Fashion, lifestyle, and career advice for working moms and working-moms-to-be
All right ladies, let’s discuss: what crazy things have you done to get your kids to sleep? Both of my kids have gone through extensive periods where they were not good sleepers, so I feel like I’ve read every possible article and tried every possible “get your kids to sleep” hack out there. So let’s discuss: What crazy things have YOU done to get your kids to sleep?
Here’s what worked to help get my kids to sleep . . . and what didn’t:
2018 Update: We still stand by this review of Philips Hue Lights for nursery rooms (and general discussion of how to use smart lights for your nursery) — but you may want to check out some of our more recent stories about bedtime, including our recent post on how to get your kids to sleep.
I’ve written before about my love of our nursery light bulb, which emits a soft yellow/orange glow designed to get your little one in the mood for bedtime — but we’re recently getting into smart lights like Philips Hue at Casa Griffin, and I’m in love — especially for a small space like a child’s bedroom, where you may not have the luxury of having space for a dedicated nursery light. If you get one of these, you can have it as a regular white light during playtime — then turn it to an orangier twilight glow at bedtime that fades away to a nightlight. If your little one has problems waking up, you can turn it on slowly (like over the course of 30 minutes) to an energizing light — and you can amuse your little one with blue lights and more. There are apparently apps where you can also sync it to work with the music, but I haven’t gotten into those. (Oh, and if you forget to turn it off and don’t want to creep back into baby’s room? You can turn the light off with your phone or iPad.) The dimmable colored light (pictured) is only $50, but note that the smart bridge (necessary to connect the lights to your WiFi) starts at around $65 depending on which kit you get (we started with the lightstrip kit for undercabinet lighting). Philips Hue Dimmable Color Lights
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2018 Update: We still stand by this Rockabye Baby review — but you may want to check out some of our more recent stories about bedtime, including our recent post on how to get your kids to sleep.
In case you’re not familiar with the Rockabye Baby! line of CDs, they are instrumental lullaby versions of popular songs (from Metallica to Bob Marley to Björk) and many of them are available to stream with Prime (which is great if you want to have Alexa sing your child to sleep!). I’ve also gotten them from the library. One of my favorites is the Radiohead CD, which is full of beautiful, layered songs that are really cool. I wholeheartedly recommend it if you’re a fan of Radiohead. The MP3 download is $10.49 and the CD starts at $3.98 used and $11.00 new at Amazon. Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Radiohead
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Happy Tuesday! Since I’m sure we’re all recovering from lots of buying this past weekend, I thought I’d give a shoutout to this drugstore favorite of mine as we head into winter months: Neosporin Lip Health Overnight Renewal Therapy. I use it myself when I have severely chapped lips and want more than my usual nighttime balm — but I LOVE this stuff for my boys. This will be my fifth winter as a mother, and it now seems inevitable that at some point the following will happen: one or both of my boys will have chapped lips. They will refuse all offers of regular lip balm, instead choosing to lick their lips and the skin around their mouth, resulting in WORSE chapped lips and a red, splotchy, dry rash around the mouth. So what I do is wait until they’re asleep, and then sneak into their rooms to put this on their lips — it’s got enough of a watery consistency that I can do that without waking them; I even spread it over other dry patches around their mouths. (We’ve never had a problem with goopy, gunky sheets!) When they wake up they look a thousand times better, and I feel a bit better about my stealth ninja lip balm tactics. Amazon has this awesome balm for about $4 if you do Prime Pantry orders; I’ve always just picked it up at the local CVS. Neosporin Lip Health Overnight Renewal Therapy
2018 Update: You may want to check out some of our more recent stories about bedtime, including our recent post on how to get your kids to sleep.
My younger son (H, 25 months) is the night owl in the family — on nights when my husband and I give in to sleep on the earlier side, like 10:00, H is often the last one left standing. He doesn’t scream, or fight — we say goodnight, leave him in his crib, and then hear him laughing, playing, singing. We’ve tried stuffies, blankets, pillows, and light-up crib toys like Glowbear — but they all go flying across the room in a semi-violent manner, which H thinks is hilarious. (Another possible component here: We also call him Sir Poops a Lot because he frequently will poop at least once after being put down to sleep.) ANYHOO: We recently bought this nightlight for him, hoping he would lie down long enough to fall asleep, and now I kind of want one for myself, because the lights really are lovely and soothing. I also like that it automatically shuts off after one hour and can connect with your iPhone via Bluetooth to play your own music. It’s $21.95 at Amazon. Aurora Borealis Nightlight by Deneve
2018 Update: We still stand by this Nite-Nite Light bulb review — but you may want to check out some of our more recent stories about bedtime, including our recent post on how to get your kids to sleep.
We got a version of this “sleepy baby” lightbulb from Hammacher Schlemmer a while ago — we were ordering other stuff and it was on sale, so I figured, why not throw it in — and we’ve been very happy with it. We have it in the reading lamp closest to my 4.5-year-old’s bed (although it would also work well for babies’ nighttime feedings and diaper changes), and bedtime has been easier since we got it. I’m not sure I’d say the former light energized him, but this one definitely seems to make it easier for him to recognize it’s bedtime. The Hammacher Schlemmer one is still available for $20, but this one is also highly rated and available through Amazon Prime for $20 as well. SCS Nite-Nite Light Bulb
Hmn: here’s a whole article about it in the NYT.
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