Motherhood is challenging at times especially when our children don’t sleep. This article talks about our top natural sleep remedies for babies and kids.
Hopefully this article gives you the direction you are looking for. We chat about my top 5 tips for supporting our babies and kids to sleep. If you don’t quite find what you are looking for, maybe you have tried these already, don’t stress, I have you covered with my free download of 17 unique tips and ideas for you to consider. Access this below….
This post focuses on the top natural sleep remedies for babies and kids. I am excited to share with you my 5 top tips….
Tip 1 – Look at the Food you are Eating
As a mother this is something that we often see. If our kids are having some discomfort and they’re struggling to sleep often it can be to do with an upset tummy, reflux, colic, some discomfort that’s going on in the body for them. Nine times out of ten its food related.
When I talk to my customers about this, I ask, what are you eating? So this is more for your breastfed babies. What are you consuming? What types of foods and if your child’s a little bit older, what type of food are they also consuming?
The reason I ask this is because if there is some sort of intolerance or inflammatory response to the food they’re eating it is going to show up and that discomfort can make them irritable and less likely to sleep restfully..
So things to look out for in their diet are typically wheat based foods, dairy based foods, acidic foods, spicy foods, tomatoes, even your chocolate that contains caffeine can have a flow on effect with your baby. So have a close look at that.
Think about any high additive based foods. they may be eating. We are talking preservatives, colorings, flavourings, and then also think about how much processed sugar they are also consuming in their diet.
So that’s tip one, first check the diet of what you’re eating and what your child’s eating.
Tip 2 – Sleep Position as a Natural Remedy for Babies and Kids
When our kids are small and this tip probably applies more to that first year age bracket, as I learnt the hard way myself, is that when you find your baby is struggling to fall asleep, consider their sleep position.
For instance, my baby would fall asleep on their tummy, on me, but the minute I laid them down in their bed, on their back, they would wake up.
I might get 10, 15, 20 minutes of sleep from them. this was during the day and often at night as well, and someone, I cannot remember who, gave me the most amazing tip!
They told me to try sleeping my child on their tummy.
My daughter was born headstrong, she was born alert, she was an amazingly strong little girl and this lady who I will forever be grateful to, said try her on her tummy.
So the day I laid her on her tummy for nap time, everything changed.
She would usually sleep like I said, maybe get a total max of 20 minutes. The day I left her on her tummy, she slept for two hours.
So I want to share that one with you as it made such a difference for both of us. She slept and I got some rest time too.
I have shared this tip with a lot of women and it has been a game changer for them. Just like it was for me.
I often say to women when we have this discussion. How many animals do you know that sleep on their back, in their most venerable state? It’s an interesting question when you start thinking about it.
Tip 3 – Use the Pram as a Helpful Option in the Tough Times
Do not be afraid to use the pram!
My boy would get very irritable when he was in that sleep transition period of napping or dropping his nap in the afternoon, he would fight it and getting him to sleep at those times in his bed was impossible.
I would literally get the pram out and I would rock him in the kitchen (we had a large island bench and I would go around and around it), or if I could I’d take him for a walk.
That was what got us through that phrase.
So if you feel like you’re spending hours trying to get your child to sleep, you’ve bean rocking them in your arms or something like that…try the pram.
Try placing them in the pram, ensure ventilation is right, and they’re comfortable, it’s totally safe, even go for a walk that gets you out of the house as well.
Tip 4 – Massage and all it’s Benefits as a Natural Sleep Remedy
The next remedy is trying massage.
From day dot when our kids were first born, we started massage.
Baby massage in the early days, and now they get to choose what type of massage they want.
But my boy, who’s five, still goes to bed with a massage every single night. The girls like it too, but he specifically asks for it every single night.
Massage for him is an anchor. He relates sleep and massage, its a cue for him.
I highly recommend massage as it is a beautiful way to bond and spend time with your child.
We also couple massage with quality essential oils. Not every essential oil is safe to use on your children.
You do need to use top notch quality essential oils! Our oils of choice are doTERRA and they are the only essential oils I would put anywhere near my children.
What I love about doTERRA is their transparency on top notch quality. They offer all test results to their customers which no other company will do. They have nothing to hide and are very proud of their ability to serve and support in this way. They are the best and most authentic essential oil company in the world. And as a chemical scientist I did a lot of research to find the best. They were leaps and bounds ahead of any other company I looked at.
Once you have found quality oils (you can get some here at 25% off), you can dilute them with some fractionated coconut oil or other carrier oil of your choice (just make sure its pure and free from harsh chemicals and that its not subject to GMO).
Frankincense and lavender are my favourite essential oils for baby massage. You need to dilute the essential oils and then it is safe to use topically on your children.
My boy loves his feet, his legs. his back massaged and this makes him very relaxed, dopey and sleepy, all ready for a great nights sleep.
Tip 5 – Bath before Bed as a great Natural Sleep Remedy
The fifth, remedy I want to share with you is….give your child a warm bath before bed.
Now this can all be part of a routine and establishing a routine can be helpful.
However, I know not every child works well with routine, but many do, so if you haven’t tried this, , try something like this.
For our family a warm bath before the bedtime routine was extremely helpful.
I know myself that I sleep better with a warm shower before bed.
The kids would have a warm bath, and we would put magnesium salts or some epsom salts with a drop of lavender essential oil (get some here). again, make sure it’s top quality.
Rub the oil and salts together, place them in the warm bath and they will then dissolve and this little practice really, really prepares your kid’s body for rest. It will calm them for bed.
The Sleep Routine
Our sleep routine has been in place since the kids were babies. They have a warm bath, get their message (when a baby before the full suit goes on) then get their night clothes on and have their feed.
When they became older we would do dinner, a warm bath, night clothes, massage, book and a little cuddle.
They love that routine, even though they’re older now, because we started from a very young age its what they know and love.
Just to give you an extra tip, as we speak about this routine, I recommend starting to read to your kids. Start making that a habit as well, because they love it. They learn so much from it and they love the comforting sound of your voice.
Still, today our kids get upset. if we don’t have time for a book, they might have gone to bed later than normal and there is no time remaining.
To Recap on my Top 5 Sleep remedies for Babies and Kids
So there’s my five top natural sleep remedies for babies and kids and your bonus tip. Hopefully, that is helpful for you.
I have loads of other tips and tricks you can cheque out in our blog posts or follow our you tube channel for more to come.
If you want to get to know about more options to consider to help your babies and your kids sleep., then check this out… I have put together a cheat sheet with 17 different ideas you can look at. This is a master list that I wish I had access to when I was going through this with my babies. Grab your free copy here it will help you to overcome your hurdles…
You can also check out our video on this topic of natural sleep remedies for babies and kids below:
Thank you for reading and hope these tips on natural sleep remedies for babies and kids bring you as much support as they did for me.
