trying different things to help them calm down, I finally tried the opposite…get all the wild out! I found that just tickling them really well gets all their wigglies out so they can settle down and get some rest.
I wonder if this works for other full-speed-ahead kiddos?
Yup, it does seem to help! I’ve noticed that this is a process that seems to come naturally to Daddies.
It’s funny b/c my daughter and I always do the “get the wiggles out” before she goes to bed, b/c she always seems to have a hard time calming down. (Never read that book) It’s worked up until the last two weeks (pesky teeth!) Hoping it works again after those nasty teeth finally break through!
Have you ever heard of amber beads for teething discomfort? We love them here!
Most interesting and memorable one I’ve heard. Must try it.