Expert Tips: How To Get A Great Night’s Sleep

Ahhhh sleep. Or rather, arggggh sleep! As soon as I manage to get the baby to sleep well (ish), it’s me that has the problem. I’ve gone from being a heavy, ten hour a night sleeper to someone who struggles to get half of that. If it’s not the tv and computer keeping me up far too late, it’s the baby waking at 1am, the husband fidgeting or my brain going crazy in the silence of the night. It’s killing me!

One of the things I most struggle with is getting comfortable in bed. I never found it an issue prior to falling pregnant, I could sleep sprawled out or curled up and still pass out in seconds. Now, however much I twist, turn and fidget, I wake up uncomfortable with a stiff back, sore neck and usually a dead limb or two! I attribute most of it to the strain of pregnancy and carrying a tonne-weight of a child around all day has taken on my body… I ache in places I never knew existed before and I know I’m not alone. Thankfully, the lovely people at Adjustamatic heard about my plight and sent me this video on their top tips for how to position myself better in bed to help improve my health and my quality of sleep… hooray!

Now, I’ve written about sleep before (you can find it here – 8 easy steps to a good night’s sleep) but clearly my tips aren’t cutting it this time. If I’m spending 25 years of my life in bed (really?!) I need to start making the most of it. So, having got some advice from the pros on how to get comfy, I’ve turned to the other professional sleep experts I know, aka. my fellow parenting bloggers for tips on how to actually ‘switch off’. If there’s one group of people who know how to get the most out of a limited window of sleep, these are them. If I can’t crack a decent night’s sleep with all this help, I’ve got real problems!

‘For a good nights sleep I take a relaxing bath with a couple of drops of lavender oil!’ – Jaymee from The Mum Diaries

‘My best nights sleep come when I leave my phone downstairs so I’m not tempted to look at my social media in bed!’ – Laura from Mum on a Mission

‘Invest in a decent pair of black out curtains!’ – Laura from Five Little Doves

 

‘Give babysitting duties to dad, book into a spa for the weekend. Leave mobile on silent in weekend bag!’ – Tracey from Pack the Pjs

‘White noise! Find a sound you find relaxing (for me it’s rain on a window) and put it on a non-intrusive volume. Works wonders!’ – Amy from The Mighty Duxburys

‘Limit your caffeine, that means no Coke Zero after 4pm!’ – Nicola from Mummy to Dex

‘My mind wanders terribly just before I nod off so I’ve started keeping a notebook by the bed. When I fret about all the things I haven’t done (I’m so unorganised that this happens a lot. Forgetting an item on the food shop/to send an email/pay a bill/get petrol/dinner money etc) It helps get it off my mind and I can simply tackle it with a clear head the next day.’ – Lisa from That British Betty

‘Get rid of the kids for the night!’ – Faye from Glossytots

‘A long soak in the bath and a large glass of wine, ideally. Followed by: ear plugs, eye patch, no gadgets in the bedroom, and knowing someone else is on child/baby duty’ – Kate from Five Little Stars

And my absolute favourite, although a little late for most of us reading this (if you’re not a parent, stop thinking about it now and go enjoy the ability to have a lazy lie in followed by an afternoon nap!) is from Beth at Twinderelmo who gives this great advice…

‘Never have children!’

I think she might have hit the nail on the head! Whilst I head off to practice my sleep position, do you have any top tips to share on getting a good nights sleep? Let me know!

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